Hey! I’m

.

• Coach at Major League Hacking.
• I use she/her pronouns.
• I’ve seen 2400+ hours of anime.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/isabel-abonitalla/

Isa

Hack Your Way to an Internship!

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🤩 Step 1: Applying for the role

🤩 Step 2: Acing the technical

🤩 Step 3: Acing the behavioral

🤩 Step 0: The Offer!

Step 1: �Applying for the role

1. Know what you want
2. Do your research
3. Choose your weapon

Know what you want

• What role do you want?
1. Job title? Responsibilities? Tech stack?
2. Software engineering? Blockchain? Web dev? Infrastructure? Cloud? ML/AI? Network security? Data science? Quant trading? Sys admin? Sales engineer?
3. Product management? UX design? Developer advocate? Marketing? Game design? R&D?
• What do you value in a company?
1. Work-life balance? Prestige? Compensation & benefits? Location? Mission?

Do your research

1. On the company
1. What do they do? Who are their competitors? What is their mission? Where are they located? What are their core values?
2. On the specialty
• What are the current trends within web3? Do you understand the underlying math of machine learning? When do you know which tech stack to use on a website/app? What are others in the field working on?

Choose your weapon

1. Old-fashioned applications

💡 Keep track of each application, especially the job description

• Referrals�💡 Network! Make sure they can actually speak about your capabilities
• Conferences/Career Fairs
• GWC, RTC, KWK, NSBE, SHPE, and local

💡 This is where you can network most effectively, �and even get first round interviews right there!

• Extra: Recruiter Outreach

💡 Branding and online presence helps with this

Tips for your resume

• Make sure it’s ATS-friendly, readable and parseable
• Accomplished [X] as measured by [Y], by doing [Z]
• Tailor your resume to the job description
• Hide your GPA if its below 3.0
• Keep it relevant and under one page
• Possible alternatives to internships if you’re just starting out:
• Certifications, non-tech roles, school projects, open-source, etc

Tips for your projects

• Progress not perfection: it’s better to have something that you might not think is your best than to have nothing at all.
• Have a balance between solo and group projects: show your personal contributions as well as your ability to work in a team
• Hackathons are great for showing that you can adapt to different working styles, as well as working under pressure.
• If most/all your projects are from hackathons, make sure you have something that’s actually complete.
• Contribute to open source!
• It shows that you are up-to-date with industry standards and best practices, especially if you contribute to huge projects like React or Linux etc.
• If you feel intimidated, start small. Even documentation or even localization/translation counts towards building credibility in the open-source community.

Tips for your LinkedIn

• This is where you can flesh out all your experiences, since there’s no limit to real estate
• Have a professional-looking photo, not a selfie
• Network! Be active! Share your story.
• Search filters can help you find people in specific companies, cities, positions, etc.

Step 2:�Acing the technical

1. OAs / coding challenges
2. Technical interviews
3. Take-home projects

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OAs / coding challenges

1. Also known as leetcode questions (HackerRank, LeetCode, CodeSignal, etc) are timed programming questions
2. ✨consistency✨ is 🔑 and go through each topic in succession instead of cramming

Technical Interviews

1. Same-ish question types as LeetCode but with someone human asking you and guiding you
2. Think out loud. Don’t stay silent!
3. Use mock interviews with peers to prepare.

Take-home projects

1. Make something per their specifications within �an allotted time
2. Not a lot of companies do this yet; usually saved for specialized internship programs
1. eg, a prospective frontend dev intern could replicate that company’s product

Step 3:�Acing the behavioral

• Tell me about yourself.
• Present, past, future
• Hi! I’m Isabel. I am { … } at { … } doing { … } with { … }.
• Previously, I have { … }.
• Moving forward, I plan to { … }.
• Strengths and weaknesses
• Don’t focus too much on the negative, but rather what you did to fix/cope with it.
• Favorite project
• If it won, what? Stack? Personal contribution?
• STAR = Situation, Task, Action, Result
• Prepare your own questions!
• About the internship program, or the company, or the team, etc. Nothing personal about the interviewer
• Go back to step 1: do your research!

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Step 0: The Offer!

• Boo exploding offers!
• Make sure you read the fine print.
• Whenever possible, don’t be afraid to negotiate.
• Think carefully before you renege an offer.

Resources

• Notion template to keep track of applications
• The Remote JobHunters
• FlowCV (great resume builder)
• Neetcode Practice (condensed leetcode curriculum)
• 🤫 old OA questions I myself encountered
• Some of my cover letters and short responses:
• Why are you interested in this role with Niantic?
• VantAI cover letter
• Describe a situation when you were faced with a problem you could not solve. �What did you do?
• Tell us about your contributions to a recent project (technical or non-technical). �What was the impact of the project?
• What are the top 3 things you’re looking for in your next role and why are these important to you?
• Why do you want to work at Palantir?
• Interviewing at a startup : YC Ultimate Startup Job Guide
• Some SWE-specific resources:
• Binary Search
• Structy
• Some PM-specific resources:
• Product Alliance
• Exponent
• What Do You Think You Should Be Paid? (article on negotiating compensation)
• JPMorgan Chase Software Engineering Virtual Experience Program