It’s hiring season and, this year, all eyes are on the interns.
Amid the Great Resignation, with top talent in high demand and short supply, companies are increasingly focusing on training and upskilling their own workforce — which means that opportunities for interns seeking to make their mark abound.
According to a new survey from The Harris Poll commissioned by Express Employment Professionals, more than two in five U.S. companies (44 percent of those surveyed) say they plan to offer internships in 2022, with 94 percent likely to hire interns afterward either as part- or full-time employees. For new professionals and recent graduates looking to find their fit and jump-start their careers, this is great news.
But how can these emerging talents ensure that they’re selecting the right internship for their career goals, and that the company they’d work for is meaningfully invested in growing their skill sets? Often, the secret to knowing what internship will best-serve those longer-term goals lies in understanding what dedicated opportunities for career advancement are already built into a company’s program.
For example, at cryptocurrency company Coinbase, interns can rest assured that their efforts won’t go unnoticed. Rebhi Oweis, university recruiter, instead promises that those entering the Coinbase workforce as interns can expect to be treated much like full-time employees.
Though leaping in feet first can be daunting, Coinbase is looking for interns unafraid to take the plunge, whose eagerness to learn knows no bounds and whose passion for building an open financial system rivals that of senior executives at the company.
Coinbase is a secure digital currency wallet and platform where merchants and consumers can easily buy, sell and store cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin.
Tell us about the internship program at Coinbase. What opportunities exist, and what kind of experience can interns expect?
We offer seasonal internships ranging between summer, fall and winter, which encompass software engineering, data science, product management, UX research/design and more. Our internships typically last between three to four months; however, some last longer. All interns get matched to a specific team and are expected to own an individual project from start to finish. They have dedicated mentors and peers alongside them to help field any questions throughout their internship. Additionally, each intern has their own ‘Coinbase Buddy,’ an individual outside of their direct team who helps ensure they’re fully integrated and who ultimately helps spark new connections.
Once the internship officially begins, we start hosting intern events, which include social activities with other interns, lunch and learns and executive speaker series chats. Despite Coinbase being a remote-first company, interns still tend to visit local offices and travel together as a cohort. Furthermore, there are team-specific, in-person off-sites, during which interns are able to travel with their team to meet and take part in team-building activities.
What are some of the coolest projects your interns have gotten to participate in?
Our interns work on high-level projects — no different than our full-time employees. For example, one of our interns worked on designing and implementing a tool that regularly executes the in-house security scanner on a variety of internal software projects. This research ultimately enabled the security team to more reliably find vulnerabilities that might not have been found as quickly otherwise.
Another one of our interns recently implemented a vast amount of frontend bug fixes for Coinbase Commerce, prior to a feature release. Afterward, the intern was the feature lead for implementing a vitally-requested feature to allow merchants to download all of their withdrawals and refunds data in a CSV format. They were able to scope out, implement and launch it before the tax deadline at the time. Finally, they were the feature lead on implementing a pay-with-Coinbase option on donation checkouts. Previously, Coinbase Commerce only had the option to pay with Coinbase for product checkouts that had a fixed price. The intern was able to create a way to get accurate exchange rates for dynamic user donation input and integrate it into the OAuth flow.
The expectations we have of our interns go hand in hand with what we expect from our full-time employees.”
How have your internship programs helped your interns grow professionally and kickstart successful careers?
By the time our interns conclude their internship, it’s as if they’ve completed a full-time job. The expectations we have of our interns go hand in hand with what we expect from our full-time employees. That’s true from day one, as interns and full-time employees go through the same training sessions upon initially joining. They’re evaluated on similar criteria during performance reviews and have the exact same mentorship and learning resources throughout their time here. Interns will often note that folks who join their team in the midst of their internship might not realize that there’s an intern on the team, which just goes to show the high scope of work our interns have the opportunity to tackle.
Interns actively receive feedback from their managers and peers. They also attend code and engineering reviews, which exposes them to the rigorous care and thought process that goes into engineering projects. Pending a return offer, interns can come back as full-time employees already familiar with what will make them successful in their role, which allows them to hit the ground running and ship amazing products.
