Answer by Elynn Lee, interned at Google in New York City Summer 2013 and 2014; Amazon in Seattle Summer 2012; Facebook in Palo Alto Summer 2011

    Here are some things I’ve learned from my internships that I find to be handy. Some of them have to do with programming, but some things you can’t necessarily prepare for in advance.

    Be ready to work in a team

    This one sounds easy, but it might not be for some people. If you’ve done any pair programming, you might have a leg up on this. If you haven’t (or don’t have the opportunity to), pay special attention to the team dynamic when working on group projects. Being able to work with people (from different backgrounds and walks of life) is very important!

    Get used to thinking about complexity (both space and time) and scalability

    This was a big change for me coming from my school work, where correct can still get you a pretty high grade even if it’s not the fastest solution. When doing your projects next semester, start thinking about how well will these data structures or algorithms scale and what are some alternatives (and what are the trade-offs?). That solution might be the most intuitive, but how much extra space does it take up? How fast/slow is it? It’ll get you thinking about different kinds of problems and show that you’re thinking about more than what’s the “correct” answer.

    Figure out how you are most productive

    For instance, learn to work for extended periods at a time. This was hard for me at my first internship. I definitely used to get distracted really easily. So, in the semester before your internship, consider finding out how you best focus. Do you need headphones? Do you work best when you’re whiteboarding or writing things down or drawing pictures? At both of my internships, there were options to work in different rooms or quiet rooms by yourself (one of them even let you work outdoors). For me, I have to have headphones and, if I’m in the middle of something, I turn off my company chat. I also silence my phone during work hours (because I’m really bad at ignoring notifications) and take walks outdoors (weather permitting) every 2 hours or so. Find out how you are most productive! Figure out how you focus.

    Be prepared to work hard (and often long)

    This is more of a mental preparation. I know a lot of people who are very efficient and can get all of their work done from 9 to 5 and still get return offers or do very well in their internships. Depending on the company, you might not have a 9 to 5 work day, and if you’re not willing to work past 5pm, it can take a toll on your work. At one of my internships, it always seemed like I always left at the same time regardless of how much work I actually got done (needless to say, I didn’t feel like I did well).