Chasing the Dream: The Reality of Internship Hunting in Tech

hope you are all doing well, my dear readers. I’d like to burst any bubbles you may have after reading this article’s title. This is not an article where I boast about securing an internship, nor is it a guide on how to find one. Instead, it’s more of a rant about my struggles in trying to land an internship and how I’ve been failing so far. If this resonates with you and makes you feel a little less alone in the struggle, I’m thankful.

The Search Begins

When i first started to apply which was not very long ago but like a month back. Why suddenly cause I am graduating soon. The current market condition are also not helping, along with my lack of personal portfolio which is strange considering the amount of time i have put in for project. Well that what i thought but as I am human too so I have some basic human flaws of like overestimating my work, that what I did, though I had put in lot of effort in my projects but they were never fully complete I always felt like it needed on last feature or enhancement before committing it to the repository and thus was actually never able to finish any project.

So here I am trying to complete every project I had once started, and this blog was part of my initial project so that’s another reason behind writing post and being frequent in here.

Sorry I got sidetracked again….. Now coming onto portfolio building so I have made a web portfolio to display my work. I kept it simple like really simple UI but feels classic and elegant. My older web portfolio seemed like it was an overkill honestly. And then I started to apply for internships. Yes internships, as I still have some college left and I need to complete an internship and if you are wondering in what field I am trying to find an internship, the answer is web development, robotics, or even embedded systems.

So i made an account in Internshala and Wellfound, as internshala is quite the standard platform for internship in India and Wellfound for looking for remote opportunists or startup based companies.

The Experience Paradox

Now when i started to apply in most companies have a requirement set to like 1 year experience or even 2 years. Like if he has two year job experience than I certainly don’t think he/she is going to be looking for an internship anyway. Well me being determined and shameless I still applied to like 2 to 3 companies like that….. hihihi

But that was the most i applied to this companies the rest of application i sent were carefully picked and cover letter was written specific to these companies. which amounted to a total of like 20 companies in over the span of 5 days or you could say i started to apply from this week it self.

Dealing With Doubts

After applying to these many companies on 4th day questions like “Am I good enough?” or “Should I change fields?” started to creep in. It’s not easy to deal with to be honest but I also know this is a part of life and this too shall pass.

In the pause between my efforts and the world’s response, I find my greatest lessons—about persistence, defiance, and the absurdity of waiting.

Still on 5th day I applied cause why not, its uncertain if I will get a internship if i keep applying at this rate but not applying will definitely make it certain.

Ending Note

In the end, I’ll keep applying and refining my skills with each rejection I face. Inspired by the Japanese philosophy of Kaizen, which advocates for continuous improvement through small, consistent changes, I believe every setback brings me closer to growth. For anyone reading this who’s in the same situation, I hope you, too, keep pushing forward. I don’t have the answers or authority to offer advice, but I can certainly wish you good luck….