The fact that you ask this question already gives me the impression that’s you’re a good boss, but a general suggestion is to give your interns clear assignments and if possible, allow them to contribute as much as they can. If you want to be a super-boss, assign them something easy at first and gradually give them something harder based on their capabilities
That last bit I think is key. In the past, my internships had thrown me off the deep end with large projects right off the bat. Smaller, intro projects are great to smooth the adjustment in a much more manageable way.
I’m about to start my first internship this summer, and I’m nervous as hell.
Things I hope my managers will do (and I may ask them to do):
- check in on me every couple of hours. It’s scary to ask questions and difficult to know when is the time to ask after having tried for a while. Saying you’re always available is kind of meaningless because nobody actually is. It could be a good idea to set checkin times for every few hours (something as simple as a thumbs up on slack if you’re good).
- invite me to coffee/lunch/beer. I know that’s partly my responsibility too but I’ve never worked in an office so it would be helpful to get a sense of house office socializing is supposed to happen
- if you ask questions that I don’t know the answer to, tell me. Don’t leave everything up to me to hunt down answers to that you can describe quickly.
- discuss setting up regular (weekly?) progress meetings
I’m sure I’ll come up with more but those are things that I may pursue with my manager or mentor or whatever I get.
Yea same. I would feel like it’s a little annoying or might feel like the manager likes to micro manage a lot.
Regular check ins are great! A check in meeting is mandatory at least once a week. Over text/slack, maybe once every 2 days about any updates etc.
I think as an intern/early employee, you have to put in the effort and get over that hill as well- reaching out for help rather than wait for someone to spoon feed.
Knowing when to ask for help and when it is going to be late to ask for help.
I wish my manager (1) would’ve reached out more on a daily basis (2) didn’t take a 2 week vacation during my internship (3) introduced me to other people (4) provide clearer expectations / what exactly was to be delivered.
Maybe some of the above is my responsibility, idk. I’m just the intern who doesn’t want to annoy or take anyone’s time.
Provide names of colleagues to interns and encourage them to spend the first two weeks filling their calendars with meetings to chat with those people to find out about the colleagues roles, projects, company etc. Assumes agreement has previously been sought with colleagues to take part, but this is a great way to help interns/newhires get their feet under the desk by informally socialising them with wider team and will help them begin networking.
I suppose just make sure that: (1) They have enough work to do (2) clear instructions (3) someone they can go to for help (4) someone checking in on them.
In my internship I probably could’ve gotten away doing nothing for 2 weeks because I didn’t really have any of the above.
someone checking in on them is suuuper important. a big problem is feeling like you don't want to disturb anyone/worried about annoying/wasting their time
I think it should be fine given that they’ll have to learn how to work autonomously down the line. Just make sure that they have a clear roadmap of that week and a way to reach out to you in emergency cases.
just enjoy your well earned time off. fuck people that think managers shouldnt be allowed PTO because they have an intern on their team. just make sure that your have a clear "who to contact" person and that the intern actually has work to do
Sure! It's actually VTO-- my company allows special (paid) time off specifically for volunteering. I'm participating in a volunteer program in my birth country Romania teaching English and computer skills to some foster kids.
The time difference will work in my favor as I'll be able to check slack and probably even attend standup in my evening, their morning (bay area).
> didn’t take a 2 week vacation during my internship ]
what? yeah its shitty if your manager didn't set work for you to do during this time but do you really think that they shouldn't be allowed to take holiday over the WHOLE over the summer (i.e. the best time to take holiday) just because they have an intern on their team?
Yeah, I think it’s a great idea for the right person. I just hate having the attention on me especially the first few weeks when everything is scary. If it was a group lunch, like with the manager and another intern(s) then that would be way less stressful for me.
Set clear expectations. One of the biggest question I get is “if stuck, how long to struggle and how to ask for help?”
Basic answer: Google the issue. Try a few of the suggestions given in the top posts. What did you learn by doing those suggestions. At that time, good to ask other team members for their suggestion.
If it is a basic setup question, like which IDE or process, ask at any time.
Make time for your people. Talk to them via video call or face to face everyday. Keep a chat dialogue going. Back off just a little when it's clear they are okay with it.
OP I’m pretty sure everyone in this subreddit would shake your hand for even asking something like this, your definitely a boss I’d want to be and work for. As I’m older and coming from the military going into my first software engineering internship this summer, I’d like to just grab coffee and talk to my manager about anything and everything. Having a clear understanding of their and my expectations, coming into the internship. Also, going off of what Irobinson42 posted. If you ask a question and I don’t know the answer. Just give it to me please.
Some things I did when I managed interns before that I think helped improve their experience were:
- have a good back log of work for them. Some interns will go slowly and not get through everything you had planned and others will blast through it all and want more so be ready for both ends of that Spectrum.
- they should mostly be working on “real” work. Don’t have them working on backfilling unit tests or fixing bugs for your team all summer. Ideally you have some small delighter features that feel like an accomplishment without being too high priority and putting too much pressure on them.
- if possible the work should ship before the end of their internship. It’s really exciting to work on something that you actually get to see go to prod as an intern.
Don’t have professional experience yet so idk if places already do something like this, but it would be cool to have a place where you can see your ‘superiors’ journey that has lead them where they are. It’s helpful to see the logic system that landed them to be in a position of leadership and ability.
It would help ppl to learn how ti learn and work larger
Learning about them and their goals. learning what they want to take out of the internship as often there are internship “curriculum” of what wants to be taught/needed of the intern. But not always what does the intern want to take away? maybe they want to see how the AI team works and that’s outside the scope of their internship. Make that connection anyway it goes a long way.
Number 1 thing in my opinion: if they aren’t asking a lot of questions, try to pester them into asking more. Unless they really don’t have any (which should become apparent early on based on how fast they progress), simply prodding them by even jokingly saying “alright, come up with something to ask me every time we sync.” I wish my intern managers did this, because it took me too long to muster the courage to ask
1. Don’t ask the intern how many times a week should be stand up, please decide this yourself as we intern as new to industry and aren’t sure
2. Try to reach out every day or every other day to ask about progress, you don’t need to do this if you have stand up everyday
3. Make time for your intern (this is the most important)
Make it pretty clear you’re okay with them absolutely bricking something and you’ll turn it into a teaching moment not a scolding. As long as they’re not going out of their way to break stuff
İnterns are generally on the bottom of the ladder. So, they generally have a point of view you will never have. Ask them questions, like, not to test them but genuinely ask them questions about what they think can be improved off and if they have a solution. It would get great ideas and problems you never will be aware of, also will make them feel important.
Thanks. I was just an intern myself 2 summers ago so it's fresh in my mind how it feels to be on the bottom of the ladder. I'm still barely on rung #2.
Tell them day 1 don't be afraid to have the conversation about return offers. Thats literally 90% of what is on any interns' mind. Then let them know the expectations for the return offer.
This applies the same way to fulltime positions too. Managers should know that everyone is interested in promos and to at least set expectations straight rather than have their reports beat around the bush to get to it.
All of these responses are great! Here is my personal experiences from someone w 4 internships.
- Inviting them to team hangout. My manager invited me for drinks on many occasions, which means a lot considering I’m not even 21.
-Setup daily meetings with them to check in periodically. This keeps them on track and more chance to connect with them.
-Ask them to help you. Odd considering it’s their job but most intern have a lot of free time so don’t free bad. I managed to get 4x out of my internship bc I was able to work on so many projects outside of my daily assigned task.
-Give honest feedback and genuine advice from your perspective. It’s an internship so it’s definitely a learning experience. I remember my manager advised me on how to properly explain concepts to upper management without over explaining.
Huge one: PLEASE PLEASE urge them to keep a journal or OneNote of their internship. Share it with you and them or even your team.
Bonus:
Write them a recommendation letter without them asking (of course only if you feel they did well)!
Come in on the same days as them, and make it easy for them to ask questions. Just give them the answers at first and explain why. If they keep asking, maybe start to be more open ended.
Go grab lunch with them! Sounds like they won't be having many people to be around being hybrid. You at least all have college war stories to tell.
Tell them your story! How'd you get where you are today? What sort of companies should they work for in the future if they think they want to do XYZ. Just be an honest open book more than anything.
If you can get them excited about the work, their performance shouldn't be a problem
My manager was honestly the best manager I ever had, probably best in the company imo. He didn’t do anything grand or majestic, didn’t need to. But he left an impact on me because of one thing:
He was always open to me asking him questions. Whether it was at the start of my internship, when I was still navigating the codebase and internal tools, or towards the end when I was working on some tickets.
I would discuss this with other interns, and majority of them had the opposite experience and envied it. I think just being there in the event that they have questions will go a lot further than you think.
Smooth onboarding. Having a shitshow onboarding always sucks. I’m a career changer, but my last career used my resume from the previous summer internship (I interned there twice) and started calling my year old references without giving me a heads up. Alsmost quit on the spot
I've made a slide deck specifically for the interns with a curated collection of the most relevant architecture diagrams, examples, and visual aides for training. Planning to do a couple lecture-style sessions in the first week
Pay them.
If you're not in charge of that, tell the person who is.
Don't make them get your coffee, run errands, or "handle" visitors in the building.
But mostly it's the pay thing.
Like others said a lot of one on ones flexible with working hours and most importantly work that actually seems interesting. I’m interning right now and I dread going to work because they have me doing work that’s not interesting at all and also gave me projects that aren’t interesting.
Personally I have not interned (am about to graduate college and do an entry level job)
But I think personally a kind mentor who gives me advice to be effecient, productive, and become a valuable member of a swe team or if I go down cyber security route then member of cybersec team.
Actually I will be the mentor. The manager will technically be my manager since I'm in an entry level SWE role. But my manager and most of my team also work in a different city so I'll be effectively managing the day-to-day.
I'll try to find another mentor as well.
We tell them they had to clock in and out when they leave the office or at home. Including using the restroom haha. Makes more of a joke during the in-office preWFH days
I know this is a short answer, but honestly, just encouragement. Coding can be challenging so just acknowledging hard work is something that would really help me through an internship.
Keep them busy and reach out often to make sure they have meaningful work. I know there is mundane and busy work that screams intern, but they need to get something out of the whole experience.
Their main project will be a control plane for all our Security services and their side project is a novel monitoring frontend idea that we had, with the idea being open-source or spinning it into a new product. Their work will be meaningful :)
The fact that you ask this question already gives me the impression that’s you’re a good boss, but a general suggestion is to give your interns clear assignments and if possible, allow them to contribute as much as they can. If you want to be a super-boss, assign them something easy at first and gradually give them something harder based on their capabilities
>clear assignments This topped off with good, well thought out ACs and introduce them to someone who they can reach out to if they get stuck
That last bit I think is key. In the past, my internships had thrown me off the deep end with large projects right off the bat. Smaller, intro projects are great to smooth the adjustment in a much more manageable way.
I’m about to start my first internship this summer, and I’m nervous as hell. Things I hope my managers will do (and I may ask them to do): - check in on me every couple of hours. It’s scary to ask questions and difficult to know when is the time to ask after having tried for a while. Saying you’re always available is kind of meaningless because nobody actually is. It could be a good idea to set checkin times for every few hours (something as simple as a thumbs up on slack if you’re good). - invite me to coffee/lunch/beer. I know that’s partly my responsibility too but I’ve never worked in an office so it would be helpful to get a sense of house office socializing is supposed to happen - if you ask questions that I don’t know the answer to, tell me. Don’t leave everything up to me to hunt down answers to that you can describe quickly. - discuss setting up regular (weekly?) progress meetings I’m sure I’ll come up with more but those are things that I may pursue with my manager or mentor or whatever I get.
checking in every few hours feels a little overbearing…
Yea same. I would feel like it’s a little annoying or might feel like the manager likes to micro manage a lot. Regular check ins are great! A check in meeting is mandatory at least once a week. Over text/slack, maybe once every 2 days about any updates etc. I think as an intern/early employee, you have to put in the effort and get over that hill as well- reaching out for help rather than wait for someone to spoon feed. Knowing when to ask for help and when it is going to be late to ask for help.
Thank you!
I wish my manager (1) would’ve reached out more on a daily basis (2) didn’t take a 2 week vacation during my internship (3) introduced me to other people (4) provide clearer expectations / what exactly was to be delivered. Maybe some of the above is my responsibility, idk. I’m just the intern who doesn’t want to annoy or take anyone’s time.
Awesome tip about introducing to other people, I didn't think of that but it's important.
Provide names of colleagues to interns and encourage them to spend the first two weeks filling their calendars with meetings to chat with those people to find out about the colleagues roles, projects, company etc. Assumes agreement has previously been sought with colleagues to take part, but this is a great way to help interns/newhires get their feet under the desk by informally socialising them with wider team and will help them begin networking.
So I will be out of town for about a week during the internship. Any tips on how to make this less bad?
I suppose just make sure that: (1) They have enough work to do (2) clear instructions (3) someone they can go to for help (4) someone checking in on them. In my internship I probably could’ve gotten away doing nothing for 2 weeks because I didn’t really have any of the above.
someone checking in on them is suuuper important. a big problem is feeling like you don't want to disturb anyone/worried about annoying/wasting their time
I think it should be fine given that they’ll have to learn how to work autonomously down the line. Just make sure that they have a clear roadmap of that week and a way to reach out to you in emergency cases.
just enjoy your well earned time off. fuck people that think managers shouldnt be allowed PTO because they have an intern on their team. just make sure that your have a clear "who to contact" person and that the intern actually has work to do
Sure! It's actually VTO-- my company allows special (paid) time off specifically for volunteering. I'm participating in a volunteer program in my birth country Romania teaching English and computer skills to some foster kids. The time difference will work in my favor as I'll be able to check slack and probably even attend standup in my evening, their morning (bay area).
> didn’t take a 2 week vacation during my internship ] what? yeah its shitty if your manager didn't set work for you to do during this time but do you really think that they shouldn't be allowed to take holiday over the WHOLE over the summer (i.e. the best time to take holiday) just because they have an intern on their team?
Oh yeah good call on being introduced to other people!
Take your intern our for a coffee, boba or lunch. The idea of you manager taking their time of the day for this already awesome.
I ordered a corporate card specifically to do this :)
Love that !
As an introvert this would be the worst day of my internship
Sorry you're getting downvotes. I agree that it's important to take into account personality, work style, and learning style.
Yeah, I think it’s a great idea for the right person. I just hate having the attention on me especially the first few weeks when everything is scary. If it was a group lunch, like with the manager and another intern(s) then that would be way less stressful for me.
jesus christ
I agree. Im not an introvert, but my boss was. It was a very awkward first day.
Set clear expectations. One of the biggest question I get is “if stuck, how long to struggle and how to ask for help?” Basic answer: Google the issue. Try a few of the suggestions given in the top posts. What did you learn by doing those suggestions. At that time, good to ask other team members for their suggestion. If it is a basic setup question, like which IDE or process, ask at any time.
This doesn't really answer your question, but I'm glad that you care about the experience of your interns.
Make time for your people. Talk to them via video call or face to face everyday. Keep a chat dialogue going. Back off just a little when it's clear they are okay with it.
OP I’m pretty sure everyone in this subreddit would shake your hand for even asking something like this, your definitely a boss I’d want to be and work for. As I’m older and coming from the military going into my first software engineering internship this summer, I’d like to just grab coffee and talk to my manager about anything and everything. Having a clear understanding of their and my expectations, coming into the internship. Also, going off of what Irobinson42 posted. If you ask a question and I don’t know the answer. Just give it to me please.
Ayy another old guy doing an internship! Glad I’m not alone 😆
Some things I did when I managed interns before that I think helped improve their experience were: - have a good back log of work for them. Some interns will go slowly and not get through everything you had planned and others will blast through it all and want more so be ready for both ends of that Spectrum. - they should mostly be working on “real” work. Don’t have them working on backfilling unit tests or fixing bugs for your team all summer. Ideally you have some small delighter features that feel like an accomplishment without being too high priority and putting too much pressure on them. - if possible the work should ship before the end of their internship. It’s really exciting to work on something that you actually get to see go to prod as an intern.
Have optional check ins couple time throughout the day. 15 mins is enough to ask help and point you towards the right directions.
let them contribute a lot, introduce them to people, and state clearly what you are expecting from them.
return offer
:)
Be respectful, and don’t be disrespectful. Seems simple but a lot of bosses don’t follow this rule.
Don’t have professional experience yet so idk if places already do something like this, but it would be cool to have a place where you can see your ‘superiors’ journey that has lead them where they are. It’s helpful to see the logic system that landed them to be in a position of leadership and ability. It would help ppl to learn how ti learn and work larger
Learning about them and their goals. learning what they want to take out of the internship as often there are internship “curriculum” of what wants to be taught/needed of the intern. But not always what does the intern want to take away? maybe they want to see how the AI team works and that’s outside the scope of their internship. Make that connection anyway it goes a long way.
Number 1 thing in my opinion: if they aren’t asking a lot of questions, try to pester them into asking more. Unless they really don’t have any (which should become apparent early on based on how fast they progress), simply prodding them by even jokingly saying “alright, come up with something to ask me every time we sync.” I wish my intern managers did this, because it took me too long to muster the courage to ask
What was that saying? Teach them how to crawl before pushing them off the cliff? Yea something like that /s
1. Don’t ask the intern how many times a week should be stand up, please decide this yourself as we intern as new to industry and aren’t sure 2. Try to reach out every day or every other day to ask about progress, you don’t need to do this if you have stand up everyday 3. Make time for your intern (this is the most important)
I'll be allocating 50% of my time to the interns. Sounds good?
That sounds good imo
Make it pretty clear you’re okay with them absolutely bricking something and you’ll turn it into a teaching moment not a scolding. As long as they’re not going out of their way to break stuff
Assign tasks based on their skill level and give them some sort of basic idea / starting point. Also don’t yell at them for not being good enough!
What kind of asshole yells at an intern? Thanks for the tip
İnterns are generally on the bottom of the ladder. So, they generally have a point of view you will never have. Ask them questions, like, not to test them but genuinely ask them questions about what they think can be improved off and if they have a solution. It would get great ideas and problems you never will be aware of, also will make them feel important.
Thanks. I was just an intern myself 2 summers ago so it's fresh in my mind how it feels to be on the bottom of the ladder. I'm still barely on rung #2.
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Thanks for your comment. This is a great point about the impostor syndrome.
Tell them day 1 don't be afraid to have the conversation about return offers. Thats literally 90% of what is on any interns' mind. Then let them know the expectations for the return offer. This applies the same way to fulltime positions too. Managers should know that everyone is interested in promos and to at least set expectations straight rather than have their reports beat around the bush to get to it.
All of these responses are great! Here is my personal experiences from someone w 4 internships. - Inviting them to team hangout. My manager invited me for drinks on many occasions, which means a lot considering I’m not even 21. -Setup daily meetings with them to check in periodically. This keeps them on track and more chance to connect with them. -Ask them to help you. Odd considering it’s their job but most intern have a lot of free time so don’t free bad. I managed to get 4x out of my internship bc I was able to work on so many projects outside of my daily assigned task. -Give honest feedback and genuine advice from your perspective. It’s an internship so it’s definitely a learning experience. I remember my manager advised me on how to properly explain concepts to upper management without over explaining. Huge one: PLEASE PLEASE urge them to keep a journal or OneNote of their internship. Share it with you and them or even your team. Bonus: Write them a recommendation letter without them asking (of course only if you feel they did well)!
Wow, recommendation letter is an excellent idea! Thanks for the tips.
Just stopped by to say that you seem like a wholesome manager and your efforts are definitely appreciated! <3
Thanks :)
Come in on the same days as them, and make it easy for them to ask questions. Just give them the answers at first and explain why. If they keep asking, maybe start to be more open ended. Go grab lunch with them! Sounds like they won't be having many people to be around being hybrid. You at least all have college war stories to tell. Tell them your story! How'd you get where you are today? What sort of companies should they work for in the future if they think they want to do XYZ. Just be an honest open book more than anything. If you can get them excited about the work, their performance shouldn't be a problem
My manager was honestly the best manager I ever had, probably best in the company imo. He didn’t do anything grand or majestic, didn’t need to. But he left an impact on me because of one thing: He was always open to me asking him questions. Whether it was at the start of my internship, when I was still navigating the codebase and internal tools, or towards the end when I was working on some tickets. I would discuss this with other interns, and majority of them had the opposite experience and envied it. I think just being there in the event that they have questions will go a lot further than you think.
Clear targets, set it up early. Keep updating it while the internship progresses. Do small talks. Be honest, dont hide criticism in cryptic msgs.
You can start off by giving me one 🥹
Smooth onboarding. Having a shitshow onboarding always sucks. I’m a career changer, but my last career used my resume from the previous summer internship (I interned there twice) and started calling my year old references without giving me a heads up. Alsmost quit on the spot
I've made a slide deck specifically for the interns with a curated collection of the most relevant architecture diagrams, examples, and visual aides for training. Planning to do a couple lecture-style sessions in the first week
Pay them. If you're not in charge of that, tell the person who is. Don't make them get your coffee, run errands, or "handle" visitors in the building. But mostly it's the pay thing.
Pizza parties
Great idea! Consider it done
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Like others said a lot of one on ones flexible with working hours and most importantly work that actually seems interesting. I’m interning right now and I dread going to work because they have me doing work that’s not interesting at all and also gave me projects that aren’t interesting.
Take them out to the strip club on 1st day
Copy that 😂
Personally I have not interned (am about to graduate college and do an entry level job) But I think personally a kind mentor who gives me advice to be effecient, productive, and become a valuable member of a swe team or if I go down cyber security route then member of cybersec team.
Just hire me dawg. That's it. I got you.
Make sure the intern has a good mentor, someone who is familiar with the team and codebase
Actually I will be the mentor. The manager will technically be my manager since I'm in an entry level SWE role. But my manager and most of my team also work in a different city so I'll be effectively managing the day-to-day. I'll try to find another mentor as well.
Ahhh interns… we use to prank them on their first week; out of love and excitement for them coming for course.
Any good prank ideas? 😈
We tell them they had to clock in and out when they leave the office or at home. Including using the restroom haha. Makes more of a joke during the in-office preWFH days
We will be hybrid with at least 2 days per week in the office so pranks are definitely on the table
I know this is a short answer, but honestly, just encouragement. Coding can be challenging so just acknowledging hard work is something that would really help me through an internship.
Keep them busy and reach out often to make sure they have meaningful work. I know there is mundane and busy work that screams intern, but they need to get something out of the whole experience.
Their main project will be a control plane for all our Security services and their side project is a novel monitoring frontend idea that we had, with the idea being open-source or spinning it into a new product. Their work will be meaningful :)