It’s been a long time coming, but the time has finally come to start my internship!! I’ve been reading numerous posts on LinkedIn about people starting their summer internships and hearing from those around me about their internship experience so far. I’m happy for all of them, truly, but there comes a time when you got to join the fray. Right? That said, I will be going over what the past week or so has been like for me as I get ready to start my internship. After all, it’s Day 0 — there’s no way nothing has happened.
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How many…?
How many days until I begin my Facebook internship? Well, I guess that would depend on when you’re reading this. Or, more importantly, it would depend on when I’m actually able to make the post (you know these things can take a while, right?). So, rather than offering up a number of days, I’ll just reemphasize my start day. Drumroll please…. June 21st Now. Yep, you’ve read that right. By the time this post is made public, I will have already been a few days into my internship. So, you may be wondering why I am making this ‘out-dated’ post. Well, I think it’s worthwhile to share this information pre-Internship. It’s Day 0 after all! But hey, don’t worry. All of the posts following this one will be about my internship :-)
Internship Update
I feel like it’s only right that I start off by sharing what has been going on with the actual internship before going into anything else. I wouldn’t say that a lot has happened, per se. However, a handful of events have taken place within this past week or so. What exactly? Oh, well there’s…
Intern swag. I know — like really, Stephon? Hey, I don’t know about y’all, but I have been looking forward to receiving my intern swag for some weeks now. Actually, let’s be honest. It’s probably been more like months than weeks. You see, intern swag feels like a true greeting from a company. It’s kind of like, “Hey, we look forward to you starting! Take this gift as a sign to not waste our time!” I’m just kidding (for the most part). But for real, receiving the swag is always a nice perk. Now, as for what Facebook has sent their interns this summer: a shirt, sweatshirt, tumblr bottle, two journals, three (adorable) pins, and a few other things. All-in-all, I can say that I am fairly satisfied.
Tech equipment. I think this is what most tech interns end up sitting on the porch all day for until a FedEx truck pulls up. I can’t speak for all tech interns, or even all Facebook interns for the matter, as to what tech an intern will receive. However, for all FBU – Engineering interns, two pieces of equipment can be expected: a high-end laptop and phone. When it’s said like that, maybe it doesn’t sound so cool. But hey, it’s pretty legit. Us interns had the choice between 3 different laptops — a Macbook, Linux, and Windows — and each were top-quality. Then, depending on what track we’re on (Android or iOS), we would be sent a phone with that operating system. What did I receive? Well, being on the Android track, I received a Google Pixel 5 and chose the 2020 Macbook Pro 16 for this summer.
Onboarding. A process that is equally exciting and “yay, I’m doing paperwork!,” this has been overall smooth so far. As a matter of fact, there isn’t much to share at this time since Week 1 hasn’t started just yet. Rather, it’s been more so of completing personal information and work authorization forms (don’t we just love adulting?). That said, there are 2 things they have been made available which I’ve found pretty worthwhile:
- Intern Welcome Packet – A packet that mostly goes over what we can expect from now until the end of the internship. This includes helpful pre-start material, an overview of the week 1 agenda, details about orientation, tips for working at Facebook from home, and more.
- Intern Group on Workplace – As one could expect from working at a social media company, all interns were placed in a group on Workplace. Never heard of Workplace? That’s fine – neither had I. How I view it, Workplace is basically like Facebook but for internal use. It’s what nearly all employees use to make announcements, share information, and simply communicate with each other.
Hmmm… I think that about sums it all up. It hasn’t been too much but also not too little either. Seems that Facebook is hitting that Goldilock zone just right as it prepares its interns for the summer.
What I’ve Been Up To
Before closing out this post, I’d like to share what I have personally been up to in this past week or so. Don’t worry — I’ll (try) to keep it brief :-)
Reviewing Java. Hopefully I’m not alone when I say this, but it can be sooo easy to ‘forget’ a programming language. The semester ended only about 2 months ago, and I can honestly say I do not recall as much about the language compared to when the semester was ongoing. (But hey, I’ve been enjoying my summer vacation. Can you blame me?) Either ways, I decided that it would be wise to review some of my past code and do a bit of HackerRank since I’ll be using Java this summer to code Android apps.
Learning about HTTP & API. Included in the pre-start material, HTTP and API is something that I will need to know. In case you might be wondering, Application Programming Interface (aka API) is how two applications communicate with each other, while HTTP is pretty much the messages sent between these applications. Believe it or not, you use an API nearly every time you use an app like Facebook or even check the weather on your phone.
Becoming familiar with Android Studio. Also included in the pre-start material, Android Studio is the official IDE for Google’s Android operating system. The Integrated Development Environment (aka IDE) is the software application that allows people to write programs using certain tools. In other words, it’s where I’ll be writing Java code while learning Android development.
Setting up the workspace. It has always been important to have a good workspace, whether that is for school, work, or some other activity. Though, as we all know, the need for a good workspace has become even more important during the pandemic as more and more people work from home. That said, I have ordered myself a few things to set up my workspace: a full-sized folding desk, portable monitor, and nice (not-too-expensive) pair of noise-cancelling headphones, and even an ergonomic chair with memory foam seat cushion (hey, when you’re going to be sitting in one spot for hours, you ought to treat your toosh properly).
But yep, that’s what I have been up to. Hopefully I was able to keep it brief enough for ya :-)
What about You?
So, that is how the past week or so has been for me as my start date inches closer and closer. Tell me, what are you doing a week before starting a new job or internship? Are you relaxing, getting prepared, or both? Feel free to share your experience in the comments!
As always, feel free to message me on LinkedIn if you would like to talk personally. Have a good day!
Hi Stephon,
Also as an intern in the tech industry myself, I definitely have the same feeling and experience with you about onboarding. It’s always exciting to receive intern swags and awesome tech products for work. For me, I feel like onboarding and ramping up is all about learning – learning new tools, new APIs, and even new languages. Later on in the internship, you’ll have the opportunity to put all what you have learned in the past few weeks into production, and I hope you have a great time at Facebook!
Andrew
Excellent post, Stephon! I really like your Facebook swag. Onboarding has been overwhelming for me. One too may meetings and lots of activities. But I admit it was super fun! you will be in the deep end in no time crunching out work and widening your horizons. I hope you have. a great summer!
This all sounds so exciting! I’m impressed you took some time to prep for your upcoming internship – I definitely relaxed as much as possible in the week(s) leading up to a new job. I’m also happy to hear it sounds like you did a bit of relaxing in the past two months – I think that’s very important. I look forward to hearing about the start of your internship.
In reading about the importance of preparation, it’s clear that having the right tools and strategies is crucial for success, whether it’s in academic writing or project management. I found it particularly interesting how the approach to preparation can be mirrored in various fields. For instance, in project management, platforms like Triskell Software offer robust features that help in planning and executing projects effectively, which echoes the sentiment here about the necessity of being well-prepared. It’s fascinating to see how universally applicable these principles are across different disciplines.