2024 Student Internship Spotlight
By Evan Lybrand
Media InquiriesEvery year our students have the opportunity to participate in internships with companies across a variety of industries. This gives students a chance to take the technical skills they've developed in their courses and use them in a real-world setting.
Some of our current students shared their internship experience with us:
Ezra Fu
MS in Information Networking (MSIN)
Company: Apple
Team: Siri Team
Projects: I was working on projects focused on enhancing the cross-device experience for Siri. It’s truly inspiring to work on products that I use in my everyday life.
Most Exciting Aspect: One highlight of this journey would definitely be WWDC 2024, where I witnessed the birth of Apple Intelligence up close in my very first month.
Lessons: One of the greatest perks of my time at Apple as an intern was the chance to interact with a wide range of people — from fresh new hires to Tim Cook himself. These conversations were invaluable, allowing me to seek advice for both professional and personal development.
How INI Coursework helped: The communication skills I sharpened in the INI’s APD course came in handy here, especially when breaking the ice with fellow interns or bridging gaps with senior managers.
Advice for Students Seeking Internships: For those on the hunt for internships, my biggest piece of advice is to be genuine. Think about what a hiring manager would want in a team member. And during your interviews, approach tasks like they’re real-world scenarios. Don’t just view them as a set of trials. Best of luck to all the students in their search!
Shubham Kachroo
MS in Mobile and IoT Engineering (MSMITE)
Company: New York Times (NYT)
Team: Ad Experience Team
Projects: My main project was to develop a native ad library from scratch for the Android platform to support showing full-screen interstitial and native ads. This library will be integrated across all NYT’s applications, including News, Games, Cooking, and Athletics. This project will enhance the user experience and significantly improve ad performance metrics.
Most Exciting Aspect: Participating in the NYT’s annual Maker Week was the most thrilling aspect of my internship. This event allowed me to upskill my knowledge about cloud technologies and dive deep into fun side projects, enhancing my skills and contributing innovative solutions. Additionally, engaging in multiple tech talks gave me insights into the latest industry trends and attending intern activities hosted by the talent acquisition team at the well-known nearby places in Times Square.
Lessons: My time at the NYT was enriching in terms of skill development. I learned advanced development techniques on Android and iOS platforms, delved into the Google Ad Manager suite, and expanded my knowledge of backend development alongside cloud technologies like AWS and GCP through the NYT's skill builder portal, preparing for upcoming cloud certifications. The engaging environment honed my abilities in agile methodologies and effective communication within a large remote team.
How INI Coursework Helped: My coursework and projects at the Information Networking Institute (INI) at CMU were instrumental during my internship. The skills gained in software development, system design, and project management equipped me to tackle the complexities of large-scale software solutions at the NYT, making my internship experience smoother and more effective.
Advice for Students Seeking Internships: I’d recommend building a solid foundation in both theoretical and practical aspects. Networking is crucial; connect with industry professionals through LinkedIn and attend relevant webinars to stay updated on industry opportunities. Lastly, don’t hesitate to contact alums or faculty for guidance and recommendations.
Rory Landau
MS in Mobility and IoT Engineering (MSMITE)
Company: Gravwell
Team: Backend Team
Projects: Everything I worked on was open source, which I am grateful for. The opportunity to create something useful and be able to discuss it in detail is really exciting to me. My project was reconstructing their Command-Line Interface (CLI) from scratch. Their existing CLI has been thrown together under severe time constraints. For my role, I was to build a brand new tool using their Application Program Interface (API). Ideally, this tool could be comfortably used directly by a human or called from scripts for automated, non-interactive functionality. To that end, I created a platform that would be easy to maintain and upgrade well into the future for both of these use-cases. For humans, it is a shell-like TUI, built on top of the incredible Bubble Tea library. For scripting and automation, it is a commander with nestable subcommands and context-aware flags. If you are interested, check out the source code. As part of this project, I also developed Weave, a simple utility for turning arbitrary Go data into more common formats (CSV, JSON, or tabular).
Most Exciting Aspect: Definitely working with such a new, motivated team. Everyone was so good at everything and motivated to do good work. The project being open source was also really exciting.
Lessons: I have rolled out large projects before that required significant design consideration, but never quite from scratch like this. The internship helped me develop a better sense for architecting software at a grander scale and with eyes firmly on passing it off to the next developer.
How INI Coursework Helped: Perhaps more figurative, but my time at INI and with CMU has greatly improved my ability to tackle engineering problems piecemeal. It was not a specific class, per se, so much as the time management and problem solving that comes with having to overcome so many problems the size of mountains.
Advice for Students Seeking Inernships: There are a lot of great teams out there. FAANGs are not the end-all-be-all. Broaden your search, work with your advisors and pass opportunities along to your friends. We all look out for each other here.
Zihui Liu
MS in Artificial Intelligence Engineering - Information Security (MSAIE-IS)
Company: Confluent
Team: API Gateway & Infrastructure Team
Projects: I designed and implemented a new GraphQL mutation to enhance batching processing performance for our service.
Most Exciting Aspect: Gaining hands-on experience with the complete DevOps cycle at a company scale. Unlike the smaller projects I’ve done before, this opportunity allowed me to develop features that required future extensibility and make a tangible impact.
Lessons: I deepened my knowledge of Golang, design patterns and various monitoring and testing techniques. I also had the opportunity to learn from experienced colleagues, especially in problem-solving and idea presentation.
How INI Coursework Helped: The career coaching at INI was invaluable in preparing my resume and making final offer decisions. Courses like the AI System and Toolchain class, as well as the Fundamentals of Telecommunication Networks (FTN) class, provided practical knowledge that prepared me for interviews and better understanding my work tasks.
Advice for Students Seeking Internships: Don’t be overly anxious about not getting interviews, and always be prepared. Job hunting, especially for internships, inevitably involves a bit of luck. Being technically prepared and ready to discuss your resume experiences in detail will significantly benefit you during interviews.
Nithisha Shivakumar
MS in Information Technology - Information Security (MSIT-IS)
Company: Juniper Networks
Team: Network Security Team
Projects: Working with the Network Security Team, I had the opportunity to learn and contribute to a Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) customer solution project. This project allowed me to expand my expertise in several key areas such as Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) for secure network communications, Remote Access VPN to improve secure connectivity for remote users, Traffic Load Balancing techniques to optimize network performance, High Availability infrastructure to ensure network reliability and uptime and Secure User Authentication to safeguard user access. It gave me hands-on experience in building secure, scalable solutions that are critical for real-world customer needs.
Most Exciting Aspect: The intern showcase, where I presented my work to a large audience with diverse technical backgrounds, which helped me improve my communication and presentation skills. I also had the privilege to attend speaker series sessions featuring the CEO, leadership team and company-wide all-hands meetings. Hearing directly from top executives about their career journeys, leadership philosophies and insights into the company’s vision was incredibly inspiring. It gave me a broader perspective on how to approach my career, focus on my current role, and continuously push myself out of my comfort zone. These experiences were truly impactful and helped shape my mindset for future career growth.
Lessons: During my internship, I expanded my skills in areas that I hadn’t previously explored during my time at Juniper India. Working on customer business solutions gave me a clear understanding of the real-world impact of technical concepts. In a short span, I was able to build stronger team collaboration skills, which led to productive coffee chats with my colleagues, where we discussed technical challenges. This also gave me the opportunity to observe how customer escalations and requirements are handled, providing valuable insights into the practical side of delivering solutions.
How INI Coursework Helped: Although I had prior work experience in this field, the security core and networks core courses I took at the INI significantly strengthened my theoretical foundation, something I previously felt less confident about. The knowledge I gained gave me a newfound confidence in my abilities. Additionally, the skills I developed in handling the INI’s rigorous coursework helped me quickly learn and adapt to multiple domains during my internship, allowing me to contribute effectively in a short span of time. The critical thinking and practical application of security concepts I learned at the INI enabled me to contribute effectively to the projects at Juniper.
Advice for Students Seeking Internships: Be proactive: Actively apply to open positions and don’t hesitate to reach out to hiring managers or recruiters. Show genuine interest in the company and its work. Be curious: Always ask questions and seize every opportunity to learn from those around you. Curiosity will help you grow. Apply your skills: Look for internships that not only align with your academic background but also challenge you to step outside your comfort zone. Network: Build meaningful relationships with mentors and colleagues. These connections can open new doors and guide your career in ways you may not expect.