Important note: This post is heavily skewed towards research internships. This is because this is what I have experience with and are the target for most students who reach out to me.

During my first summer internship, I asked a research mentor of mine from the company that I currently work at: “Realistically, how important is doing an internship?” Now that I’m on the other side and am regularly asked to interview and evaluate potential candidates, her response perfectly summed up my current experience:

“Not all interns receive full-time job offers, but all full-time researchers were former interns [or contractors].”

Take this with a grain of salt, that almost all of my academic friends who are now industry roles did not do internships during their PhDs. However, I know this was the direct reason that I was offered a full-time role at my current company.

If you are unable to apply to internships (e.g., due to visa constraints), see What if you can’t do a contractor role or internship?

Why do an internship

If you’re uncertain about academia vs. industry, try out doing an internship to figure this out. I’ve had numerous friends who have completed internships with a renewed faith in academia and others who, like myself, went full send and directly recruited for full-time roles at those target companies.

Beyond the soul-searching aspect, there are many reasons to do industry internships:

  • experience - also to add to your resume (yes, it does matter)
  • money - summer internships almost always pay more than research fellowships, department funding, or being a TA
    • Tip: If you can request your MA degree during your PhD, I recommend it. Some PhD programs offer the option to receive your MA degree once you’ve completed certain requirements e.g., classes & qualifying exams. This was optional for my program and only a few admin steps to request this piece of paper. (This was not the same as “mastering out”, just an optional step to get the degree in writing.) Because I had my MA degree by the time that I applied, I was offered a higher stipend than if I hadn’t.
  • common practice for your field - for example, it’s standard for HCI students to do an internship almost every summer of grad school
  • networking connections - to hear about future opportunities

When to apply

September to December is your ideal target.

Why? Applications may or likely stay open later, but there are informal deadlines to keep in mind. For example, NeurIPS occurs in early December. This is where many industry researchers meet candidate grad student applicants and make their final decisions about their headcount allocation. Know which conferences matter the most for your target industry. Informal deadlines are very real for headcount considerations and you can find these out by networking.

On that note,

You should be networking with potential internship mentors long before September - December (application cycle).

How do you find these potential mentors and identify their research questions of interest? The same way that you found your grad advisor.1

  • read relevant papers - many industry researchers are still publishing
  • read medium/substack/personal websites
  • watch research talks - e.g., on YouTube
  • LinkedIn - researchers will often post on if they are recruiting students for internships

Once you start talking with people, figure out (1) if they have open headcount; and (2) which research topics their internship headcount is for. Some headcount are written as open-ended headcount, and others are written for specific projects.

Reminder: Make sure that your resume, LinkedIn, and personal website are polished by the time that you start networking.2

Important note about eligibility: You must be a full-time student. For most industry internships, you need to be a student to both apply to and do the internships. For many companies, the definition of “student” is nuanced. For my company, this meant that students need to remain in a grad program for full academic quarter after the internship. For some internship applications, I’ve seen requirements for a full academic year.

Also talk to your grad advisor about which summer(s) are best for you to target for internships.3

How to apply

Just like in grad school, apply and then reach out to your target mentor (if you know them) and tell them that you applied. That way, they can keep an eye out for your application.

The key takeaway to this is that networking is not just for job hunting, but also for internship hunting!

How I landed my first internship: I was transparent with lab mates that I was interesting in industry. One of them introduced me to a former alumna of UCSD, who was now full-time at Adobe and had also completed an Adobe Research fellowship. I reached out to this person to hear about her experiences. Years later, I applied to the Adobe Research fellowship. I made it to the final interview rounds but I did not get it (I actually bombed the interview, because I was so out of practice interviewing in non-academic settings). But this is what solidified my interest in Adobe Research. When I was planning to apply to internships, I reached out to this person again who offered to introduce me to some other researchers. I think that I had networking chats with 5-6 researchers. Only 1 had hiring power and open headcount. We kept talking for a few months, I applied, and this person with open headcount eventually became my first industry research mentor during my first Adobe Research internship!

You can read more about my other internships in Doing industry internships during your PhD and section Discuss when to do internships during the PhD in Be transparent with your PhD advisor.

About Tech Internships

Internships at large tech companies often have specific PhD internship programs (e.g., Adobe Research, Apple ML Research, Toyota Research Institute, Meta Research, Google, Microsoft Research, Magic Labs (Sony), Disney Research, Spotify). This means that they have built-in mentorship frameworks, structured intern socials & learning events, and end-of-summer project targets. However, these kinds of internships are often competitive.

If you find yourself striking out at these companies or want to expand your application scope, consider:

  • smaller tech companies (e.g., Duolingo, Figma) or startups
  • large companies that are tech adjacent and have tech internships (e.g., Marriott, Chase, Nike, DoorDash, Airbnb, Warner Bros)

Interviewing

Prepare for the internship interview as if it were an interview for a full-time position. I recommend reading Always ask questions at the end of an interview

Negotiating your internship offer

Not all internship stipends are negotiable, but it doesn’t hurt to ask if it is. Consider negotiating:

  • your stipend
  • relocation bonus
  • benefits - many internships offer similar benefits as full-time employees as a recruiting technique, e.g., commuter card, wellness bonus.
  • company housing (if available)

Doing the internship

Once you land an internship (woohoo!), I recommend reading Doing an industry internship

AI was not used to write, edit, or brainstorm this post. All mistakes and em dashes are my own.

  1. See section Figuring out who to apply to in Academia and industry aren’t that different ↩
  2. See Resume, LinkedIn, and your personal website. You need all 3. ↩
  3. See section Discuss when to do internships during the PhD in Be transparent with your PhD advisor ↩