Over the past year, I completed two internships totaling six months:
- Data Analyst Intern at a small company, 2025.04–2025.09
- Data Engineering Intern at a mid-to-large company, 2026.01–2026.02
During those internships, I often shared bits of daily work on social platforms. Over time, a lot of classmates, younger students, and people online started asking how I found my first internship with no prior experience.
I got plenty of help from older students and strangers on the internet while figuring things out myself, so I wanted to organize what worked for me and put it all in one place. If you’re feeling lost about where to begin, this is the path I’d suggest:
Choose a direction → build your skills → do projects → write your resume → apply widely and interview often → get an offer and start
Pick a direction before you do anything else
If you’re a computer-related major, the most important step comes before studying harder or sending applications: decide what kind of role you actually want.
Common paths include:
front-end development, back-end development, Java development, client-side development, software testing, UI/UX design, operations, data analysis, data engineering, product management, and business operations.
These roles can differ a lot in terms of required skills, day-to-day work, career growth, and pay.
Some tracks are highly specialized and don’t transfer easily at all, like operations and product. Others overlap more, such as data analysis, business operations, and data operations.
So don’t pick a path just because it looks popular. You need to weigh your interests, your current strengths, your long-term plans, the job requirements, the hiring market, and the salary range—then choose one direction and go deep.
A lot of people ask whether they can prepare for several tracks at once.
My honest answer: not really. If someone truly has the ability to master multiple paths at the same time, they probably don’t need this kind of guide in the first place.
Learn the role-specific skills thoroughly
Once you know your target role, immediately look up the learning roadmap and start with the core tools and skills that role requires.
You can find roadmaps and tech stack discussions on video platforms, social platforms, and community posts, or go straight to job descriptions on recruiting sites to see what companies actually want.
Two examples I know best:
- Data engineering: Python, SQL, Hadoop, Hive, Spark, Flink, data warehouse modeling, and related fundamentals
- Data analysis: SQL, Python, Excel, BI visualization tools, statistics, and business knowledge
These two directions sound similar on the surface, but in practice they are very different.
My first internship was in data analysis, and later I switched into data engineering. To make that transition, I spent more than two months intensively filling in skill gaps and working on projects. After updating my resume, the overlap between the old and new versions was under 20%.
That’s how different adjacent roles can be. Don’t assume that because two job titles sound related, one preparation plan will cover both.
Build projects that can speak for you
Projects matter a lot when you don’t have experience.
A simple rule:
- If you have enough time, build a solid foundation first and then do projects.
- If time is tight and you already know a little, start projects right away and learn as you go.
Places to find project resources include online video platforms, social platforms, paid learning communities, and professional communities such as Kaggle.
One thing worth saying clearly: free resources are often the most expensive in the long run. The quality of free material online varies wildly, and a lot of it is outdated.
My suggestion is to choose a relatively active learning community with a large user base and updated content. A good one usually offers a more systematic roadmap, tutorials, and project materials in one place. The cost can range from a few dozen to a few hundred per year.
There’s no single right choice here. Pick based on your budget, timeline, and current level.
Polish your resume and use the STAR method
Use a clean, simple resume template. Don’t make it overly decorative.
When writing about projects or experience, structure your bullet points with the STAR method:
- S (Situation): the background
- T (Task): your responsibility or goal
- A (Action): what you specifically did
- R (Result): the outcome, deliverable, or data-backed result
If you write your experience in the order of background - task - action - result, interviewers can quickly understand what you worked on and what you were actually capable of doing.
For roles like design, front-end, or BI, it also helps to include a portfolio link on your resume. An extra way to show your work is an extra chance to get noticed.
Apply boldly, interview a lot, and keep reviewing your performance
Once your resume is ready, start applying.
Typical channels:
- Small and mid-sized companies: general recruiting apps and internship platforms
- Large companies: official career websites, usually through campus recruitment pages
Most internship interviews are now online.
A typical process looks like this:
- Small and mid-sized companies: usually 1–2 rounds
- Large companies: often 3 rounds, commonly a mentor interview, leader interview, and HR interview
The focus of each round is usually different:
- Mentor interview: technical details and professional competence
- Leader interview: potential, problem-solving approach, and overall understanding
- HR interview: stability, availability, and basic background information
There are also better times to submit applications:
- Morning: 9:00–11:00
- Afternoon: 14:00–17:00
That’s when HR is more likely to be online and able to respond efficiently.
Getting your first internship involves a lot of luck. It’s completely normal to feel like you have no obvious advantage.
What matters is volume and iteration: apply more, interview more, review more. Keep going long enough, and eventually something will land.
After the offer: be ready to start quickly
Most regular internships expect interns to join soon after the interview process ends, so it’s best to prepare in advance.
Internship background checks are usually not especially strict, but companies commonly ask for documents during onboarding, such as:
- student ID
- CET-4 or CET-6 score reports, if you listed them on your resume
Anything you put on your resume should be truthful and supported by real proof. Don’t fabricate details.
A few practical notes
Internship duration
Companies usually want interns who can stay for a stable period, so job descriptions often ask for 3–6 months or more.
In practice, internship agreements are often less rigid than full-time contracts. During interviews, you can consistently say that you are available for 3–6 months.
If something comes up later and you need to leave, giving notice around three days in advance and handing off your work properly is usually enough. There’s no need to carry too much psychological pressure about it.
School policies
If you are not yet in your final year, schools often do not formally support off-campus internships during the semester, and many do not have clear official policies for it.
From the school’s perspective, if something goes wrong while you are interning away from campus, counselors and the institution may be held responsible. That’s why approvals tend to be extremely strict.
Outside of winter and summer breaks, the chances of being allowed to leave campus in a fully formal and compliant way are often quite low.
In many cases, you have to figure out a practical solution on your own.
I hope this helps if you’re trying to break into your first internship from scratch.