Every year, a new wave of job seekers and college students alike hit the pavement looking to embark on their future path in tech. But even after networking, attending career fairs, and continuously applying to potential roles, many are still left wondering the best way to get their foot in the door.
According to two local tech leaders, the answer might be less complicated than you think.
A company’s internship program is often the initial stepping stone on the journey to career success. College might provide the necessary knowledge required for the professional world, but internships provide the opportunity to apply that knowledge in real time. By being able to wear “many different hats” within the company, interns better understand how each role contributes to project completion and the dynamic differences between teams.
“I had no professional work experience prior to joining Barn2Door, so my knowledge of marketing was incredibly limited,” Bernice Alora, market research manager at Barn2Door, said. “Along with the responsibilities within the internship program came the demands of a high-growth startup, which have exponentially helped with my professional growth.”
Internships also provide the opportunity to discover or flex a strength in an area that might not have previously been considered. Remitly Product Manager Buyaki Nyatichi said that even though her degree was in a different field, she was able to seek out an internship to give her the experience she was truly passionate about. This gave her the opportunity to both triumph and fail at various projects, which she said was imperative to improvement.
Both have since grown within their respective companies after accepting their internship offer, and stressed the importance of the wisdom they could have only received as an intern.
Alora said that learning what actually goes on behind the scenes when constructing a marketing email is typically the most “eye-opening” experience for interns in her program.
What opportunities exist and what kind of experience can interns expect?
I run the market research internship program – one of many intern programs across the company – which provides interns the opportunity to participate in a high-growth startup while learning about the marketing field and its many facets. The main priority of market research interns is to grow the company’s lead database, as well as track lead performance from engagement to conversion.
Outside of conducting research on our target markets, interns hone their writing and creative marketing skills through different project-based activities. Projects help interns gain experience across marketing areas such as demand, content, social media and brand. Sample projects include email marketing campaigns, creating and implementing social media ads, creating newsletter templates, and giving input on landing page designs.
In addition to daily projects and work, interns grow professionally by engaging peers, managers and executives across the company. Opportunities include attending intern coffees with managers from various departments, lunch and learns, all-company weekly meetings, and joining in on after-work activities or team challenges (e.g. Farm Workday, Step Challenge, picnics).
In a fast-paced environment like this, wearing many different hats tests everyone’s flexibility and pushes their growth boundaries.”
What are some of the coolest projects your interns have gotten to participate in?
Marketing interns often say their favorite projects are those that allow them to “own the whole process.” Take email marketing, for example: interns write their own emails, from subject line to embedded links, then send those emails to a subset of leads or target customers they have generated. Learning what goes on behind those emails is one of the coolest parts of this internship.
Through these activities, interns get to test out different variables like changing one word in the subject line of an email, adding or removing an emoji, or making a video ad and comparing it to an image. Interns get to brainstorm ideas with one another so they can try techniques or alternatives that the team may not have previously done. Marketing projects directly benefit the marketing team as a whole, from brainstorming to A/B testing results, fine-tuning customer engagement and more. This hands-on “demand marketing” experience sets our market research interns on a path to become well-rounded marketers.
How have your internship programs helped your interns grow professionally and kickstart successful careers?
I had no professional work experience prior to joining Barn2Door, and my undergraduate degree is not directly related to the field that I am now in, so my knowledge of marketing was incredibly limited. I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to intern with Barn2Door, and transition to being a full-time employee and market research manager upon graduation.
In a fast-paced environment like this, wearing many different hats is not uncommon – it tests everyone’s flexibility and pushes their growth boundaries. The biggest lesson I can take away from my experience is the importance of having my personal values align with the company’s mission. Knowing that I am working toward something bigger than myself is what keeps me going, encouraging me to work harder for both the company’s and my own personal growth. Working for a company that lives by their core values is amazing, and it is an honor to be one of the interns that have become a full-time employee at Barn2Door.
Nyatichi said that one of the most important lessons she learned during her internship was experiencing what it takes to be a good product manager and how to work in a cross-functional team.
What made you decide this was the right place to do your internship?
I joined Remitly as an intern after graduating from my undergrad program at Whitman College. My bachelor’s degree was in computer science, and I knew that I wanted to pursue product management instead of software development. The only problem was that most of my internships and projects through college had focussed on software development. I didn’t have as much experience in product management. So I began looking for a company that would give me an opportunity to learn and build on something I was truly passionate about.
I was familiar with Remitly because I had used their remittance product to send money to my family in Kenya, and always had a great experience. But I never thought of it as a place where I could grow my career until a Whitman College alumnus told me to consider it. I remember reading the company’s vision and cultural values and thinking to myself, “This is exactly where I want to be.” Remitly’s mission resonated with me, so I knew that by joining I would not only be growing as a young professional but also working on projects that were close to my heart. I applied soon after and was excited to join the Passbook team.
We learn a lot more from failed experiments than flawless projects.”
What’s the coolest projects you’ve worked on in your role as an intern?
I had the opportunity to work on several great projects such as UX improvements for our Passbook app, but the coolest project was our person-to-person (P2P) money transfer product that enables Passbook customers to send and receive money from other users. This was my first big project. I was responsible for refining requirements and leading a cross-functional team (engineering, design, marketing and data analytics) toward a successful launch.
In product management, communication is important. By learning to articulate what the team is working on to the different stakeholders as well as provide regular updates on progress, I was able to better my communication skills. I was also able to improve my organization skills. I needed to manage backlogs by prioritizing tasks and managing my time effectively so I could provide support to my project team. Another skill that I developed was leading customer interviews. We pride ourselves on being customer-centric and we often reach out to customers to get feedback on what we are doing well, as well as areas for improvement. I learned how to conduct these interviews as well as process and analyze the responses.
How has your internship helped you grow professionally, and how will you carry the lessons you’ve learned forward into your career?
This internship was the first step into my product management career. It helped me learn what it takes to be a good product manager and how to work in a cross-functional team. I was also able to develop meaningful relationships with colleagues who continue to serve as mentors as I grow in product management. One of the greatest lessons I learned from my internship is, “don’t be afraid to fail,” which is also one of our company’s cultural values. I learned that it was okay to make mistakes, as long as I learned from the experience and continued to improve. I think most young professionals are afraid to fail. But we learn a lot more from failed experiments than flawless projects.
My ability to learn quickly and put forward good work led to Remitly extending me a full-time product manager offer. As I continue my career, I look forward to improving my product management skills and growing my relationships.
