An Intern Guide to a Summer in the Bay Area
alexeymk.com
An Intern Guide to a Summer in the Bay Area
1–10 of 38 posts
Re: An Intern Guide to a Summer in the Bay Area
#2The most important thing you can do is meet other interns, particularly if, like me, you go to a small school in the middle of nowhere which lacks a homegrown tech scene. There are tons of ways to do that, but the best is to just go to hacker events like hackathons, meetups and the various intern networking events that companies sponsor.
Before this summer I knew almost no one else interested in startups or who read hn. Silicon Valley is the center of that universe, and it attracts the best students from all over the country. Nothing is more valuable than taking advantage of that energy.
I think Alexey agrees, because he seemed to know every intern in the valley this summer. In all, great advice!
Re: An Intern Guide to a Summer in the Bay Area
#3It seems like this would be really useful for anyone looking to move to that area, intern or not. Awesome post. I will be referencing this in the future if I move to SF.
Did you go to or hear about any of the github hangouts? I've heard from some people in SF that those attract a lot of tech people.
Re: An Intern Guide to a Summer in the Bay Area
#4Other cool things you should do:
- Go to a GitHub drinkup
- Rent a car for the day and drive on CA-1 S to Monterey. Visit the aquarium.
- Check out the Thursday-night "Nightlife" event at The Academy of Sciences
- Enjoy SF's music, food, and cocktail scenes
- Network
Re: An Intern Guide to a Summer in the Bay Area
#5One really nice thing about VTA light rail is that they have wifi now. It's still really slow, but that has helped tremendously. Also, if you are interning somewhere to the south, such as San Jose, there is now an express light rail line starting at the Santa Teresa station during commute times that is pretty speedy.
Re: An Intern Guide to a Summer in the Bay Area
#6The most important thing you can do is meet other interns, particularly if, like me, you go to a small school in the middle of nowhere which lacks a homegrown tech scene. There are tons of ways to do that, but the best is to just go to hacker events like hackathons, meetups and the various intern networking events that companies sponsor. Before this summer I knew almost no one else interested in startups or who read…
Heh, thanks Micah!
Re: An Intern Guide to a Summer in the Bay Area
#7Thanks for the PadMapper shout out!
Re: An Intern Guide to a Summer in the Bay Area
#8Other than Startup Roots, are there any other good ways to find Bay Area startup internships?
Re: An Intern Guide to a Summer in the Bay Area
#9Other cool things you should do: - Go to a GitHub drinkup - Rent a car for the day and drive on CA-1 S to Monterey. Visit the aquarium. - Check out the Thursday-night "Nightlife" event at The Academy of Sciences - Enjoy SF's music, food, and cocktail scenes - Network
I would imagine most interns are under 21 and thus cannot do most of these things.
Though I do recommend visiting the Aquarium in Monterey, the Exploratorium and the California Academy of Sciences (During the day if you're under 21)
Re: An Intern Guide to a Summer in the Bay Area
#10Other than Startup Roots, are there any other good ways to find Bay Area startup internships?
InternMatch.com. I was in Startup Roots this past year and feel like the majority of interns that I met in the group had found their internships through there.
With that being said, if you're an amazing engineer you can just reach out directly to the founders of startups you'd like to work for. They'll listen.