With events and programs getting canceled, trying to manage the COVID job search landscape, and new opportunities arising, my summer was a wild ride. I had an internship program that canceled on me, failed the job search, took two classes, and ended up landing a small internship at the end. What started as a dismal summer ended up being a productive one.
Last spring, I enrolled in the Facebook Career Connections Fellowship program that trained me on social media and digital marketing skills and would match me with local businesses in Albuquerque for an internship. The program consisted of a summit, four-week training, an interview process, and a final matching. I didn’t know much about internships at the time, so I thought this would be a good program to train me and get me a local internship for the summer. I had attended the summit and gone through the four-week training and felt pretty good about my chances of getting an internship.
Two weeks before the end of the semester, I was notified that I wouldn’t move on to the interview process because of complications with COVID-19. At this point, I had two weeks to find another internship or a summer job before the spring semester ended and my summer began. And so began my frantic search for a job or internship. I spent two weeks sending in dozens of applications. I received three interviews, one call back, and zero offers.
As the semester rolled to a stop and my summer began, I had landed a few interviews, but the businesses didn’t offer part-time work, which I would need because I signed up for a couple of summer classes. I was extremely disheartened that I couldn’t even get a temporary part-time job, but understood that the pandemic has significantly impacted the number of jobs available. I decided to move on with my summer and instead focus my efforts on summer classes and personal projects.
I took a 300-level statistics class that helped me move forward in my degree and an interview prep workshop that helped me prepare for technical interviews. Both classes went well, and I am really glad I took the time to take them. To make the most out of my summer, I decided to work on some personal projects.
Let me tell you, doing personal projects is hard.
I spent more time trying to find an idea and plan out a way I can do it within a summer with my abilities than actually doing the projects. I got stuck and couldn’t find help on one of them. The other two are partially done.
Two weeks before the end of the semester, I was notified that I wouldn’t move on to the interview process because of complications with COVID-19. At this point, I had two weeks to find another internship or a summer job before the spring semester ended and my summer began. And so began my frantic search for a job or internship. I spent two weeks sending in dozens of applications. I received three interviews, one call back, and zero offers.
As the semester rolled to a stop and my summer began, I had landed a few interviews, but the businesses didn’t offer part-time work, which I would need because I signed up for a couple of summer classes. I was extremely disheartened that I couldn’t even get a temporary part-time job, but understood that the pandemic has significantly impacted the number of jobs available. I decided to move on with my summer and instead focus my efforts on summer classes and personal projects.
I took a 300-level statistics class that helped me move forward in my degree and an interview prep workshop that helped me prepare for technical interviews. Both classes went well, and I am really glad I took the time to take them. To make the most out of my summer, I decided to work on some personal projects.
Let me tell you, doing personal projects is hard.
I spent more time trying to find an idea and plan out a way I can do it within a summer with my abilities than actually doing the projects. I got stuck and couldn’t find help on one of them. The other two are partially done.
 Hiking with a friend back home | Side note: exercising during a pandemic is DIFFICULT!! It was hard for me to find the motivation to go outside and run a little or try to do workouts at home. Fortunately, cases were low in Montana (where I spent my summer) so my pool opened June 1 and I was able to swim once a day for two months of my summer. Props to all you people who did some sort of exercise or self-care over the summer. |
In the middle of June, I got a message from the Career Connections program (yeah remember them from the spring?). They didn’t have paid opportunities anymore, but they had a few businesses that were looking for interns who still wanted experience. I was already set on a good steady rhythm for the summer and didn’t really want this to mess things up more…. But I decided to give it a shot.
Five interviews later, I got matched with a business that runs STEM camps for kids. They were extremely understanding of my commitments and were willing give me flexible hours, and they were excited that I was in SWE (you should definitely join SWE if you haven’t already!).
My daily schedule during the latter half of my summer looked something like this:
5:00 am: Wake up
5:30-7:30 am: Swim
7:30-8:30 am: Breakfast and sit outside in the nice weather
9:00 am: Nap (yes I took naps at 9 in the morning)
10:00 am: Study Japanese (or at least try to)
10:30-11:30 am: Statistics lecture over Zoom
11:30-12:30 pm: Homework
12:30-1:30 pm: Lunch
1:30-3:30 pm: Internship work
3:30-6:00 pm: SWE work or Projects
6:00-7:00 pm: Dinner
7:00-9:00 pm: Homework or Projects
My days were packed and the first month of summer was full of stress and worry, but it ended up being a productive summer. I’m thankful for all the opportunities that were given out to me during a stressful time. There were many things I wasn’t happy about, but I’m grateful to have a home to go to and thankful for the support that I had.
RSS Feed
