Note: This note is intended for PhD students seeking advice in industrial internship hunting.

Why doing an industrial internship?

Doing an internship offers you a chance to see from the inside and understand whether you would like to research in this style. It is also a three-month interview that lets the employer get to know you. Sometimes, it is a preliminary to get a full-time job offer.

Timing

For subsequent summer internships in the US, the openings typically start in the fall, like Oct 1–Nov 15.

• Keep an eye on Twitter;
• The official account of the company, the project leaders, and the researchers
• Ask around at the VIS/UIST conference; Attend the industry session and reach out to employees;
• Get ready with a nice CV and demos to show on mobile.

Things I hope to know earlier

Don’t sell yourself short and sneak away. Just show up!

In Year 3, October, I was aware that my publications were not competitive with my peers. (By then, two of my first-authored papers had not been published, and two were under preparation.) So, I quickly decided not to waste my time on internship hunting, as it seemed a no-winning game.

However, when I finally reached out with published papers in April, when there were no job openings anymore, I learned that publication doesn’t matter much 🤦‍♀️. A candidate PhD student is not entirely evaluated by publication or awards. People are looking for different things. Sometimes, they prefer novices so that they can guide them in publishing their first SIGGRAPH paper and take pride in it. Sometimes, they are ignited by your immature idea and would like to work with you to explore this charming problem. Sometimes, what you are working on already makes you the best match with their ongoing projects. And sometimes, even if you are not the one they are looking for, they will recommend you to another perfect mentor you do not know.

Therefore, I think it is highly important to show up. No matter what, you are not devoting to a no-wining game. For sure, the next time you approach them, you stand out from candidates who are not showing persistent interest. And you can get extra information along the way, as you are, after all, birds of a feather.

Connection matters A LOT.

Rejecting default sometimes means that you need to jump into an entirely new environment. Then how can you be visible? A compelling CV can help you get there. What if you do not have several best paper awards or five first-authored papers on top-tier venues? (The bar can be really high nowadays for an industrial internship.) What if they do not respond to your show-up emails and you fail to catch them in conferences? One should never underestimate the power of connection. Just reach out to alumni, friends, and whoever is related and request referrals and information. Give yourself another show-up opportunity by having some human evidence (that employers know well) speak for you and build trust with the employers. Do something to ensure your CV is seen and you can present yourself in an interview.

Before confirmed by the insiders, do not make assumptions. Ask around.

When I contacted the same person in Year 4, October, I did not contact other potential mentors to avoid a conflict of interest, which has been an implicit rule in PhD/Postdoc hunting. Guess what? After communicating with an insider in Adobe Research, there is no such thing :woman_facepalming:, as employees can freely collaborate. It is okay to communicate with several people and be frank about this. Nothing is wrong if your work aligns with multiple groups and you are interested in working with them. So my lesson, again, is to ask more. Assumptions should be verified before you make a move. I also realize that people are generally nice and friendly. Many would like to give you a hand if you do not appear to be a crazy taker.

You are a PhD. You define what you do.

Drawing from my experience, the best case is when you propose a good idea that matches the general idea of the recruiters. Use your philosophy to persuade recruiters to invest instead of showing them you are well-equipped with a transferrable skillset. Only in this way, you become irreplaceable and a pain to reject; Or it becomes a matter of luck in randomness.

Things are changing so fast. My words may not work for tomorrow. Getting the latest information from the insiders is what you need. And you can still try even if you learn that the winning chance is extremely small, as there can always be a secret change within the company.

Things I have known

There are things that I was told and found exceptionally useful during my internship hunting phase.

• Build your personal website and highlight your uniqueness within a page.
  • Provide an research overview with an intuitive figure and showcases representative works
  • Synthesize your research philosophy
  • Show your background, experience, achievement, personality, …
• Maintain project pages and demonstrate efforts in communicating research contributions (provide TL;DR/talk/video demo, blogs about the underlying ideas, open source tool/repo, …).
• There can be bahavioral questions and you can prepare some personal stories in advance.