By Meta Careers
A few weeks ago Facebook University (FBU) interns shared their first impressions as they began their summer internship. Now they're half way through and have already taken on exciting challenges. Take a look at how they've been moving fast and making a meaningful impact.
Dimitris S., Infrastructure Data Science Intern
I've been a Facebook University (FBU) intern for 2 months now and it's been an amazing experience so far. In my short time here, I’ve learned so much beyond coding. I've learned how a company should operate to achieve its goals, strategies for improving the user experience, and cool Facebook hacks.
When I started, I found the task of learning how to use the vast resources and internal tools available to employees daunting. I often asked what I felt were stereotypical intern questions; however, I quickly learned the importance of *just* listening --- to other interns, team members, managers, managers from other teams to help me ramp up and be able to contribute to the team’s progress.
“ "Interns have a lot to offer, so ask lots of questions, listen to many perspectives, and focus on impact." ”
From day one, we have the opportunity to contribute to Facebook’s code base and the freedom to make a real and meaningful impact. We are encouraged to try new approaches and always have at least one person reviewing our work, a safety net that leads to high quality code delivered to the billions of people we connect around the world. This process leads to an open dialogue with other people on our teams - what the code can do, what it impacts, why we're doing it - creating opportunities to learn new things every single day.
The most valuable lessons I’ve learned this summer are:
- If you’re open and motivated, you can master pretty much whatever you put your mind to.
- You should never be scared of something that seems hard because you are new to it.
- Interns have a lot to offer, so ask lots of questions, listen to many perspectives, and focus on impact.
The whole FBU internship experience has equipped me with valuable career tips in both the near and long term. I look forward to the final lap of my internship experience. Now I can proudly say that I know how Facebook works from the inside.
Kristen S., Instagram Product Marketing Intern
At Facebook, 'move fast' is one of our core values which can translate to one of the ways we work here -- “done is better than perfect.” This concept was at first an adjustment for me because in the academic world, papers have to be perfect before they are submitted. At Facebook we are constantly iterating and improving on our work. When working on projects at Facebook, I worked with quick turnaround times while being challenged to be optimally efficient and highly impactful.
My main project for this summer has been researching other apps/services similar to Instagram and analyzing their features, marketing strategy and use cases. After two weeks of research and testing, I presented a comprehensive set of findings to my marketing team. They asked me questions about what we can learn from these other apps to continue to make Instagram a better product. I received positive feedback and questions about my research, which challenged me to dig deeper. I continue to learn about the product marketing process and gained a greater appreciation for the apps I love and use every day.
“ "In 6 short weeks, I grew in ways I never could have imagined. And best of all I pushed the limits I set for myself." ”
In addition to my project, I also found time to connect with the larger community here at Facebook around Black Lives Matter. After a week of seeing police violence and death in the news, my fellow interns and I planned a moment of silence for #BlackLivesMatter all in under 24 hours. Hundreds of Facebook employees came out to show their support, which comforted me during such a hard week.
I also bonded with the other interns through trips to places like the San Francisco Zoo, and intern activities like #BeHeardatFB and #FBInternSummerfest16. The Be Heard event brought together over 100 Bay Area interns to talk about what it means to be a minority in tech and brainstorm ways to increase diversity in tech. Connecting and relating with other interns with similar goals as myself empowered and encouraged me to continue to mentor other students and promote opportunities in tech.
Later that same week, I faced my fears by traveling to Hollister, California with 4 other interns to tandem jump out of a plane 11,000 feet in the air. Using the wellness reimbursement benefit from Facebook, a few of us interns decided to brave the skies. Adrenaline rushed through my body as I looked out of the window of the plane. Falling through the air at 120 mph, I could barely catch my breath before the parachute opened, and I floated through the air. After skydiving, I feel like I can do anything I put my mind to.
In 6 short weeks, I grew in ways I never could have imagined. I gained a deeper understanding of product marketing and how vital it is to the tech industry. I formed community with my Marketing team, the Instagram community, and the other interns. And best of all I pushed the limits I set for myself.
Dalvin J., Global Marketing Solutions Intern
This summer, I am working as a Regional Product Marketing Manager intern in Austin, Texas. My responsibility is understanding Facebook’s brand business by doing qualitative analysis on ads and finding trends in order to give recommendations to my team.
As an Information Technology student, I wanted to add a more technical component to my project, so I asked my manager if I could learn MySQL to do some data analysis. My manager agreed and pointed me in the right direction to get assistance from those on the team. Facebook is a strengths-based company, which is why we are given unparalleled autonomy to incorporate our passion into our daily work.
“ "Facebook encourages me to bring my whole self to the workplace." ”
Instead of asking me to separate my passion from my work, Facebook encourages me to bring my whole self to the workplace. It was also easy for me to reach out to people at Facebook for help or to ask a question since the company structure is flat. If I have a problem, I can ask for help from people not only in my office, but also in Menlo Park, Seattle, and even as far as Singapore. As long as you are trying to make a valuable contribution and working towards developing a more open and connected world, anyone is glad to help.
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