27/5/2014

(70) Startup Internships: Why is it difficult for Indian students to get an internship at Facebook, Quora, Dropbox, Google, Twitter or other startups? - Quora
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I see many Indian students (studying in India) work really really hard to get
an internship in these tech giants but most of us do not get selected. On
the other hand, plenty of students (studying in US / living nearby SF), who
easily get the chance without much skills. Is there any particular reason?
Edited:- Here I am not asking this question for hello world guys. It is
for those who have decent knowledge of building stuff. Who are
contributing on Github and Stackoverflow.
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Prateek Rokadiya

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Why is it difficult for Indian students to get an internship at

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Sujeet Gholap, intern at Facebook (summer 2012)

519 Votes by Priyal Maheshwari, Tejas Kulkarni, Satpal Parmar, and 516
more.
I see two kinds of "really really hardworking" students.
Those who spend time making really neat, syntax-highlighted notes on their
notebook, memorizing entire programs to be reproduced in exams later. They think
learning a programming language is a very big deal and add languages to their their
resume as if it is going to make it significantly heavier. They take NIIT-certified
courses for programming languages and what-not to make their credentials
'authentic'. And a zillion other things. No doubt they work hard, but this kind of hard
work isn't worth much. These are people who would work as hard as the
universe would allow them because they want to make it big in the 'IT
industry' and land a fat-paycheck job in 'awesome companies'.
Then there is the other hardworking type. In their free time, these kids write some
scripts to automate their day-to-day mundane tasks, then they post those on
GitHub for others to use and benefit from. They take as much, if not more, interest
in projects as with 'bookish' theory taught in the class. These people, when stuck,
dig information out from StackOverflow and similar sites, if not present, they go
back and update it on StacOverflow. In order to solve their problem, they would not
shy away from serious research either. When they want to make a game controlled
by gestures, they learn about computer vision and computer graphics on their own
even though they haven't yet taken a related course. They dig research papers,
understand the algorithms and code them if their game needs it. They approach
professors for projects (research or otherwise) if they think that it would help them in
making their game.These are people who are passionate about programming,
about computers, about research. They want to solve a problem at hand and
would go to any lengths the universe would allow them for it.

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Question Stats
Updated 18 Mar
This question has 1 monitor with 67691 topic
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20,968 views on this question.
144 people are following this question.

What makes me say so?

The fact that I get so many Facebook messages and emails saying, "Hey bro, I
from xyz college, studying 'IT', I done certified courses in C++, Java. I really really
like to work in Facebook, Google. I just love programming. I like reading 'let us C',
and I love C programming, even if it means sleeping less and reading 'let us C'.
What languages are important for Facebook? " and various variations thereof.
Now, let us come back to the case where we are talking about the second kind of
hardworking students versus the students in Bay Area, or California for that matter.
Getting noticed

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27/5/2014

(70) Startup Internships: Why is it difficult for Indian students to get an internship at Facebook, Quora, Dropbox, Google, Twitter or other startups? - Quora
The number of resumes that Facebook receives for internship application everyday
in just enormous. Like Nishita's resume, it has to be super impressive in order to be
picked up. As the years pass, the volume would increase and the channel's
(submitting resumes online of Facebook's internship portal) signal-to-noise ratio
would go down, making it difficult for recruiters. In order to get noticed, there are
certain things that, I think, we Indian students fall short in compared to our
American counterparts.
Presentation and communication skills
How many of us have a webpage, either with our own domain or on our
University/College's website? How many of us bother to keep it updated, add
relevant information like projects undertaken, neatly written and explained project
reports, demos if possible? I know the answer. Very few. Students in US? Quite a
lot! How many of us have well maintained and documented GitHub repositories?
Another thing I've observed among quite a few juniors of mine at IIT Madras is that
they many times downplay the projects they have done. A course project? Well,
polish it, build a demo, put it on display! In my junior batch, everyone made a fullfledged game as part of their programming lab. But many don't find it necessary to
put it online, write about what they learned while coding it, what problems they
faced and how they solved it. Many think that writing that game isn't something to
really brag about. I feel, sometimes, we are shy, we lack being able to marketing
ourselves.
Coming to communication skills, an email like "Since childhood, I had this big
dream of working at Facebook." sounds downright phony, made up and doesn't
come across nice at all. Some people, maybe a very small fraction, do lack good
communication skills. It might have a negligible effect, but anything that might
contribute to a decision against you, should be eradicated with effort.
Stuff that's not really in our hands
Lately, the recruitment model has become more formal, a bit rigid. At Facebook, I
saw separate teams of recruiters being assigned various colleges in U.S. What
about India? Well, Hyderabad handles that. Since then, useless rules and
formalities have crept in. Take sophomore student internships as an example. While
the other recruiting teams say, "If you are good enough, come intern with us!" our
Hyderabad teams seems to believe "you have to be studying in your pre-final year to
be even eligible for internship considerations." I don't see the logic! If a Stanford
sophomore can get an internship at Facebook, so should an equally good Indian
college student. I guess, just like in governance, in schools, and in many other
places, here too we Indians just take pride in entangling ourselves in a bunch of
useless / nonsense rules!
So, apart from direct application, there's this other channel: on-campus
college recruitment.
In India, the IITs, some NITs and a few other colleges reputed for Computer Science
(like IIIT Hyderabad) are all that is considered. And I guess that is understandable.
There goes majority of your hardworking students! Not even considered for this
channel. This channel has its perks. For example, had I applied on Facebook's
portal, I don't think my resume would have gotten noticed. My resume had gotten
shortlisted because Facebook specifically asked IIT Madras to send over the
resumes of students thought to be good and to be considered for internships. That's
how I was considered. Many students just like me, but not in the above colleges
would not get such a chance. I did have to go through the interview process, of
course. But my point being, to be considered for an interview, you have to have a
stellar resume, awesome coding portfolio, or you should be in one of the above
colleges.
Recommendations and impressions
This channel generally tends to have a very good signal-to-noise ratio. Here, present
employees recommend others who they think would be a good addition to their
company. If you get recommended, very high chances are that you would be
considered for the first interview at least.
Here, again we have the problem. Employees from, say Stanford, would know their
juniors well, and the good ones would be recommended, and so will people from IITs
etc. Leaving out again the typical 'hardworking coder' who doesn't have their seniors
in Facebook/Google to recommend them. Also, these colleges and universities
would create a good impression because their alumni are doing great at these
companies. This would get these colleges considered for the on-campus
recruitment channel. Think of it as a cycle.
Bottom line:
If you are from IITs etc: Don't worry too much. Know your fundamentals thoroughly.

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(70) Startup Internships: Why is it difficult for Indian students to get an internship at Facebook, Quora, Dropbox, Google, Twitter or other startups? - Quora
Improve your algorithmic coding skills, do well academically (a decent grade point
average).
Else: Start building your coding portfolio. Do very well in competitive programming
(Topcoder, Hacker Rank etc). Make an effort to improve your communication and
presentation skills. (Because, say, a popular post on hacker news or a really good
rank on topcoder would open up alternative channels to get noticed, not to mention
they would make your resume much much more impressive.)
P.S.: Students in US, maybe especially in California, would routinely take part in
various hackathons happening all-around, make connections with good
programmers and get noticed some way or other. (Or at least that's my impression)
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Updated 13 Jan

Nishita Agarwal
73 Votes by Joseph Barillari, Gus Luxton, Andrew Shapiro Munn, and 70
more.
I went to school at IIT Delhi in India and wasn't one of the 'foreign students living
nearby SF,Valley etc without the much sk ills'. At the end of my sophomore year, I
decided to take a chance and uploaded my resume on the Facebook careers page.
Result: 4 phone interviews later, I'd bagged myself an internship at Facebook for the
following summer.
Moral of the story: Take a chance instead of believing in stereotypes because
companies are more than willing to invest in international students.
I do believe it's easier for students based in the US to have their resumes surfaced
in comparison to international students (just because there are so many of us) but
what you can do is develop the needed set of skills, build up a good resume and
show that you are worthy of a company's time.
Upvote

73

Downvote Comments 2

Share Written 22 Aug, 2013

Vibhu Rishi, Nomad

7 Votes by Hemant Sethi, Romel Baral, Tanay Talesra, and 4 more.
Disclaimer: I haven't worked in such companies, but since I am in a middle
management level, I get a lot of requests for students for internship. My
observations :
1. Many companies do not take in interns. Sad fact. The same company's US or
EU office will be taking in interns, but not the India center. Why ? Local
management does not have use for interns.
2. Students who want to intern want to join mostly ( stressing mostly) for being able
to complete the requirement of their coursework in the college and not really
because they want to learn something. They are most happy if they can just get a
letterhead saying they did xyz during the timeperiod.
Ask them about their coding skills, and they know no more than the hello world
programs.
And people wonder why they dont get to intern ?
Here's my 2 cent advice for people looking for internship - you need to have to be
able to say what you have coded which was not a class assignment. Get on
github/sourceforge etc. Start contributing to and using opensource software. You
will find becoming an intern easy.
Upvote

Downvote Comment Share Written 22 Aug, 2013

Usama Saqib, Engineer, blogger, tinkerer, s... (more)

Not just Indians other nationalities also finds it difficult to get job in such companies
despite good qualifications.

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(70) Startup Internships: Why is it difficult for Indian students to get an internship at Facebook, Quora, Dropbox, Google, Twitter or other startups? - Quora
Upvote

Downvote Comment Share Written 18 Mar

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Prateek Rokadiya

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