2024 vs 2025 vs 2026
Interview Experience
2024 (applied from Jan 2024 - May 2024) - Basically my first time applying to stuff. Before this I didn't even realize you had to apply online and that handing out my resume at my university ca
Full Details
2024 (applied from Jan 2024 - May 2024) - Basically my first time applying to stuff. Before this I didn't even realize you had to apply online and that handing out my resume at my university career fair didn't do anything most of the time lol. Applied slowly in Jan/Feb and really ramped up in Mar/Apr after sorta getting the gist of it * # apps - 366 (intern) * offers - $20/h 2025 (applied from Sep 2024 - May 2025) - Had a pretty good idea of how recruiting worked now and how much I needed to apply.
Return offer happened in the middle, so afterward I only aimed for stuff that paid higher * # apps - 97 (intern + new grad) * offers - $50/h parttime, $92k return (also: graduated undergrad at my state school, started grad in a specialization at an ivy) 2026 (applied from Aug 2025 - Nov 2025) - Only aimed for stuff that paid higher than $50/h base (and otherwise I'd just continue the salaried job anyway) so that naturally resulted in me aiming kinda high. Honestly I was sorta not taking anything seriously at this point in time so I really didn't apply much at all compared to previous seasons, and me being pleasantly surprised by my callback rate pretty early on just made me even more selective lol * # apps - 35 (intern + new grad) * offers - $60/h OpenAI intern, \~$240k faang+ and startup Pretty happy with what I got so I might be done with recruiting for a while, assuming I don't get laid off instantly. ofc I'm not a recruiter so I can't say with any authority what got me past resume screens/interviews and stuff, but I can try to answer questions about my CS/programming/interviewing experience (or what I can remember lmao)