Tell us about the job search. Was it more difficult or easier than you expected?
Getting a hold of the internship was tough as you tend to apply a bit late and that takes a toll on you. It is a number game taking into consideration the timeline of application process so it always helps to apply early. The good thing about all this is that my internship performance helped me acquire a full time position at Pinterest. The internship process is a bit easy than the full time process so it does help to get hold of a good internship.
What was the interview process like?
Given I did not interview for the full time position I'll explain the internship process. There was a coding round organized on karat platform. After clearing this you have a video interview with one of the people from karat. After your combined performance there are two interviews set with Pinterest on was regarding Software Engineering and the other was regarding Security, given I was applying to join the security team. OSIRIS lab is a good resource to brush up your security skills. Regarding coding questions LeetCode is a good resource
When did you first start the job search & how long did it take you to get an interview?
My summer internship at Pinterest got converted to a full time offer. For the internship I started the search in November 2019 for the internship that would take place in May 2020
What will you be doing?
I'll continue to work on my internship project of developing an in-house incident-response tool that integrates with all the teams working at Pinterest
Do you have any job search tips for fellow students?
Start early. Get your resume proofread as you don't want to miss any interviews just because your resume was not conforming to the standard format. Attend networking events as a referral can help you in the long run. Practice coding questions on LeetCode, and behavioral questions via mock interviews with your friends. When interviewing with a company always have a handy question to ask in the end which shows them that you did your homework regarding what the company wants and what you seek from the company