How to land an IT internship: a step-by-step breakdown

Step 1. Work out when to apply

Large companies recruit interns in intakes — typically two big ones, in late winter and late summer. Applications open a month or two before the start, and decisions arrive several weeks after they close.

Which means you apply when the intake opens, not "when I'm ready". Readiness gets topped up along the way.

Smaller companies hire whenever. There you have to watch continuously.

Step 2. Build a list of companies

Don't stop at five famous names — everyone applies there. Put together twenty or thirty:

• large technology companies and banks, where the programmes are well run;
• mid-sized product companies;
• agencies and consultancies, which hire more often and have plenty of work;
• non-profits, if you're willing to work for the experience.

For each, note when the intake opens and what's required. An ordinary spreadsheet will save you months.

Step 3. Get your evidence in order

Before applying you need two things: a CV, and at least one project you can talk about.

The CV. One page. Who you are and what you're looking for at the top. Then skills, projects, education. Leave out "stress-resistant" and "team player" — everyone writes that and it means nothing. Put specifics there instead: what you built, with what, how it turned out.

The project. One finished beats three abandoned. It needs a working link, a repository, and a clear description: what it is, why, how to run it. Without a description, nobody looks.

Step 4. Apply

Don't fire off the whole list in one day — go in waves. The first two or three applications will show you where you're weak: fail the logic test and you know what to work on.

In your cover note, don't retell the CV. Write three things: why this company, which of the required skills you already have, and how much time you can give. Short, no grand statements.

Step 5. Pass the test

Usually logic puzzles and basic programming under time pressure. Preparation pays: work through twenty or thirty simple problems on arrays and strings. Basic ones, not competitive-programming ones.

Practise speed separately. What people usually run out of on these tests isn't knowledge, it's time.

Step 6. Get through the interview

The technical part is fundamentals in your language plus a problem you talk through. One rule matters most: think out loud and ask clarifying questions. The interviewer wants to see how you reason, not hear a memorised answer.

The conversation with the team is about motivation and communication. They'll ask why you went into development, how you studied, what you built. Answer like a human being, without rehearsed phrases.

Step 7. If you don't get in

Ask for feedback. Write down which questions tripped you up. There are six months between intakes, and that's exactly enough time to build a decent project and shore up your weak spots.

Don't spend that gap waiting. The experience you bring to the second attempt matters more than the attempt itself.

What to do in between

The most underrated option is to gather a team and build something together. It's the closest thing to what an internship actually involves: shared tasks, code discussion, deadlines, the need to negotiate.

And unlike an internship, there's no intake to wait for and no competition to win — you just need people interested in the same thing.