The Real Value of the Summer Internship

TLDR: There are no wrong internships. But there are wrong approaches.

Ahhh intern season, that time of the year where college students cosplay one version of adulthood for three months in hopes of finding their true calling. Personally, this summer I lived out “public servant Divya,” who lives in a small house with her friends in capitol hill, works at a federal agency in cybersecurity and practices smart work-life balance.

I used to believe internships were all about skill building and creating “tangible impact.” But after two cycles of intern season, I’ve decided that there exists a bigger picture goal, one that I think represents our 20s as a whole: getting to know yourself.

Therefore, as we college students reflect on the Summer 2023 season and even (continue to) recruit for the 2024 season, I think there are three things we should keep in mind (and hint: it’s not what you accomplish).

1) Who inspires you 💡

Pay attention to those at your workplace who you admire, and more importantly identify the why—the qualities that make them special. Seek these individuals out as mentors and at the very least role models for the type of person you strive to become.

I realized that I admired my peers at CISA for two simultaneous qualities: brilliance and kindness. The mentors and peers I sought, including Jack Cable, Lisa Einstein, and my co-intern Emily Tianshi exemplified this to a T and serve as role models as the type of co-worker I hope to become.

2) What makes you flow 🌊

In psychology, “flow state,” is defined as a state of mind where you are fully absorbed in a task. Recognize the types of moments, patterns, and activities that lead to your flow state and note them.

Over my nine weeks, I realized that I truly felt flow state when brainstorming the structure of documents (as we did when drafting the Open Source Software Request for Information), working with a team to determine long term strategic planning (working on CISA’s Internal AI action plan), and becoming a mini expert on a topic through the act of researching and briefing.

3) Why you are unique 🎁

Many of the things that frustrate me the most about any internship is that as a young person your lack of experience inherently yields you less responsibility. You are often delegated to tedious tasks, skipped for the exciting ones, and overall feel useless. If these are the reasons you did not like your internship, take a pause—I’m learning this is a universal truth of every internship ever.

But as a young person, you inherently have two unique qualities: curiosity and perspective. What intern status lacks for in depth of work, it makes up for in spread. You have the ability to talk to anybody at your organization simply for the sake of learning more (and who doesn’t love talking about themselves?). You can dip your toes into any project and coffee chat anyone from coworkers to senior managers. Your goal should be to understand your organization at a structural level (company, non profit, public service) and the people within it. I personally met with 65 members of #teamCISA before the end of my Summer, all who were kind enough to share advice and mentorship.

Furthermore, leverage your “Gen Z” perspective. Offer ideas from an outsiders view, ask critical questions, and give them some much needed pop culture advice. I, for example, created a “Barbenheimer” meme that our Director, Jen Easterly, posted on her twitter.

Besides curiosity and perspective, note the things that make you unique as an intern—recurring positive feedback and added value.

Talking to my friends and peers this summer, I’ve realized that many of us are experiencing the disorienting nature of life beyond school. Without clear success metrics of grades or college acceptance, we are forced to grapple with a more daunting evaluator: personal fulfillment. My hope is that as we reflect on our experiences and plan for the future we can modify the larger question of “what am I going to do with my life?” to something as simple as: 1) who inspires me 2) what makes me flow and 3) how am I unique.

Amongst the stress of finding your junior year or any year internship remember that ultimately the only thing you really have to learn every summer is more about yourself. Thus, regardless of what your time consists of, an inadequate summer is marked only by one thing: the failure to take the time to reflect on your experience. There is no wrong internship (or lack thereof) but there are wrong approaches. So no matter what you choose, choose to learn about yourself.

May the odds be ever in your favor.

-DG