No one talks about these 3 ways to land tech internships (but they work)

Plus: Recently funded startups, smart AI hacks, and a reminder that it's not just you.

Author

Jyoti Bhasin
May 29, 2025

Hey future engineer šŸ‘‹

Letā€™s talk about the ghost town of internship rejections. If youā€™re staring at a dozen "thanks, but no thanks" emailsā€”youā€™re not alone. And better yet: you're not out of options.

Weā€™re going deep today on unconventional, yet proven ways to get noticed, get interviews, and get hiredā€”even if you donā€™t have connections or a "perfect" resume.

šŸšŖ Reverse-Engineer Job Listings Into Opportunity

Most students just scroll job boards and spray resumes. But hereā€™s a better approach:

Step-by-step:

  1. Pick 5 internships you want but arenā€™t fully qualified for.

  2. Extract key tools and frameworks (e.g., "React + Firebase," or "Python + FastAPI").

  3. Build mini-projects using those exact tools. Doesnā€™t have to be fancy.

  4. Push to GitHub with a solid README. Share learnings on LinkedIn + tag the company.

šŸ§  Pro tip from Chase Dimond: "People donā€™t hire resumes. They hire proof."

This method builds proof fast and invites inbound opportunities from hiring managers who are scanning LinkedIn.

šŸš€ Go Where The Jobs Arenā€™t Posted (Yet)

Newly funded startups are hiring before they post anything. Theyā€™re overwhelmed and open to initiative.

How to find them:

What to say when cold emailing:

Subject: Quick question about [Startup Name]

Hey [Name], saw your recent funding roundā€”congrats! I'm a [Your Background] who's been building in [related tech]. Just wanted to ask: are you open to interns/early help? Happy to contribute to [specific thing you noticed on their site/product].

Short. Customized. Useful.

Recently Funded Startups to Watch (May 2025):

  • Warpstack - AI observability tools ($3.5M Seed)

  • Stacklens - Chrome extension that summarizes dev docs ($1.2M Pre-Seed)

  • Internly - Internship search engine powered by LLMs ($2.7M Seed)

These companies need builders, not paper credentials.

Bonus Pick: Newsletter You Shouldnā€™t Miss

If youā€™re into startups, tech, product building, and unfiltered takesā€”youā€™ll love Ur Startup Sucks. Itā€™s brutally honest, fun, and loaded with gold on everything startup-related.

šŸ‘‰ Check it out here

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šŸ” Turn Rejection Into a Feedback Loop

Most people ghost their rejections. Youā€™re not most people.

Template to reply to rejection emails:

Thanks for the opportunity. I'm genuinely interested in growing in this space. If you're open to it, what's one thing I could improve to be a better fit next time?

Even a 20% reply rate gives you clarity + builds connections that matter next hiring cycle.

šŸ™Œ Inspired by Val Geislerā€™s onboarding mindset: "Every touchpoint is a chance to convert someone into a fan."

šŸ“ˆ Build in Public: The Fast Track to Visibility

If you're not posting what you're building, youā€™re missing out on organic interviews.

Mini-challenge: This week, post one thing you learned, one bug you solved, or one project snippet. Tag relevant companies. Use the hashtag #buildinpublic. Feel free to tag me (My profile link) and I will comment & reshare your post :)

Tools to make it easier:

  • Blaze.ai - Generate Twitter/LinkedIn posts based on your project repo

Latest Fresher Offcampus Openings

VectorShift ā€“ Frontend Engineer

šŸ”¹ Tesla ā€“ Frontend Software Engineer

šŸ”¹ Adobe ā€“ Software Development Engineer

šŸ”¹ SHL ā€“ Software Engineer

šŸ”¹ Clarivate ā€“ Software Engineer

šŸ”¹ Brevo ā€“ Associate System Platform Engineer

šŸ§  Mindset Reset

Every rejection is redirection. Every project you ship is a compounding asset.

You're not falling behind. You're building leverage.

šŸ‘‹ Thatā€™s a wrap! 

Donā€™t forget to subscribe to Ur Startup Sucks!