Benjamin Wilson-Langman
Major(s): 4th Year - Data Science
Interned as a Sotware Engineer for Walmart Global Tech
What did a typical day look like as a Software Engineer Intern at Walmart?
My average day began at around 9am: I'd grab a coffee from the lobby or cafeteria, get settled at my desk, and catch up on emails and team chats until standup at around 9:45. If you're unfamiliar; "standup" is a short meeting, 15 minutes for my team, in which we'd share the progress we made in the last workday and get any input we needed from teammates. After that, the day was pretty unstructured. Generally, I'd work on my given task or project for a few hours, occasionally discussing problems I'd run into with a senior developer, and then grab lunch for about an hour in the early afternoon. After that, sometimes I'd have an intern event, and then it was right back to meetings or my task. I'd generally be done for the day at around 4pm, which gave me plenty of time to pursue errands or recreational activities for the rest of the day.
How did you navigate securing this internship?
After applying mid-Fall, I had three separate interviews before receiving an offer. The first interview, behavioral, was mostly simple problem-solving and psych questions to give the recruiter a basic understanding of myself. I then had a take-home coding test, in which I had about an hour to solve two coding problems and a few multiple-choice questions. Seemingly satisfied with my performance so far, I received an invite to my final interview about a week later; a live coding interview. This was fairly similar to the take-home, but this time I just had one problem to solve while a software engineer at Walmart watched and discussed my approach as I answered the problem. I think it's important to note that I was by no means a perfect programmer throughout these last two interviews; I made my fair share of mistakes, but I managed to address these by explaining to the interviewer why I got stuck, and how I think I could address it given more time. A good deal of time after my offer, about March/April, I got placed with a team and manager, and started preparing for the upcoming summer.
What skills did you develop or enhance during your time as an intern?
I think the most important skill I learned during my internship was communication. With how many different levels of accountability there are at large companies like Walmart, from coworkers to directors, it was important to communicate my ideas and progress clearly and concisely with everyone. This also helped me deal with problems quickly as they popped up, as I already had ongoing conversations with most of the people I would have needed to reach out to.
I also had many opportunities to improve upon software development skills I learned in my studies at Iowa, as well as learn new ones. With my internship work mostly focusing on cloud processes and backend server apps, this meant that I was mostly focused on improving upon my Java fluency, as well as learning and using Spring Boot, Kafka, and bash scripting.
What helpful tips do you have for current students seeking internships?
Sell yourself well! Your resume and application are typically what get you your first interview. Make sure you highlight specific technologies and services you're experienced with on your resume, especially if it's relevant to the job opening! Application screening is often done by a computer, and it's looking for keywords in your resume that match whatever the recruiters are looking for. Even if you don't have a particular project or work experience to highlight these experiences, a "skills" list can provide a way to bring attention to other programming languages or other software engineering skills you're familiar with.
Besides that, get familiar with coding assessments like HackerRank or CodeSignal. Like ACTs/SATs, these are used by companies as a standardized way to compare candidates' aptitude. However, also like ACTs/SATs, they often rely more on your test-taking ability than actual aptitude. As such, it's important to get a good grasp on what kind of problems you need to solve for these assessments, and how you can go about completing them well in the time allotted.
At the end of the day, though, there's always an element of luck. Try not to get discouraged if you only get one interview for every 10, 20, 50 applications. Just keep applying and learn from your successes so you can improve on the process over time.
What was your favorite aspect of your internship?
My favorite part about my internship at Walmart [Global Tech] was my team. My fellow interns, full-time coworkers, and managers were all incredibly welcoming and always lent a helping hand whenever I was stuck or confused.
Can you see yourself in a future career with Walmart?
Sure! Walmart is a big company, with plenty of opportunities to grow and progress in a tech career. My team (that I'd likely return to) was lovely, and the compensation/benefits are more than reasonable.