first-year learning guide to getting started in tech and internship tips!

by: mathurah ravigulan

Here’s a guide on how I was able to jump through a variety of roles in tech over the past 2 years: product design, consulting, front-end development, product management, and venture. A lot of people ask me how I was able to jump to different roles and discover something new each co-op term: this is a guide for those starting out their self-discovery process in tech, applying to internships, and kick-starting their learning journey.

This is definitely not an exhaustive guide and maybe might not even be the right guide for everyone! One of the drawbacks of jumping between fields has prevented me from gathering deep knowledge on every role, but my personal goal for all my internships was to be exposed to as many things as possible and get closer to finally landing on what I want to do full-time.

Figure out your why

Before getting into it I think it’s really important to figure out your purpose. If you don’t have an underlying why, it’s easy to feel lost and devastated after all the hard work and rejections, leaving you wondering why you even got into this in the first place. You don’t really need a noble reason to want to be in tech, but you need something that will keep you going!