Previous year’s Summer Internships were a great success, so this summer we are organizing yet another, eighth edition of this program at Software Mansion.

TL;DR

What: Software Engineer Summer Internship Where: Kraków, our office at ul. Zabłocie 43B When: 13 weeks starting July 5, 2021 How much: 5000–8500 PLN+ gross monthly Apply here: https://jobs.swmansion.com/o/summer-internship/c/new Application Deadline: April 19th, 2021 Questions and contact: [email protected] or join our Internships webinar and ask us anything you want to know. Register here.

What is the internship about?

Every year for the previous seven years we have hired interns for a summer internship and it has been a great way to build an awesome and talented team — yes, we hope that most of the interns will enjoy working at Software Mansion and remain here for a longer period of time. To achieve that, we are working hard to make the internships not only a great way to develop your career, but also very enjoyable. Therefore we want to give them the opportunity to work on real and interesting projects.

A little bit of history

2021 will be the eighth time we organize a summer internship program. We started with just one intern, never planning this to be a big thing. Over the years though, Summer Internships have become one of the most important ways to grow our team — in 2020 it grew to eleven people (out of which everyone is still here). Overall, more than half of our former interns are still working at Software Mansion.

Who is it for?

Our program is open to everyone but is targeted at full-time university students who are able to work full-time only during the summer. If you don’t fit this criterion, you are still welcome to apply, but be aware that you will be facing a lot of competition (we expect 130 to 200 applications) — you might be better off if you apply for a full-time (Junior) position.

What criteria should I meet?

We are not looking for any particular skills, instead, we are looking for smart, curious, and versatile people with an engineering mindset. In fact, it doesn’t really matter for us what technologies you have any experience with — it helps if you do know the technologies we use, but if not, you should have a pretty good knowledge of some by the end of the summer. It is expected that you already know all the basics of programming — but if you survived two or three years of Computer Science or a similar major, you should know enough.

What do I need to know to apply?

The recruitment process is open to everyone, no matter the educational background or age. We don’t have any formal requirements on what you need to know to apply, but you will be expected to be able to perform basic programming tasks by yourself. We also require a solid knowledge of English (B2 or higher). Don’t worry about it too much though, if you are able to read this article without problems, you should do okay.

During the recruitment process you will be asked about the following basic topics:

• basic algorithms and data structures,
• basics of memory management (pointers, references, garbage collector, etc.),
• networking (protocols, routing, etc.),
• databases,
• basics of Linux or macOS usage,
• basics of web applications (HTML, CSS, REST API, HTTP, etc.),
• basic usage of GIT,
• basics of automatic testing.

It is not a requirement, but it will boost your chances if you know any one of the following advanced topics:

• basics of DevOps (Docker, Nginx, CI, etc.),
• basics of mobile development (either Android or iOS),
• basics of multimedia technologies (image, video, and audio formats, streaming, and processing),
• any of the major programming languages or technologies used in Software Mansion.

What will I be working on?

Unfortunately, at this stage, we are unable to tell what project exactly you can be working on, but it certainly won’t be brewing coffee. We want you to be productive and learn as much as possible from week one, and it is very important for us that the internship projects are real projects, either internal or for our clients.

First of all, we will be accepting interns in our internal open-source teams:

• React Native Open Source Team—we are developing and maintaining several important React Native open-source libraries, such as react-native-gesture-handler or react-native-reanimated.
• Membrane Framework Team — we are building this multimedia streaming framework created in Software Mansion using Elixir, C and C++.

And some of the notable projects in Software Mansion that you might end up in are:

• Expo — this open-source platform makes developing mobile apps in React Native easy. A significant part of the team behind it is working here.
• Chime — challenger bank №1 in the USA with over 1.5 billion USD in funding. A significant part of the effort behind the mobile app is done here in Software Mansion.
• Exalt — Exalt is an ambitious voice-based app purpose-built as a service for faith-based groups and communities.

While we cannot guarantee what technologies you will be using during your internship, the most used programming languages currently at Software Mansion are:

• JavaScript/TypeScript with Node.js, React and React Native
• Ruby with Ruby on Rails
• Elixir with Phoenix and Membrane Framework
• Python with Django
• C/C++

How much will I earn?

Your salary during the internship will be:

• 5000 PLN gross or more if this is your first job as a software engineer (if you are a student it will be most probably equivalent to around 4575 PLN net),
• 6500 PLN or more if you have previous experience in a similar position (for example on another similar internship) and know some of the technologies we use (if you are a student it will be most probably equivalent to around 5950 PLN net),
• 8500 PLN or more if you have finished at least two years of Computer Science or a similar program and you have at least a year and a half of commercial experience as a software engineer in a similar position using similar technologies to ours (if you are a student it will be most probably equivalent to around 7775 PLN net).

How to apply?

To start your application process, go here: https://jobs.swmansion.com/o/summer-internship/c/new to register for the process. The deadline for registration is April 19th, 2021, but the sooner you do it, the better are your chances — it should not take you more than a minute, so register ASAP.

The overall process is as follows:

Before the interview:

1. Register. To enter the application process, fill out your basic data: name, email, and, optionally, your phone number. You should receive an automatic confirmation by email. We might close this application form if we have too many candidates, so better do it quickly.
2. Resume: Next, you will be asked to fill out some details about yourself (like education or work history). We don’t require an actual CV, but if you would like to share it, of course, you can.
3. Your motivation: We will then ask you to answer some open questions on why you would like to join our internship program.
4. Programming task: In parallel, you will be asked to solve a simple algorithmic task. There is no deadline for it (as long as you are able to do it before we close the process), and, hopefully, it should not take you more than 60 minutes.
5. Technical tasks: We would also like you to write a short technical essay on a chosen (by you!) topic from a list. It is great if you can do it using your existing knowledge, but you absolutely can (and should!) do the necessary research using Google.

If you have tried to recruit to Software Mansion previously (either for an internship or a permanent role), we will skip some of the steps above to save your time.

After you complete those steps, our committee will decide if we want to invite you to the next step — the interview part. It should not take us more than two weeks from when you complete all steps — we review all completed applications once every week. If your application is rejected, you will be informed by email.

The interviews:

Your interviews will be conducted remotely and we plan to finish all the interviews by May 7th. The interviews will consist of the following parts:

• Interview 1 – Introduction: first, you will have a short (10–20 minutes) chat with our recruiter. During this part, among others, you can expect a short English conversation, and you will have the opportunity to ask any questions regarding the process.
• Interview 2 and 3 – Technical interviews: after the introduction, you will have two separate interviews with software engineers working in Software Mansion. Each one of the interviewers will separately assess if you are a good candidate to join the internship program, so don’t be surprised if both interviews are similar. You will be also given the opportunity to ask the interviewer questions about their work. Each interview will take 60 minutes.
• Interview 4 – Final interview: if you don’t fail the technical interviews, you will have a short chat with me or one of the other partners here at Software Mansion. We will ask a few questions about who you are and what is your motivation. In return, you will also have the opportunity to ask questions about Software Mansion or the internship program. This should take 15 to 30 minutes and hopefully will not be stressful at all.

You will be able to select the time and date of each of the steps separately, and you will get the instruction on what you should prepare before the interview.

The offer:

We gather every week to decide on hiring, so you can expect our decision no later than the next week after the interview. If you receive an offer, you will be given at least three days to respond, but if you need to extend this deadline, just let us know. If you agree to our offer there will be a bit of paperwork to do, but your recruiter will help you get through it.

Project selection:

Unfortunately, we cannot be 100% sure before the start of the internship what project you will get to work on. Between May 17th and June 2nd, we will be gathering preferences of our interns in the form of follow-up interviews (+ possibly forms) to try to fit you in one of the projects. Some of the projects require internal interviews; in such a case, we will schedule an interview with the team members behind the project. You don’t have to stress about it though — no matter the result, you will not lose your internship.

F.A.Q.

Q: I need to know your decision early. How long will I need to wait? A: You will wait around a week to get the decision to invite you to the interview and another week to wait for an offer. If you schedule your interviews ASAP, we should be able to finish the whole process in around three weeks.

Q: Will I be able to continue working at Software Mansion after the internship? A: Yes. In 2020, each intern received an offer and decided to stay. Historically, more than 2 out of 3 interns stayed at Software Mansion after the internship.

Q: Do I have to be a university student? A: No. While most of our summer interns are students, this is not a requirement. However, if you are not a student, you can also apply for an internship or a full-time junior position at any time and avoid all that competition.

Q: Can I do the internship on other dates? A: It depends. While we prefer if everyone starts at the same time, in most cases we should be able to shift the internship by a few weeks in either direction.

Q: How much vacation will I have? A: By default, you will have 5 days of paid vacation (that is, one full week). In most cases, you should be able to take another 5 days of unpaid vacation.

Q: Can I do the internship remotely? A: No. Generally, we do not hire remotely. Currently, due to the pandemic, most of us work remotely on most of the days, however, we cannot guarantee that it will work for every intern.