Interviewing for a part time internship for Entry Level IT. I am a full time student Comp Sci major and wanna go into networking, servers, security, so hopefully this gets me my foot in the door. I am a terrible soft skills person and really nervous. My friends told me to print out my resume and transcripts, I will surely do that. Anybody got anything else to suggest?

Update: I got the position! I honestly didn’t even prepare for it, didn’t even know what the company did. The comment that talked about learning to search things up was right on, they asked me what I would do if I didn’t know how to do something. I answered “looking things up, asking others, and consult documentation.” The company seemed really cool and is structured pretty much like Valve Corp in that they wanted jacks of all trades and it was company owned.

Thank you for all the helpful advice. It definitely helped me out, and hopefully, it helps others out as well.

  •  echo   ( @echo@lemmings.world ) 
    30•21 days ago

    • Don’t try to bullshit your way through anything. It’s actually a strength to admit that you don’t know something. Bonus points if you can describe the resources you would use to learn the answer.

    • Almost a repeat of the first one, but slightly different. Don’t play buzzword bingo or you’ll sound like the 5th grader that just learned a new curse word and is showing it off on the playground. It’s fine to use the industry jargon in appropriate ways; just be sure you know them.

    • It’s an entry level position. The kind of skills and initiative they’re going to be looking for is the desire to learn, the ability to correct/improve documentation, understanding/following procedures, thoughtful suggestions for improvements, and having enough confidence and competence that they don’t have to babysit you constantly.

    • Networking / servers / security really covers a lot of ground and it leaves me wondering exactly what it is you’re saying you’d like to do. Give some thought about how this entry level position helps you build your skills on your path to your ultimate goal and how you’ll provide value along the way.

    •  wewbull   ( @wewbull@feddit.uk ) English
      7•21 days ago

      Everything here, but I’d like to build a little on this.

      Remember that you are also interviewing the company. You need to make a decision about whether this is a place you want to work. Will it give you the opportunity to learn when you need to learn? Are they a team that treat each other well? Do they have good dynamics? Can you see yourself benefiting from working here beyond just taking a pay check?

      •  echo   ( @echo@lemmings.world ) 
        2•20 days ago

        Worth noting and not crazy important for an entry level position. Double true if there are limited options available. Take the job, learn some skills (including how to work in a bad environment) and then look for and move on to better opportunities. Caveat: Just don’t take one of these roles with a place where it’s going to stereotype you and/or give you no transferable skills/knowledge.

  •  astrsk   ( @astrsk@fedia.io ) 
    7•21 days ago

    Talk about your interests. Show a passion for your hobbies outside of work/the industry. Relate those passions to your goals within the industry. Generally just be interested and they’ll find you interesting. You got this!

    Update edit: Congrats on the offer!

  •  Pulptastic   ( @Pulptastic@midwest.social ) English
    4•21 days ago

    Be prepared to talk about class projects you’ve done, what went well, what didn’t go well and how you’d improve that next time. If you do any extracurriculars like clubs, game night, or even a frat, include that as it shows you can be social.

  •  Che Banana   ( @The_Che_Banana@beehaw.org ) 
    4•21 days ago

    Not in your industry, but I’ve interviewef many, many…too many people who were looking for entry level positions and although I had the standard hot sheet of corp. questions, what I was looking for was how this person would fit into the team, if they were willing to learn (demonstrated or had examples), and if they had a good personality/traits.

    Do not beat yourself up if you do not get the position, I have turned down people because they were better than what I was offering and knew it would not work out if I hired them then.

    Ask where this position may lead to and what skill sets you’re expected to gain from the experience in an internship role.

    Good luck.

  •  golden_zealot   ( @golden_zealot@lemmy.ml ) English
    2•20 days ago

    Hell yea, glad you got it. I have my third interview at a software company later today, here’s hoping.

    Networking/security is some really neat stuff, I have dabbled as I used to work doing systems stuff, but moved to robotics automations after that. See if you can get your new employer interested in paying a bit for you to get certs at some point (often if you bring it up that you want some cert, they might be interested in putting some percentage of money towards helping you get it), Network+ and those other Cisco certs are pretty sought after as I understand it and could definitely help progress your career.

    Also welcome to the industry!