Auteur: Neel Mehta

How to get a tech internship

Field-tested job-hunting tips for computer science students.

Also check out my post on getting started with computer science for college students.

Google headquarters

I probably don’t need to convince you that working at tech companies is really attractive. You can work with startups on meteoric rises and world-famous tech giants, all while surrounded by ping-pong tables and unlimited snacks. You can build apps that your friends use and products that make the world a better place.

There’s just one problem: how do you get a tech internship in the first place?

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CS50: What Next?

Nota: this post is aimed mostly at Harvard students.

CS50 logo

So you took Harvard’s introductory computer science class, CS50. (Maybe you were a regular at my section or met me at office hours.) You learned a lot, you enjoyed it, and you want to continue exploring computer science. Maybe you want to concentrate in CS, get a minor, get an internship at a tech company, or better understand how computers are going to take over the world.

But CS is a huge field, and with just one course under your belt, it’s difficult to really break into it.

So what next?

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Mijn Khan Academy Internship, Zomer '15

Deze zomer, Ik verliet de vriendelijke grenzen van Cambridge en reisde naar West naar sla er rijk intern als software engineer bij Khan Academy. En dat is het niet helemaal recht doen: Het was een totaal transformerende ervaring.

Salman Khan of Khan Academy
Met de ontzagwekkende Sal Khan, de grondlegger van de Khan Academy

Ontzagwekkende projecten

Ik groeide een ton als software engineer door te werken met mijn mentor op zo'n koele projecten:
– Creëren SEO'd landingspagina's voor onze video's
– Het bouwen van een functie om gebruikers melding e-mails te sturen wanneer hun vragen over onze video's beantwoord, nauw samen te werken met een ontwerper
– Het opsporen en oplossen van bugs in onze nieuwe video-speler

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Publiceren, zoals, en vinden: het opbouwen van een open en gecureerd ecosysteem

De meeste ecosystemen zoals app stores zijn open of gecureerd. Maar waarom kunnen we niet hebben beiden? Goed, wij kunnen — alles wat je nodig hebt is drie werkwoorden: publiceren, vinden, en zoals. Dat geldt voor technologie en iets anders.

Meestal zijn er twee opties wanneer u wilt een app te publiceren: publiceren naar iets als de iOS App Store (waar mensen zal uw app, maar Apple reviewers kunt uw inzending ontkennen) of zet ze gewoon op uw website (waar is het gemakkelijk om te publiceren, maar er is geen garantie iedereen zal het zien.) Not the greatest set of options.

Isn’t there a way to combine the strengths of both of these to make for the best possible experience for both publishers and consumers? I think there is. It’s called an open and curated ecosystem. Let’s take a look at:

  • What open en curated ecosystems are
  • Examples of open and curated ecosystems
  • What you need to make an open and curated ecosystem
  • Examples of these ecosystems beyond just technology

and see if we can discover something about the power of crowdsourcing, innovation, and the three verbs publiceren, vinden, en zoals.

Curated vs. open ecosystems

The iOS App Store and open internet, among others, zijn app ecosystems — places where apps can be published and found. And I think the big factors that differentiate one ecosystem from another are whether the ecosystem is open, where anyone can publish apps and whether it is curated, where the best apps rise to the top and users are assured quality apps. That’s the major difference between the iOS store and the internet at large, which I mentioned earlier.

Let’s look at examples of curated and open ecosystems and what differentiates them.

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5 onschatbare gratis productiviteit apps voor college

Een paar jaar geleden schreef ik over nuttige apps voor de middelbare school — maar nu de universiteit is hier, en het brengt een hele reeks nieuwe eisen. Sinds Ik kwam aan de Harvard, Ik heb gehad om meer te doen, en mijn apps hebben gehad om meer te doen.

Deze nieuwe apps moeten draaien op alle platformen (Windows, Mac, Android, iOS), synchroniseert naadloos daartussen, en help me houd mijn data georganiseerd. Ze moeten veelzijdig, robuust, en gemakkelijk te gebruiken. En ze moeten gratis.

Met dat in het achterhoofd, Hier zijn de vijf apps die ik heb vertrouwen op de meeste aan Harvard en dat Ik zou aanraden aan iedereen op de universiteit of ergens anders in het leven. Ze zijn gerangschikt in volgorde van nut.

Evernote, Wunderlist, Mailbox, Sunrise, Pocket
5 gratis, essentiële apps voor college: Evernote, Wunderlist, Postbus, Zonsopgang, en Pocket.
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Zelf-expressie op het internet: een hybride aanpak?

The internet should help you express yourself easily and ensure you have control over the content and quality of your writings. But is that possible?

The internet has always been called the great platform for self-expression. The claim goes that you no longer need to be talented and lucky enough to get your work into a book or newspaper or magazine; anyone can publish anything to the internet, and if it’s good enough, it can get found.

It’s definitely true that the cost of self-expression has gone down with the internet, so people are much more likely and able to use it to publish their ideas. (The idea of economic cost, or amount of effort it takes to do something, is a very powerful one, tussen haakjes. When it gets easier to do something, that thing explodes in popularity. It’s pretty self-evident, but it’s a powerful way of looking at things like the rise of self-expression with the internet.)

Er zijn two main ways of publishing content online:

  • Publishing independently (making your own platform)
  • Using someone else’s platform (hosted publishing)

Both of these fall short of the goal of allowing for easy self-publishing. Ik denk, hoewel, dat there’s room for a hybrid that would bring the best of both.

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Op “sociaal” media, zwakke banden, en Snapchat verhalen

How social media is designed to help you build relationships with acquaintances, and why Snapchat (ja, that Snapchat) is the most effective social media platform

It was late enough that I’d stopped thinking for the night, so I proudly proclaimed to my nearby friends that I was getting a Snapchat account. It had always struck me as a bit vapid and narcissistic – you’re swapping carefully-chosen selfies with others to try and win favor – but I figured I’d give it a go.

But I quickly learned that Snapchat, like any other social media platform, gives rise to a number of use cases that the creators probably never intended. (Bijvoorbeeld, Twitter probably never foresaw that it would contribute to the Egyptian Revolution of 2011.) What I saw was this: Snapchat and other social media platforms are surprisingly effective ways to grow and maintain your network of weak ties (acquaintances) by reducing the costs of communication and increasing the number of “hooks,” or chances to strike up conversation, you have. All social media can do this, but Snapchat, by its very nature, is the king of this.

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