I got a Paid Software Engineering Internship at Oracle. My Story & Advice

Jul 25, 2022

Hi hi!

WELCOME TO MY BLOG 🧡

If you haven't heard the news, I've been spending my Summer at ORACLE interning on the Database Tools Engineering team! I've been mainly using JavaScript (with Html5 & Css, of course) to help create tools for Oracle SQL Developer!! It's been a dream of an opportunity.

I've gotten sooo many requests to share what my experience has been like, how I landed this job, what I've been creating, etc.

So, I thought I'd start with sharing how I landed my Oracle internship! We all gotta pay our success forward, right?

First of all, I CANNOT believe I landed an internship at Oracle. When I tell you guys I was so freakin' excited to accept this opportunity, I mean SUPER EXCITED!!

My Story

I began tweeting about Oracle Database pretty frequently in the Spring of 2022, when I enrolled in the college course "Database Programming" using...ORACLE SQL! Right off the bat at the beginning of the semester, I immediately fell in love with the Oracle SQL command line & the SQL Developer App that I was using to create SQL queries for my class assignments.

From January 2022 to about March 2022, I tweeted my Oracle SQL journey non-stop. 🥹 I posted pictures of my monitor in the computer lab working on my SQL assignments, I posted tweets voicing my struggles and triumphs with Oracle SQL, & I even created SQL cheatsheets to help myself and my classmates! Any content I could put out into the ether about Oracle SQL, I did! And guess what happened? 🧐 Oracle leadership began to follow me! -> and interact with my content! Liking, replying, sometimes even retweeting. I made sure to follow back and interact with anyone working at Oracle, considering I loved their products so much!

And around the end of March 2022, (the middle-ish of my Spring 2022 semester), after tweeting my Oracle SQL journey since the beginning of the semester... I got reached out to via Twitter DMs by Oracle leadership (Kay Malcolm, to be exact!!) about an internship opportunity! (Which I said, HELL YES to, of course) 🫡

The main reasons why they reached out?

my excitement for Oracle SQL was SO infectious
my followings' response to my Oracle SQL content was so incredibly positive & engaging!
using my social media presence to bring excitement to Oracle products
by sharing my Oracle SQL journey, that influences other users to try Oracle products

And in that moment, I had realized I did all of those things without consciously attempting to. How? When you're genuinely passionate about a product/language/anything and you share that passion, THAT passion sparks passion in others!

Fast forward a few weeks into April 2022, I'm signing my offer letter with a start date of May 28th, 2022. I was still in shock! I thought, "this cannot be happening... TO ME?" But, it was! And everyone at Oracle I interacted with reassured me it was deserving, and that I deserved to be at Oracle. And something I hadn't even realize yet: I had instantly gained two mentors that believe in me & want me to succeed - Jeff & Kay, I don't know where I'd be without you guys. If you're reading this, thank you for taking a chance on me! I'm forever grateful. 🧡

So, it's safe to say, my experience at Oracle has just been INCREDIBLE. I'll be sharing a separate blog post about my experience & all I've done throughout this Summer internship in a week or two. Keep an eye out! I'll share it on Twitter.

My Advice for You

Social media presence can be so beneficial, if you use it the right way. Here are a few pieces of advice I've curated from my own social media toolkit:

People want to hear your candid journey! Are you creating a product, learning a framework/language or going through a certification/course or degree? SHARE YOUR JOURNEY THROUGH THAT 🥳 share the notes you've created for your bootcamp/online course or share your experience being a first-time bootcamp attendee - WHATEVER your story is, share it!

And while you're sharing to your followers, consider this: would you rather follow the Engineer that only tweets when their code works? Or the Engineer that tweets when their code breaks AND when it works? I'd rather follow the Engineer that shares their candid journey over the Engineer that shares it only when it makes them look good.

Let's not forget the main part of being an engineer? Admitting when you don't know anything!

Share your triumphs AND your setbacks. Remind your followers, no matter how many you have, that they aren't alone in their shortcomings.

#2 Put something out there!

Give people a reason to follow you! Folks won't follow you just for no reason, what exactly are you providing to them in return for a "Follow"? A few ideas I have are:

create cheatsheets based upon what language/framework you're using/learning
write blog posts about languages/frameworks you're learning OR that you're a pro at
share your candid journey while you're going through a bootcamp/certificate/college class/etc.
BE YOU. Nobody wants to follow a clone! Be authentic and be you. That's the main product you should be providing to your followers: authenticity

The most important thing about content creation, in my opinion, is to stay consistent, and create content about what you're passionate about. 🔥

#3 Build meaningful connections

Make sure you network! Reply to other people's tweets about their journey, what they're creating, etc. Engage in genuine, meaningful conversations with people in the Tech twitter community & that interest you show them will be reciprocated! If someone is creating content about a language you're learning in bootcamp/school/certification, make sure to tweet them and tell them! Let them know how helpful their content is to you.

Or if you see somebody voicing their struggles in a certain bootcamp/language/framework/course, and you feel proficient in that, help them! Reach out to them and offer them help!

However, keep in mind this shouldn't come across as transactional. Keeping things genuine and having positive intentions can really take you a long way. ✨

#4 Your vibe attracts your tribe

Stay away from creators who don't align with who you are or your brand. If you'd like to use your social media presence as a tool to possibly get hired from a reputable company, don't interact with creators who:

are always involved in drama/scandals/scams
create inappropriate/not safe for work content
are just plain grumps/rude techbros/negative Nancy's

Sometimes people are just plain meanies! And that is totally ok. That kind of energy does not align with my brand, so I tend to just block and move on from anybody that chooses to be hurtful or a bully to me.

Having tough skin can help with growing a social media presence and trying to create your brand, but, it isn't necessary. That's what the block button is for! 🔨

THANK YOU FOR READING 🥰

I'm so genuinely grateful to have spent my Summer at Oracle. I've made so many amazing connections and learned so much more than I ever could have in the classroom - so, my last piece of advice: keep on creating content! Don't stop putting yourself out there. Somebody will come across you & your content, and take a chance on you. 🥹 because that's exactly what happened to me.

Follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram to keep up with my career journey! And if you have any questions, or would like further clarity on any points I've made, please DM me on Twitter! 🧡

See you in my next post ~