<aside> 💡 Namita Rao is a junior with primary major in HCI. Last summer, she interned as a UX designer at Caravel Associates and Rimsys Regulatory Management Software. Let’s get to know how it is like to intern at startups from her experiences!

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Could you briefly introduce your first internship position?

One company I worked for was Caravel Associates, a business incubator. It's a startup to help different startups take off by giving them tools and resources they need. For example, if they're trying to build something, they have a team of developers, engineers, and marketing team, and they're all students too. I worked on a project called Linkie. It's an app that connects to a toy and helps grandparents connect with their grandkids. You record something on your phone, and it sends it to that toy so that the child can play with the voice messages. I did a lot of wireframing with a few other UX designers who all have the same experience as me. We were working on cross-collaborative teams. We were contacting and having a lot of group meetings with people from the marketing and the development side and doing handoffs between wireframing, prototyping, and sending it to developers.

Have you encountered any challenge while crafting Linkie?

One of the challenges of working in this type of environment was that my manager wasn't fully convinced by the value of UX. I had to push for sound UX principles, which wasn’t a great experience. However, looking back at it now, it helped me understand why we need UX principles and practices.

What about the other internship experience? What was that about?

I worked in another startup called Rimsys, a medical tech company. This was a bit more structured. It deals with regulatory management software, managing all medical equipment, and ensuring it's following regulations because they are constantly updating. I worked primarily on the design system, and it was a cool experience to understand how to build a design system and varying components from scratch. I worked on a team with one other lead designer. As this was an agile environment, our team had daily stand-up meetings where we would be in contact with other developers. It was very similar to the cross-collaboration of my other role.

Why did you choose to intern at these two companies?

Honestly, there is no specific reason. I was just trying to get experience. So I applied as much as possible, and I was greedy for any opportunity I could get. But in general, I chose to apply to startups that valued career growth. And you can tell when they value your career growth by reading the job description, so I always liked looking out for job descriptions saying "we're gonna support you" and "there are opportunities for flexibility.”

What do you like about working in a startup company?

I like the community and being comfortable talking to the founders and managers. I like the cross-collaboration of working with different roles, like marketing, PMs, and developers. Also, I like how fast-paced it is—you have a lot of opportunities to work on various projects you are interested in. I can carve my path to make this happen. I have a chance to make the company better and leave a lasting impact that I know will be implemented in the near future. Even if I leave, I will have that lasting impact, which is extremely important. You will feel like you made a change even if you're an intern. It's not just about you adding something to your resume. It is more about what I accomplished after working here for three months, which I think you can see in a startup since they move fast.

How was the communication and collaboration with other people like?

In this role, there wasn't a ton of collaboration. It was more about doing my job and reporting back to the lead designer. We did have meetings and daily stand-ups or design meetings. I still had opportunities to talk to different people. Since it was such a small company, I felt comfortable going to the CEO and asking questions. That vibe was essential for me because you can literally ask the CEO questions like, "I'm confused with this thing in the regulatory field. Could you meet with me? Can you discuss this more?" It's cool to learn from these founders themselves. They're the experts in what they do. So I was comfortable going up to someone who has so much knowledge because it's a small, close-knit team. It was something extraordinary about startups and something that I wasn't anticipating.

What is one unforgettable challenge you faced during the internship?

One challenge I faced was the whole process of having to push for extended deadlines since we didn't have enough time to complete a wireframe. Since it was the first time we were starting from scratch, it took us a lot of time. So we had to ask for an additional few days to do primary research. But since it was such a tight-knit group, you felt comfortable going up to your manager and asking if the deadline could be extended because I didn't think our team was going to be able to deliver something great in this short span of time, even though it's MVP (minimum viable product). I don't think that would be very common in bigger companies, and you have stricter deliverable deadlines. You're expected to do what they tell you to do even though you still probably have flexibility.

What was your process of applying and getting into this position?

I applied through Handshake. Handshake has many different opportunities and different startups that're looking for CMU students. I found a lot, and I applied to a bunch of them — I definitely got rejected from a bunch as well because I didn't have a lot of experience. I only had one case study to my name. So I applied, heard back from two, and decided to pursue them.

What about big-techs, have you considered those?

I applied to more startups than big companies because I knew my chances. I applied to my dream roles at big companies just to put my name out there and understand their process and what they look for, and I knew that I would be more competitive in the next round I applied.

What is your future career plan like? Do you have a preference between big companies and startups?