…or how to advance in your career even when you don’t have an internship lined up!

It can be hard to figure out how to spend your summer wisely if you were hoping for an internship and end up not getting an offer. Fortunately, in the field of tech, you don’t need anyone’s permission (or offer) to sharpen your skillset through building, coding, contributing to communities and organizations around you, and building your network.

Below are some of our top recommendations for building experience outside of an internship.

Open Source Contributions

Contributing to open source projects can be a great alternative to internships as it allowed you to gain real-world coding experience, collaborate with others, and even make a visible impact in software that's used by many. Below are some popular open-source fellowship programs and a list of other beginner-friendly projects!

<aside> 🧑🏾‍💻 https://github.com/MunGell/awesome-for-beginners

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Learn by Doing | MLH Fellowship

Google Summer of Code

Research Projects

Many on-campus research opportunities recruit later in the Spring semester and offer opportunities to code, solve problems, collaborate with others, and network.

1. Reach out to professors and teaching assistants in your department/major. Ask them if they have recommendations for labs or institutes to look into.
2. Search online and on your university’s jobs portal for research opportunities that may involve any relevant skills you’re seeking (coding, data) or related to your degree focus!
   • Try searching for “research assistant + Python (top language/tool) + name of university located near you”
   • Here is an example job at a school of business that is remote, but is looking for a student from that university to hire
3. Check out where previous alumni or members of students orgs you’re in have completed research positions and ask them to refer you to previous projects they’ve worked on!

Hackathons or Competitions

Hackathons are intense, often multi-day events where individuals or teams work on a software or hardware project. Participating in hackathons can help you learn new technologies, work as part of a team, and even win prizes. Plus, it's a great way to network with other technology enthusiasts and industry professionals. Some are in-person and some are remote, but either way you likely leave with an additional project for your resume!

1. Search for hackathons or competitions both local to you and national/remote that cover areas where you would like to get more exposure & experience!

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