Master’s Internship Process 2024 | Rocket Mortgage
Hi All,
It's been over a year since I wrote anything on Medium. To be honest, I have had a lot of experiences in the past year being a graduate student, some good and some bad, but that's for another time.
Today, I will share my internship process while doing my Masters in the States. I interned as a Data Engineer for Rocket Mortgage, part of Rocket Companies.
A quick background about my education & experience:
I finished my Bachelors in Information Technology in 2019.
I worked for 3 years starting from 2019 till 2023 for two different companies.
I started my career as a Data Engineer & hence always focused on getting an internship in the similar domain.
I started my Masters in 2023 too.
Let's go!! The internship process began in June 2023. Fast forward: I applied in September 2023 for the role of Data Engineer Intern at Rocket & received my first call from the recruiter in December 2023.
Interview Process Steps —
1 intial phone screening round with the recruiter (45 mins)
1 coding round on Hackerrank to solve two medium-level DSA questions & explain the logic in a recorded video(1 hour approx)
1 virtual technical + behavioral video interview with the hiring manager and team leaders (1 hour approx)
The first call with the recruiter lasted about 45 minutes. It was about my resume and discussion about my previous experience, skills, and educational background. My recruiter was amazing. She was very polite and generous, and I had a detailed discussion with her about the role, expectations, potential salary, and the overall process of hiring an intern.
They had two positions available for the Data Engineer intern role with different companies (Amrock and Rocket Mortgage, both part of Rocket Companies). Based on my skills and previous experience, I had the opportunity to choose a role more appropriate for me, & hence I chose Rocket Mortgage.
Quick fact here: Before my call with the recruiter, I was not aware of anything related to Rocket. So, my role selection was purely based on my skills & experience.
After this call, my resume was supposed to go through the hiring manager's approval and post that I would be considered for the opportunity. After waiting for a day or two, I received the link for the online coding test along with all the details and rules to be followed.
I could finish my test within 3–4 days of receiving it. The questions were easy to medium-level. If you are a thorough Leet Code practitioner, it will be a piece of cake for you. Well, at that point, I was almost done with 60–70 frequently asked questions of Leetcode, and I was able to compile and execute both questions successfully.
Within a week of finishing the test, the recruiter informed me that the leadership team wanted to proceed with the final technical round.
So, at this time, I was in India for my winter break and was supposed to return to the USA soon. Realising that this was going to be the final round, I wanted to buy more time for my preparation and be in my best form for the interview. However, it didn't go as per my thoughts; the recruiter told me that the hiring team was super busy and had limited time to decide, so I had to give the interview as soon as possible.
So here comes my interview slot, the very next day after landing in the USA.
I did go through my resume properly, did study with whatever time I had in my hand, and was in decent shape for the final round. However, the interview stress is a whole different thing, no matter how well-prepared one is. That feeling in the stomach kicking right before the interview starts, that panic and stress at the same time, but you gotta keep your cool, no matter what. In the end, it is all just an emotion, which fades away once you start feeling confident and having a nice conversation with the interviewers.
Coming back, my interview was early morning around 9 AM Pacific time, and the hiring team was based in the Eastern time zone. It started with a brief introduction of the panellists and then details of my background. Next, I explained to them about my previous projects, what I did and how I did it, what my approach was, and why I decided to use certain tools or technologies. The interviewers asked me questions about specific portions of my project and its workflow to see my understanding of the end-to-end technologies. Finally, there was a set of behavioural questions, such as how to handle conflicts and many more. And that was all about the 1-hour interview. My interviewers were decent, but by the end of the meeting, I couldn't understand if they were satisfied with my performance.
I have given multiple interviews in India, but this time, it was a little different for me. Overall, I would say it was a positive experience with the panel members.
Now the time comes—the waiting period to hear from the recruiter. Although I had mixed feelings about my performance, somewhere I was not sure if I would go through.
Then comes one fine afternoon, while I was in the car, travelling to San Diego, and my phone rang; it was my recruiter, and finally the golden words, “I was selected." That moment of relief is something we all crave until we bag an internship or a job during the graduation program.
That's all about the process !! I know it got a little too lengthy, but I wanted to be as detailed as possible for anyone on the same journey.
All the best, and you will be selected soon too! Trust the process.
I am planning to write about my 3 months of internship journey too. Let me know if you all want to know any other story related to my master's journey.
Happy Reading 😇
