Getting the most out of your software engineering internship: Kalina Allen’s summer at Dropbox
Q: Where do you call home?
A: I grew up in Hawaii until age 14, attended boarding school in Thailand until age 19, and now I’m living in Boston until college graduation. In other words, it’s complicated. But I like that I have that history!
Kalina on various mountains in Kauai, an island in the Central Pacific part of the Hawaiian Islands. (left) Waimea Canyon, nicknamed the Grand Canyon of the Pacific (middle) View of the Napali Coast (right) At the top of Sleeping Giant Hike, one of one of Kalina’s favorite hikes on the island because the view is gorgeous. It’s also super windy which cools you down!
Q: How did you first get interested in computer science?
A: I took Introduction to Computer Science in the fall of my freshman year because 1) I wanted to learn how to be a hacker, 2) computer science seemed very cool, and 3) I was excited to try something completely new.
In that first semester, I really enjoyed discovering a framework to approach problems, and I absolutely loved coding. I declared my computer science major before the end of the semester and never looked back! (I still don’t know how to hack things though).
Q: Tell us about your experience as an intern.
A: Throughout my Dropbox internship, I was lucky to be surrounded by a number of full-time employees who were invested in my success. They helped me push myself, believe in myself, and come to the conclusion that Dropbox is the best place for me right now!
Kalina (middle) with Aisha (left) and Yuyang (right), Dropbox software engineers and 2017 Intern Program Managers.
Aisha and Yuyang were both great mentors during my time at Dropbox. Aisha spoke candidly about her decision to return to Dropbox (after an internship) and was one of the people who influenced my final decision to choose Dropbox too!
I also met a number of fellow interns who completed my internship experience. We had fun eating out, playing board games, and just hanging out after work. I’m still in touch with a few of them and look forward to seeing them in August!
Kalina at Fort Funston in SF with fellow Dropbox Intern
Intern Salsa! Kalina is 2nd from left in the yellow blouse.
Q: Share a story of when you or a teammate embodied a Dropbox value.
A: During my internship, I implemented client logic and Mac UI on desktop to show file viewer history. One challenging part of my project was determining how to modify the existing architecture in a simple and clean way. I remember when a very senior engineer came to help me one afternoon. He noticed some changes that I had made and explained design principles to help me improve those changes. He sat with me for at least an hour, and I felt so impressed that he’d taken the time to help me with a project that was totally unrelated to his team. He embodied the “we not I” attitude — a Dropbox company value. Time and time again, I noticed that people at Dropbox were always willing to help, regardless of whether or not it benefited their team directly, because we were all one big team striving to make Dropbox even more awesome!
Q: How did your internship at Dropbox compare to experiences you’ve had at other companies or at university?
A: Hands down, Dropbox has the best work culture!
Kalina’s intern class
Q: Tell me about your mentor and your team.
A: I was #blessed with an awesome mentor, Li Chen. In my first week, I felt a little in over my head. I struggled to make progress when my mentor took a couple of days off. During this time, Li Chen called to ask how things were going. He quickly determined I was stuck and spent over an hour helping unblock me. Li Chen was very communicative and invested in my success.
My manager, Shravan, helped shape my project so I could work on things that I found interesting. He was available but didn’t micromanage the team.
My peer mentor, Michael, was always available and an invaluable resource while my mentor was on vacation. In general, the whole team was more than willing to help over the summer.
Q: Do you have any advice for getting the most out of a summer internship?
A: First and foremost, understand the company’s expectations and figure out how to meet them. Ask questions if you aren’t sure. Communicate if you don’t think you’ll be able to perform in certain areas. Just communicate in general!
Secondly, some valuable advice a friend gave me: Figure out how the organization works. If you can understand the big picture, you’ll be able to add more value to whatever you do. Ask questions like: Why will this company succeed? How is it better than the competition? Does this management style work for me? How does recruiting work? How do people move through the organization? How are different technical areas split up?
Q: How would you describe the Dropbox culture?
A: Open, collaborative, and caring. During my internship, I noticed my manager, mentor, peer mentor, intern program manager, and recruiter all genuinely cared about me and were invested in my success.
Interested in our 2019 University roles? Feel free to apply for our Software Engineer Internship (Summer 2019) and our Software Engineer University Grad (2019) roles.