This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Arlina Yang, a junior at the University of California, Davis. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Business Insider has verified Yang’s employment history.
I came to the US in 2019. As an immigrant from Taiwan going to UC Davis, a non-target school, Big Tech was a dream that I didn’t think I could have.
As an immigrant, I lacked a lot of parental guidance. My parents don’t really know anything about tech, let alone job applications.
I had to figure everything out on my own — meeting with university career counselors, talking with friends, and learning from creators on social media. But there’s only so much others can offer when they haven’t walked the same path or experienced the specific opportunities I’m pursuing.
When I landed a software and digital media communications internship at Tesla last year, it was almost like a dream come true because it felt like a stamp of approval that I was good enough.
It was my first Big Tech internship, and I was really excited to tell my parents because I would be the first person in the family on both sides to ever work at such a big and well-known company.
My Tesla offer got rescinded
I received a call in April last year that my internship would be rescinded. The entire summer 2024 intern cohort was laid off.
On top of that, more than 14,000 employees were unfortunately part of the layoff.
I immediately called my sister and told her that I would no longer have a job for the summer. I was really worried because, at that point, it was quite late in the recruitment timeline. Internships were almost close to nonexistent.
Right after the call, I sat at Pete’s Coffee just wondering what to do. I sat there for like six hours, re-edited my résumé, and tried to apply to every single job I could see on LinkedIn.
It was more sad to tell my parents than anyone else that I had lost my offer because it was ultimately something I couldn’t control. Telling my parents felt like I was disappointing not only them but also myself.
I was constantly thinking about the what-ifs. If I had tried harder, would anything have changed? Would they have kept me?
I learned that I couldn’t control what happens
The layoff taught me that I’m more resilient than I think I am. I persevered through this whole issue and combated a lot of my perceptions of self-worth.
Before Tesla, I applied to about 250 jobs, and after Tesla, I applied to another 250.
It was not meant to be that I ended up at another internship, so I took that summer to really reflect on what I could do and what was actually within my control.
The layoff is not something you can control, but the way that you react is something you can control.
I started Career Now, a newsletter to help other students like myself who might have lacked career guidance from their family or education, or the time to focus on their early career journey because of family responsibilities, part-time jobs, or other commitments.
I wanted my newsletter to be an outlet where students can learn about these job opportunities and level the field with those who have more privilege, support, and guidance in their early career journey.
What I’ve accomplished for Career Now has a much greater impact than whatever I could have done at Tesla because I’m helping more than 73,000 students in my daily life.
I post content that encourages students on a daily basis. I share opportunities that these students would never have known if I hadn’t posted about them.
I’m now a campus leader for Notion and working part-time as a content marketing intern at Siemens during the school year. Looking ahead, I plan to study abroad in Europe in the fall while continuing to document my recruitment journey for a social media summer internship next year.
A job is never fully secure, and Big Tech is especially volatile
No job in this economy right now is fully secure. Job hunting is so different with the power of AI. Many résumés are scrapped ahead of time, even before getting into the hands of recruiters.
Big Tech is also very volatile. The layoff that happened last summer was only a sneak peek into what is happening this year, with a lot of big companies laying off new grads and employees cutting a lot of departments that are now, quote unquote, replaceable with the power of artificial intelligence.
An internship was honestly the best time to be laid off. Heaven forbid I got laid off as a full time employee where I had a mortgage to pay, or a family to raise. I definitely had the least to lose.
I do encourage students to see a layoff as a pause instead of the end — more of a redirection rather than a sign that it’s game over.
Do you have a story to share about interning at a tech company? Contact this reporter at [email protected].
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