Portfolio

Having a portfolio of technical projects / research work is a great way to show that you would be a great addition to a company. This can come in many forms: personal projects, research, contributing to open-source projects, etc. Most companies would ask about the projects that you have done so make sure to have at least 2-3 that you feel strongly about and are ready to talk about.

On-Campus Opportunities

Hackathons

DALI

Research

Classes

Classes are a great way to up your coding skills. Take classes that you’re interested in. The best ones are ones that let you work on real projects, where you’ll get to learn skills that very much may come up in your internship. That said, class projects are not the most exciting things to talk about in an interview, so be sure to craft your own projects!

CS 10, Problem Solving via OOP

CS 50, Software Design and Implementation

CS 63.01, ARVR Development

CS 52, Full-Stack Web Development

Get on the

waitlist⁠

for this ASAP. Students usually only get into the class in their junior/senior year because of how popular it is, but is a very important skill to build projects on.

Personal Projects

Craft your own project! What do you feel strongly about? Is it social justice, is it environment, is it helping the local restaurants at Dartmouth grow their business?

Personal projects are one of the best ways to show your passion, personality, how you take initiative, how you think—ahhh, you get the point. This section basically displays all the important qualities of a good candidate.

Note from the author: One example of a personal project is actually a data science project that predicts which venues in New York City would work the best to set up a Chinese restaurant. This was when I just got into Dartmouth, and I was trying to convince my Dad to move his restaurant business to the US with me. I found this a compelling story to tell interviewers because it showed that I was excited about building cool projects that were important to me personally and that I was a strong independent learner who could pick up new skills and navigate an less well-defined problem (a skill that is strongly sought out for at work).

Where to start?

Start thinking about problems, big or small in your daily lives. Is there anything you’ve been unhappy/dissatisfied about? Collis lines are too long? Hanover restaurants are too expensive? Find a problem that you feel strongly about so that you have the motivation to start.

When to start?

Start as soon as you can (looking at you Freshman and Sophomores). Before you know it, you are already in the middle of recruiting for an internship and you are stressed out about your empty resume. That said, it’s difficult to get projects going amid all the school work, so breaks are the best time to do them!

Now what?

Starting a project to solve a problem may feel very daunting at first, but my best advice is to break them down into smaller pieces and figure out the parts one my one. Before you know it, you’ll have the entire app out! This is also a great way for you to pick up new skills and learn how to navigate the overwhelming abundance of resources on the internet. Also, don’t be afraid to narrow or change the scope of your project when you hit a roadblock. Learning how to be scrappy in overcoming challenges is also a good skill to have and talk about in interviews.

Remember, all these challenges make up good stories to tell in interviews. Failing is normal and figuring out how to overcome the challenge is what will make you stand out as a candidate. Share these stories of failing and overcoming the odds in your interview!

I’ve finished 🎉!

Great job on finishing the project! But you’re not done. Now you have to do the most boring yet crucial part of the project: Documentation. Publish your project on Github so that they are visible to your recruiters and interviewers. See

#README⁠

for some examples on how to document your Github projects. These projects make for good talking points for interviews too and sometimes interviewers might ask you to talk more about a specific project on your Github.

Research

Coming soon. Know someone that might be able to contribute? Let us know at

hackdartmouthhackathon@gmail.com⁠

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