Internship Experience: Intuit Credit Karma

Coffee, Careers, and Connections: Learning from the Team As I settle into my internship, I’ve been reflecting on career paths and how people get to where they are. I first thought of asking my manager for coffee, but I realized one perspective might be limited. So, I reached out to my mentor (a Senior Software Engineer), my manager, and someone from recruiting. I’m so grateful they all said yes. I am not gonna share their names just for privacy policies. No need to say that these past couple of weeks have been full of caffeine and insightful conversations. Introduction: Expanding the Horizon My original plan was just to ask my manager about their career, but then I thought: "Why stop there?" Tech and career paths are complex, so I reached out to others with different perspectives: my mentor (deep in the tech work), my manager (team leadership), and a recruiter (who shapes the workforce). Each chat offered a unique insight, and together, they gave me a much fuller picture. Men...

In my culture, there’s a saying, and I’m still trying to recall the exact words, that translates to "someone with different layers." It describes a person with various facets to their personality, adapting their behavior to different situations or people. I suspect most of us are a bit like that, but my point is, I recognize these layers in myself. As I wrap up my second week interning at Credit Karma, I’ve been reflecting on how these personal layers are fitting in with the company culture. First, a significant layer for me is empathy. I genuinely care about people and instinctively try to help or understand their perspectives. It’s just how I’m wired. This has been quite apparent to me during these initial weeks. Take the onboarding process: it was a deep dive into engineering at Credit Karma and the tools they use. When I noticed a fellow intern looking a bit puzzled, I found myself wanting to clarify a point or share a note, simply because I know what it feels like to be ...

Almost every organization in corporate America makes some sort of claim about being the greatest place to work. To attract the public's attention, some people go one step further and showcase their brand in a distinctive and eye-catching way. I've had the chance to go to a number of events over the last several years where businesses not only covered my airfare and lodging but also gave me an inside look at their workplace culture and conducted interviews for internships. Until I entered Intuit Credit Karma, I had never been on-site at a for-profit business, even with these experiences. I've tried to accurately portray what I saw during my first week of orientation at Credit Karma in this blog. For the purpose of simplicity, I'll just call the business "Credit Karma" from now on. Give credit Karma's key values: helpfulness, ownership, progress, and empathy. They are surprisingly simple. These aren't merely catchphrases that you'll see mounted on...