💻SWE & AI Internships
Guide on internship opportunities for AI and software engineering students.
If you just want the summary for what to do then jump to the bottom of the page.
Non-EU/EEA
Non-EU/EEA students face significant restrictions for internships in the Netherlands. Talk with your study advisor about options, such as getting an internship as part of your thesis. Some companies can sponsor work permits, but this is less common for internships.
Time Points for Internship Applications
A commonly asked question is:
When am I actually supposed to look for internships?
So I hope this guide can maybe put your minds at ease, there are generally a bunch of different points, and you should not feel pressured. Focus on passing your studies, and seek out opportunities when you feel the time is right.
Y1: First Year
Be careful with internships here. If you are not experienced, focus on building your programming skills and portfolio. Don't worry too much about internships yet.
- If you already have experience you can apply to regular internships, though note that competition is high
- Look for workshop programs and introductory opportunities on LinkedIn. Companies like Uber sometimes offer programs for Y1/Y2 students that can lead to internships
Start of Y2: Summer Internships
Strongly recommended to apply. These are aimed at Y2 students, often have approachable skill requirements (mainly DSA / LeetCode / HackerRank), and are a great way to get your foot in the door.
- Primarily targeted at Year 2 students
- Competitive with low entry barriers; usually require little specific skill; do require good DSA knowledge though
- Larger companies may offer these (Amazon, Databricks, Booking.com, Optiver, etc.), though not widely available in smaller firms
During Y2: Student Internships
- Accessible to all students throughout the academic year
- Generally accept both Msc and Bsc students
- Consider focusing on opportunities designed for BSc students; internships that also accept Msc will be more competitive if you don't have too much prior experience
Y3: Strategic Course Selection + Internships
A common strategy is to choose lighter elective courses during your final year and do an internship on the side. Design your course load to leave room for professional experience.
- Doing an internship alongside lighter courses is a good strategy if you want to have it done during your studies
- If you design your schedule well it can potentially be the best opportunity aside from summer internships
Y3: Thesis Internship
This is another very good point for looking into internships, because it has essentially no overlap with your courses. The companies might not overlap with your interests but I would still highly recommend to explore options at this point.
(If you defer) After Y3: Student Internship
If you defer you have to pay tuition, so this strategy is not recommended for international students if you cannot afford to stay longer. The VU will pay you back a part of your tuition if you graduate halfway through your deferred year. But again YOU HAVE TO PAY TUITION IF YOU DEFER, ONLY DO THIS IF YOU CAN AFFORD IT
- If you defer you retain your student status which should still allow you to apply for both student and regular internships
Where to Find Opportunities
Dutch Tech Companies
The Netherlands has a strong tech ecosystem. Companies to look at include:
- Booking.com (Amsterdam): large engineering org with regular internship programs
- Adyen (Amsterdam): payments technology
- TomTom (Amsterdam): location technology and mapping
- Picnic (Amsterdam): online grocery, very tech-driven
- ASML (Eindhoven): semiconductor equipment, both hardware and software roles
AI Ecosystem in Amsterdam
Amsterdam has a growing AI scene with research labs and companies:
- University research groups (VU, UvA) often have student assistant or research positions
- Startups in the Amsterdam AI ecosystem (check Amsterdam AI for an overview)
- Corporate AI labs from larger companies (Qualcomm AI Research, Elsevier, Ahold Delhaize)
Finding Listings
- LinkedIn is probably where you'll find the most relevant job listings. If you have a good profile and some basic activity, recruiters will sometimes reach out to you
Additional Strategies
Honors
- If you have a GPA of 7.5, even if you don't want to do Honors, just apply. They do company get-togethers which might be helpful for networking. A key thing to remember: you do not have to do Honors courses to be in Honors. You of course will not get the actual title if you don't do the courses, but you can still leverage being in Honors during your studies for networking.
STORM student association
- STORM is a student association for CS, Math and AI students which also does networking events. Their membership fee is around 15 EUR. Worth signing up for events and getting to know more people. They sometimes organize company visits and career events that are particularly relevant for AI students.
Career Fairs
- There are a few career fairs usually yearly, remember to check your VU mail every now and then.
Advent of Code
- This is a programming competition website which hosts daily programming problems for the month of December until Christmas morning (25th). It's a great way to practice your programming skills and looks good on your CV.
Summary
To summarize, some recommendations for what to do in each year:
Year 1
- Make a LinkedIn and a GitHub account (populate them just with basic information)
- Sign up to STORM
- Try out Advent of Code in December
- Apply to Honors if you have a GPA >= 7.5
- Look out for programming competitions late in the school year
- Start exploring AI/ML topics that interest you
Year 2
- Try and populate your GitHub or LinkedIn with anything you did (it's fine if nothing yet)
- Again do AoC (some more good practice)
- Maybe over the year explore some things you find interesting in your personal time
- personal projects (especially AI/ML projects)
- Kaggle competitions
- open-source contributions
Year 3
- At this point try and have at least 1 project on your GitHub, make sure your LinkedIn is clean
- Have a resume (this template is more than enough)
- Start just looking at some job listings to get an idea of the market
- Check Magnet.me and StageVinder regularly
And of course at all these points see if you can find any good opportunities for an internship. And the one thing to remember:
IMPORTANT -> YOU ARE PROBABLY MORE SKILLED THAN YOU THINK, IT NEVER HURTS TO APPLY, GOOD LUCK!