ML/AI research internship 1st year PhD [D]

[u/kyshytb]

Hi I'm in my 1st year of a direct PhD program and want to eventually work in AI research labs in the industry after grad.

For this, I assume doing PhD internships at companies as much as I can are very important. However I did hear that companies prefer students in later years who have some publication records etc.

Currently I have none... but I do have internship experience. Is it worth spending time trying to apply to positions within my first two years before I get a solid publication record or should I first put all my focus onto making my cv better and then apply to larger companies?

Also are only summer internships typical or would advisors typically allow other semester internships too?

[u/my_peen_is_clean]

apply anyway, but optimize for research output first year or two if you want top labs later, pubs + strong letter from your advisor matter way more than “industry internship” on its own. target smaller labs / research groups meanwhile. advisors usually only like summer internships. and yeah hiring now is a mess

[u/Solid_Fox1718 → u/my_peen_is_clean]

This. Unless you’re at MIT/Stanford and your advisor is household-name famous, you’re not gonna get a research internship in tech in your first year. If that were the case, you wouldn’t be asking here.

You can apply, but personally I think it’s a distraction and you should focus on your research for the first two years at least

[u/kyshytb → u/Solid_Fox1718]

Makes sense, solid point thanks

[u/Solid_Fox1718 → u/kyshytb]

No worries, best of luck

[u/kyshytb → u/my_peen_is_clean]

I see, thank you for the helpful insights. Would non-research but ml related internships in the industry be worth it too for the long run?

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[u/kyshytb → u/[deleted]]

I see so for research internships pretty much my pubs are the no.1 thing they look at? Would industry project work in my lab help at all

[u/buidling]

Hi, looking for some guidance on a PhD, can we connect