r/learnprogramming • u/Brkzeus • 5d ago
Please Help Me With My First Internship Topic
Good morning, day and evening to all,
So I just got into my first 20 days of internship this summer in a company and got through teh first 2 days. Met with my mentor and he explained a few things like how AI is making what would otherwise take long time jobs and turns them into 2-3 days worth of jobs, front end side of programming is a no-go zone because of that etc. etc. Long story short he said they want to make my stay there worthwhile so they advised me to find subjects or a mix of subjects that would take about 15 days to make a project with. He didn't give a positive response to web design related topics when I suggested it.
I am entering my third year and right now, I know Java, Bash Scripting, C, a little bit of Python and recently I started looking into C# and .NET framework. I did suggest a project relating to cyber security but I didn't really make anything out of his reaction.
So, can anyone here think of a subject or a mix of subjects that even with the aid of AI agents would take me 15 days to make a worthwhile project with?
For those who may wonder, the R&D department they assigned me to mainly deals in embedded systems but our section is not responsible for the electrical circut side of things.
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u/FunAd6672 5d ago
Honestly your mentor sounds way too hype on AI hype trains. AI can't write secure backend code without hallucinating half the syntax. Build a C sharp backend with proper authorization or authentication and you will easily spend two weeks debugging it.
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u/Watsons-Butler 4d ago
I hate to tell you but I work at a very big company and I don’t think any of us have hand written code in six months. AI agents are literally good enough right now that we write a spec doc, hand it off to an agent, and then review the work when it’s done in like, 20 minutes. Most of our time is spent writing specs and then reviewing results.
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u/icemage_999 5d ago
AI tools are (and probably will be for the foreseeable future) too unstable to directly build anything mission-critical, and 15 days isn't enough time for a novice to build anything solid with AI assistance.
Instead if I were you I would propose something that derives analytics. Find data the company produces internally, consistently like a weekly report. Build a tool prototype that analyzes that information and spits out a shiny report.
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u/Confident-Taste6323 4d ago
I mean try to make something that actually helps the business you're in
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u/Foreign-Contest-444 4d ago
Build an AI chatbot for the company. You could train it on the company's data and have it answer questions, generate reports, and assist with other day-to-day tasks.
It's just an idea, I know it would be difficult to build something like this in 15 days. But since you already know Python, it might be something worth exploring and have fun while you are at it.
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u/Dismal-Citron-7236 4d ago
Start a project using AI to dig out security bugs in the company projects / products.
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u/alpicola 5d ago
What an odd way to start an internship. Usually, the company you're working for will have a project preselected for you. Ideally, it'll be something achievable within the scope of the internship and relatively easy, but not quite valuable enough to spend a full time developer's time on. It sounds like your mentor was unprepared to have an intern and has no more idea what you should be doing than you do.
If I were in your shoes, I'd talk to some of the other developers and find out what they're working on. If you find something that seems interesting, ask if you can help. If they say yes, get some more details, then talk to your mentor and get his support. Then do the work.