BackWhat I Look for in Intern ResumesJun 24, 2025I've been trying to hire software engineer interns for the past few months. I've gone through over 1000 resumes.My background is hiring remote software engineer interns for a solopreneur / small startup context. What I'm looking for would be drastically different from a large corporation hiring interns. My hiring style would be different from others.In this post, I will try to share my thoughts on what kind of applicants I'm looking for and more specifically what are things I look for in a resume.Personal projectsPersonal projects are the thing I put most weight on when I look at a resume because it tells me a lot about the applicant.Why is it so important for me:Personal projects show me that the applicant can take all the theory, learnings from school and turn it into something real in the world. This applicant is a builder. It reminds us that studying computer science and all this stuff is not the end, it is just a means to create and build something that is useful to someone in the world.Projects require interdisciplinary skills, and I love this.You need to be a Product manager to decide actually what to build and how to present it.You need to design the UX and UI, you need to design and implement the software and the code.You have to think about how to market it and how to get users.You need to manage the time. If there are teams involved, you need project management and collaboration.You go through the whole product development lifecycle in one way or another. And from the outcome, I can deduce so much information about the applicant, which decisions were made.Most important of all, I can really see how much passion this student has put to overcome all the hurdles and bring the project to end and a product to life.Examples of bad projects:No link to codebase or live product or demoFor such projects, I have to give almost a score of 0, because there is nothing for me to see and no proof of the project's existence. I can respect that the codebase is proprietary, but it should at least have a video demo that I can see.Generic class projectsIn some university courses, the student will do a project for the course.When I see that there are many other applicants with your same exact project, then it loses value for me as a lot of decisions were made not by the applicant but by the course template or something.Examples of this are: To Do List app, CRUD app, E-commerce clone, Dijkstra's Algorithm implementation.An actual exampleOne applicant had developed a game with a group of students. There was a link to the showcase of this game at a university event.The project itself seemed interesting, however there were only a few screenshots and some short description of the game.I emailed the applicant to try to get some codebase or more extensive demo, but did not manage to get it. In such cases, I am completely unable to evaluate the work.Example of Good projects:Link to the codebaseI think it is the very basic for a project to haveClass projects need not necessarily remain generic and boring projects. Class projects can still become interesting projects.Example of interesting class projects:One student had a class project which was implementing a basic CRUD with frontend and backend. This could have really easily been a boring project.However this applicant had taken a specific hobby he had, so he had a real vision and problem he wanted to solve. And implemented this CRUD with the idea of solving this problem and building such a product.I loved that, it showed me that this person can think for himself, and not just take instructions. He/she can be creative and come up with original ideas and he has passion for this thing.Some other good projects that I had seen are:How to start projectsIf you have an idea, I think you should just go and build it. If you really don't have an idea, there are many ways to get started such as joiningAll of these are about completing a project in a short amount of time. You will be joining inside a group. You will be forced to come up with a product, with several people in the team, for sure you will find something.Most of those projects just remain weekend projects, but sometimes they can live on and become a full-fledged project.Even if it just ended as a weekend project, you will have gained the experience and ideas of projects (learn from other members, and other teams), that will help you execute when a project idea finally does come to you.Last thing I want to mention about projects, is that you don't need tons of projects to pass my screening. Quality over quantity. One good project would be enough for me.Personal Website & BlogThe second thing I like to read most about an applicant is the applicant's personal website and blog. A well-crafted personal website tells me who you are beyond the resume.What I look for:What doesn't work:Any blog post and writing content is usually good. It does not have to be very deep or expert level content. Some content I have enjoyed reading include reflections on projects, learning notes, or even personal experiences like dealing with burnout. The key is authenticity and regular posting.School, awards, leetcode etc...Everyone wants to hire for the smartest, most intelligent, and fast learners. Who wouldn't want that?Good school, good grades, and awards are a proxy measurement for it. The understanding is that the school system has already done the job for filtering the students. It is of course not all accurate, but is a good approximation from the little data we have from the resume.For students that do come from a great school, but does not have interesting projects, I try to give one more chance by trying to understand why this was the case, and if there is any unlocked potential about the student that I could help unlock or grow.There are a couple of things I keep into consideration here:Previous internship experienceThe fourth thing I look in a resume is for previous internship experience. I don't want to require internship experience to be eligible for my internship, but internship experience is a positive thing.I highly admire students that have gone through many internships. University of Waterloo is famous for this, where students graduate with like 6 internship experiences. I see many students from National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technology University who also have several internships. I think those are all very good and those students will graduate with a very strong position.Internships give you real world experience, with their experiences much more aligned with what a practical job looks like, instead of only theoretical knowledge.What makes a quality internship?One thing I have come to realize for screening previous internship experience is that there is a high variance in quality of internships. It may not be obvious to see at first glance, I will ask about it during interview.I have found cases where the intern did not do much during the internship, or ones where there was not a real tech mentor as the team was not technical.In short, quality is also very important, not only the quantity of internships.Age / SeniorityThe more senior the person is, the higher the expectation.If two people with different seniority and age had the same kind of projects and material, I would prefer the younger one because it means he/she has higher potential. I have a bias for younger candidates.But usually the difference is not so great.ConclusionIn this article I have shared how I look into a resume and what qualities I look for from an internship applicant.Sometimes applicants ask me for feedback on why they were not selected. Every time I was only able to give some generic answer, but if you've done your research and found this article, now you know why you did not get selected. This is basically my feedback for you.At the end of the day, there is a limit of how much you can improve by optimizing the resume. The best way to improve your chances is to build a good project, and have a good personal website and blog.I hope this article has given you some insights on how to build a compelling profile, and things to prioritize as a student.