What do you think this image is saying? How does it relate to or comment on society or current events? Can you relate to it personally? What is your opinion of its message?
Tell us in the comments, then read the related article to learn more.
Want more Picture Prompts? Find them all in this column.
Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.
Mr. Ward was fired from Rolling Stone after a few months (he didn’t get along with Jann Wenner, the publisher), then became the West Coast correspondent for the rock magazine Creem, a post he held for most of the 1970s. He left in 1979 to write about the thriving music scene in Austin as a music critic at The American-Statesman.
“Ed brought a reputation to Austin as an unflinching critic — Rolling Stone had a lot of clout — and he was not diplomatic in his writing,” said his friend and fellow writer Joe Nick Patoski, who described Mr. Ward as cantankerous and difficult. “Early on, there was a reaction to some of the things he wrote and it started a ‘Dump Ed Ward’ movement that had bumper stickers and T shirts.”
Daily Word Challenge
Can you correctly use the word cantankerous in a sentence?
Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.
Then, read some of the other sentences students have submitted and use the “Recommend” button to vote for two original sentences that stand out to you.
If you want a better idea of how cantankerous can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com.
Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.
Last week, the Republican Party officially declared the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and events that led to it “,” and rebuked two lawmakers in the party who have been most outspoken in condemning the deadly riot and the role of Donald J. Trump in spreading the election lies that fueled it.
To find out how this feature works, click on any of the links above, or just check out the example below:
Though “5 Minutes” focuses on music, we’re inviting you to choose any art form you like to answer our question. So: Which television show, painting, book, movie, video game, photograph, dance performance, play, sculpture or podcast would you recommend? Or, inspired by the “5 Minutes” series, you might pick an artist, actor, musician, writer, designer, instrument or artistic tool to recommend.
Which five minutes of it would you show, describe, or have your friends experience to make them fall in love with it? Why?
Next, read and listen to “5 Minutes That Will Make You Love Music for Dance.” In this edition of the feature, dancers, choreographers, critics and others share five minutes or so of dance music. Here is a sampling:
Justin Peck, a choreographer, writes:
What I love about dance music is that it can be anything. It can be a piece that inspires me to choreograph a ballet for the stage, or something that causes me to glide in synchronized rhythm around my kitchen as I prepare dinner. It’s all fair game. In the case of “Become a Mountain” by Dan Deacon, it’s all of the above: the centerpiece of a longer dance that I choreographed a few months ago for the Juilliard School Class of 2022, and also a stand-alone track that gets my blood pumping on these frigid winter days in New York.
Kyle Abraham, also a choreographer, writes:
With its slick grooves, percussion, guitar licks and beautiful vocals, “Betray My Heart,” by D’Angelo and the Vanguard, is one of the rarest love songs I know. I included it in my newest evening-length work, “An Untitled Love,” because it is so pure, honest and sincere that I’m given a glimpse into what the joys of love should feel like. There’s something in the song’s lyrics and arrangement that makes me want to cry, and then get up and dance with the biggest smile on my face. My backbone slips, my shoulders roll, my heart thumps, and my head bops in its declaration.
Charmaine Warren, a dancer and teacher, writes:
I am Jamaican, and I love reggae music. Chronixx, one of Jamaica’s celebrated young singers, known for his rapturous songs, invites listeners to hearken back to the Rasta skank of Bob Marley. In “Smile Jamaica,” he starts off by singing about a girl he’s met; they exchange names and sweetly, just when the beat drops, we find that her name is Jamaica. He sings: “And I said smile, girl, smile. Smile for me, Jamaica.” In Jamaica we say “di music sweet mi,” and so I can’t help but drop my head, drop deeper into my swaying hips, pump my bent arms, smile, and sing along with the chorus.
Students, read the entire article and listen to the audio files of the pieces that seem the most interesting to you, then tell us:
Which commentaries made you most curious to listen to the music they describe? Why? If you listened to the audio files, what did you think? Did the music match the descriptions?
Is there music that makes you want to dance? If so what?
Think about an art form you love. How do you feel when you are involved in it? How does it make you feel emotionally? Physically? Intellectually?
Now go back to our original question. Which work of art or cultural expression would you choose to highlight for your own “5 Minutes That Will Make You Love …”? Which short section of it would you like your friends to experience?
What do you think people might misunderstand about the art you have chosen to present? How would you try to change their minds?
Want more writing prompts? You can find all of our questions in our Student Opinion column. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate them into your classroom.
Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.
It’s one of the darkest arts of electoral politics. And it’s perfectly legal. “This is like original sin. Both sides are infected with it.” Gerrymandering. It has a surprising history and an uncertain future, as the nation awaits a ruling by the Supreme Court. “What it has become to mean is districts that I don’t like because somebody else drew them.” The former steel town of Tarentum in western Pennsylvania is a mix of working-class Republicans and Democrats. Former Congressman Jason Altmire says that’s given him a close-up view of how gerrymandering works. “When I was in office, if you lived in this house you were my constituent. But if you lived on this side, your congressman was 60 miles away in Johnstown, Pa. It’s a small town. They’re in the same school district. They’re one community, except for the fact they were represented by two different members of Congress.” In the decade after each new census, states redraw their congressional and legislative districts. The party in power, whether Republican or Democrat typically draws maps to protect its own members. “Well, if you’re right there on that line, and that border, and if it’s a crazy district, it can become very confusing.” “But gerrymandering isn’t a partisan problem. We see this in other states like Maryland where it’s been the Democrats in power and the Democrats drawing the map to essentially marginalize Republican power.” “Gerrymandering doesn’t just determine how many Democrats and Republicans will serve. It determines what kind of Democrats and Republicans. It contributes to polarization. It makes the more liberal Democrats more likely to win. It makes the more conservative Republicans more likely to win. And they are less likely to cooperate with each other, and that gets us to the politics we have now.” “If you’re a member of Congress representing that type of district, you don’t hear different points of view. You hold a town hall meeting and all you ever hear is, ‘Right on, keep doing what you’re doing, and don’t you dare compromise.’” Both parties have long played the redistricting game. But today’s hard-fought battles have their origins 30 years ago, when the Supreme Court rendered a decision that upended the political landscape. “And in one unanimous decision today, the court said that North Carolina’s redistricting plan violated the 1982 Voting Rights Act by reducing black voting power.” The court ruled that under the Voting Rights Act, minority groups should have the opportunity to elect their preferred candidates to Congress. “Need your help!” The remedy? New majority-minority districts, where minority residents of voting age made up more than 50 percent of the population. “In several states, new snake-like district lines were drawn, linking together small pockets of black voters.” “I feel like things are changing in the right direction.” “Just want to say hello to you. I’m running for Congress.” In the 1992 elections, the new majority-minority districts achieved their goal, and 17 new black representatives were elected to Congress. “The new Congress looks more like America than any other Congress in history.” “Hello, America!” One of them was a North Carolina lawyer and activist named Eva Clayton. “From 1901 to 1992, no Afro-American had ever represented North Carolina. So that was a beautiful, historical moment.” “We too sing America.” “I felt privileged, I felt honored, and I felt humbled and blessed.” But for the Democrats, who still controlled the redistricting process, there was a price to pay. By packing black voters into a limited number of districts, there were fewer Democrats everywhere else. And Republicans saw an opportunity to divide and conquer. “Let me tell you that the Voting Rights Act has the potential to really shake things up and frankly it is frightening to the Democrats.” “Very quickly, the Republican politicos figured out that if you drew three minority-majority districts, it meant that there were three incredibly Democrat districts, which meant there were more Republicans in the other eight or 10 districts.” “So the Republicans went to the African-American community, largely Democratic, and said, ‘Let’s make a deal.’” “In South Carolina, blacks and Republicans are already talking about a crescent-shaped district through the southern part of the state.” “The alliance, when it comes to redistricting, between the Republicans, mostly in the South, and the African-Americans, mostly in the South, has been called ‘The unholy alliance.’ Certainly, the Republicans knew what they were doing. The first sign of what a big deal the unholy alliance was was the 1994 elections.” “We will keep our commitment to keep our half of the contract with the help of the American people.” “There’s a new wind blowing, and it is a majority for Republicans.” “You saw the white Democrats in the South losing seat after seat.” “Voters sweep Democrats from power in midterm elections and give Republicans control of the House and Senate for the first time in 40 years.” “So it’s an irony. More African-American districts meant less Democrats were elected.” “I don’t think the African-American community was out to destroy the Democratic Party, but they were out to get the representation they thought they were entitled to. What happened was, it led to complete Republican dominance of virtually every state south of the Mason-Dixon line.” “So it’s sort of like taking our fight against racism, and the advancements we’ve made and the laws we’ve used and literally turning them around on their head and saying, ‘These are the laws you want and you fought for? Fine. We’re going to implement them 150 percent and see if you like that.’” “Let me hold the map.” Angela Bryant served in the North Carolina legislature from one of the carefully drawn majority-minority districts. “What’s on the left side is in my district. It’s one of the few trailer parks that’s still in the city.” The lines can get complicated, even for a seasoned legislator. “So I’m going to stop here and get my bearing. This road is sort of the boundary. And this is what I can’t tell, if these are in or out. It always bothered me, in terms of gerrymandering, that there was what I call ‘a finger’ that scooped down into what was otherwise my district that interrupted the compactness and scooped out the wealthier households, which are more white and Republican. In a micro sense, both me and my community benefited from the racial gerrymander, in that I got to represent them. However, in the big sense, it rendered us powerless in that the surrounding white communities and representatives didn’t need us, and they could label our party as the black party.” Having lost their voting strength, Democrats are now running up against the reality that Republicans are firmly in control of mapmaking in a majority of states. “The map drawers create a map which is perhaps likely to elect 10 Republicans and three Democrats. I acknowledge freely that this would be a political gerrymander, which is not against the law.” “Come up with something different. It could be five Democratic seats.” “Democrats don’t like the fact that Republicans took over a lot of state legislatures, and what we’ve seen with Democrats across the country is to look for bogeymen under every rock they can to explain their electoral failures. And, of course, it is my opinion that Democrats want to use the courts to do what they can’t win at the ballot box, and that is elections.” Across the country, gerrymandering is facing challenges in court. In North Carolina in 2018, the courts ruled that Republicans had packed too many African-American voters into too few districts. “North Carolina is really ground zero for gerrymandering.” It was a victory for Democrats, but Angela Bryant’s district was a casualty. It was more compact now, but also much more Republican. Bryant decided not to run for re-election. “People say, ‘Oh, they pushed her out.’ They didn’t push me out. It’s a shift we helped design and we pushed for. The Republicans, they said, ‘You realize if you fight this you lose your district.’ And I’m saying, somehow you’re missing the point. I say, it’s not my district that’s important to me. I’m against racism. We’re insulted to have a district based on racial discriminatory practices.” “Black people are overwhelmingly Democrats. So the question is, is it in the interest of African-Americans to have African-American legislators elected? Or is it in the interest of African-Americans to have the party they belong to have power? You may not be able to have both.” Regardless of election outcomes or court decisions, America’s political divisions are unlikely to go away anytime soon. It has to do with where Americans live. “The problem that Democrats have is they have sorted themselves into like-minded communities, and it makes it very easy to draw lines that advantage the Republican Party because you can put all the Democrats into one single area. And that’s not something that’s going to change. That’s a social trend that is greater and more impactful than just gerrymandering.” “Here’s what the Democrats need to do to fix their problem. They need to go win people back over in areas they’ve lost, or they need to get the ones they have to move to other places.” “A Democrat would draw it differently. They would probably come here to Cumberland, divide it up and do something like this, and try to find a district by combining all over the state. I mean, they have lost voters and they don’t have voters in the right areas. I mean, that’s just what it is.” “In a democracy, what we have as a final tool are our votes. That’s how people express themselves.” Fifty years ago, before the days of majority-minority districts, Eva Clayton ran for Congress and lost. “When you find people who are in tears because you lost, then you know that you have not only stirred the emotions, but also the hope.” Today, Clayton feels that a minority candidate like herself can appeal to everyone. “I have hope that America has moved far enough that a Eva Clayton could get elected. Now I don’t know why Eva Clayton would want to run right now. But anyhow, I think I can make my case to anyone. I just need the opportunity to do that.”
Becoming a lusted-after internet heartthrob was never part of Ben Awad’s career plan — but more than 800,000 TikTok followers and 53 million likes later, that’s what happened to the 24-year-old software consultant. “I was not expecting this whatsoever,” he says.
Ben started a TikTok account in September 2020 for “pure tech content,” like explaining coding memes and talking about startup culture, he says. He catered to a very specific audience of other software engineers, and didn’t think his jokes would land with non-programmers.
Things escalated when one of Ben’s TikToks involving a pun about back-ends went viral. These days, his comments are flooded with enamored fans expressing their love, asking him to teach them to code, and even vowing to change their college majors to computer science.
As a self-proclaimed nerd, the thirst is surprising: “I’m literally just talking deadpan about coding; there’s nothing spicy about that,” Ben says. “But that just happened to strike a chord with some people, which is great. I’m glad they enjoyed the content.”
Despite all the attention, coding is still Ben’s true love. When he’s not making content for TikTok and YouTube, Ben is working on a project called Voidpet, a game about mental health that’s “like a Pokemon-esque Neopet,” he says.
Here, Ben shares his advice for finding a language you love, impressing people with your coding skills, and coping with rejection:
Why did you start learning to code?
“The O.G. thing that got me into programming was an AP computer science course I took when I was 16. I was homeschooled, so I was able to pick different classes that I was interested in. My dad was a software engineer, and he was like, ‘Yeah, you should try coding.’ It just clicked right away.
After that, they taught me Java, and right away, I was like, ‘What can I build with Java?’ Printing to the screen, ‘hello world’ is cool, but I want a thing I can actually use. You can build Android apps with Java — at the time, that was the main language, now it’s Kotlin. I started with some really basic stuff, like a to-do list and a shopping list. The best thing I created was a League of Legends tracker, because I was really into that game at the time. After I made those Android apps, I was like, ‘Let’s keep making stuff, because this is fun.’”
What do you love about coding?
“I’m a big fan of problem-solving. I just really enjoy crunching on a problem and thinking, ‘How are we going to actually go through this and get it done?’ I have a very logical brain, and coding is very logical. It’s not like art where it’s very subjective; your code runs or doesn’t. My brain was able to wrap around that really well.
I also like being able to actually make things that I can use. So that’s also why I like web dev programming and app development more than some other parts. It actually feels like I have a superpower that I can just build a thing and now other people can use it.”
Do you have a favorite programming language?
“TypeScript is absolutely my favorite language right now. I can use it pretty much for anything: I can build the front-end of the website, make it look pretty, or I can go to the back-end and build servers and whatnot. I am a big fan of statically-typed languages: When the compiler checks on me, I absolutely love that. I love spell checkers; I need that every time I code.”
“My favorite comments that I see are comments like, ‘I decided to try computer science because of you!’ Some of those are jokes — like, you don’t know how many people are learning for funsies — but at least I know some amount of the comments are people actually giving comp sci a chance because of something they saw, which is just great.”
What advice do you have for a beginner who just started coding?
“The first thing you need to ask yourself is, ‘Am I enjoying these programming basics to some degree?’ It’s okay if you didn’t like some of the things. Try some different programming: try web dev, try making a CLI application, do some data science, Python — try a bunch of different things until you see something you actually like.
Make sure you get started on a project that you’re interested in very early. For me, it was making Android apps. The number one thing people ask is, ‘Ben, what project should I build for my resume?’ What you should do is go ask your friend, or your parents who are not coders, because they have billion-dollar startup ideas that you can code.”
What’s your biggest coding flex?
“I feel like I can do an entire project now. Well, there’s one part I can’t do, and it’s just never going to get there, that’s design. I cannot make things look pretty. If you give me a picture, I can make it look like the picture, but I can’t tell you, ‘Alright, we’re going to line this button up here. And this is going to be this color.’ I can’t do that. I’m terrible at that.
But besides that, if you ask me to build a certain type of website, I can figure out how to orient the database, set up the servers, and build the website or the app. I think my biggest flex is I can do all those parts, which took a lot of learning. But I cannot design — that’s my kryptonite.”
Do you have pointers for going on job interviews in the tech world?
“For the most part, it sucks. What helped me when I was applying for internships was knowing it’s just a numbers game: The more you do, the better you’re going to get. I noticed I was really bad at interviewing at first, but they kind of ask you the same thing over and over. By the tenth interview, I kind of got it down.
Don’t get too hurt if you get rejected, because you might get rejected by companies for reasons that are kind of arbitrary — they didn’t look at your resume or they didn’t pick it up in their automatic keyword picker. It feels really random sometimes, and it just kind of be like that. The thing that’s reassuring is, if you actually put in the effort, you can easily switch jobs in tech and get to the place you want to be.”
If you’re single and swiping on a dating app, it’s romantic to think that fate will lead you to a potential partner — and while that might be true, it’s also a matter of code.
Since OkCupid and Tinder came on the scene in the early 2010s, using dating apps to find a partner has become the norm: Three in 10 U.S. adults say they’ve used a dating app, and 39% of online daters have landed a committed relationship or marriage through an app, according to a 2020 Pew survey. Put another way: There are a lot of dating app users out there. So how do these apps actually work?
At its core, a dating app is just a mobile messaging application that connects users who express mutual interest, according to Ben Stone, a senior curriculum developer at Codecademy. “That’s really the technological innovation that a dating app has: It essentially prevents spam messages from people that you’re not interested in,” he says.
The dating app’s proprietary matching algorithms determine how profiles are presented to users based on a variety of weighted metrics and preferences, like location, common interests, and even photos, Ben says. (In other words, that’s how the “magic” happens.)
Feeling inspired to make your own dating app? You’ll need to know a programming language for mobile apps, like Swift, Java, Kotlin, or React Native, Ben says. If you’re focused on iOS apps, check out our Build iOS Apps with SwiftUI skill path, which gives you the tools you need to build an app and publish it on the App Store.
In addition to a front-end that allows people to navigate the app on their phones, you also need a back-end to store messages and user profiles, Ben says. You can make your own database using PostGreSQL or MongoDB, and then use a server that connects to the database, like Node or Ruby on Rails. There are also existing services that connect the front-end and back-end, like Firebase. Our new course Connecting Front-End to Back-End covers how front-end and back-end technologies interact.
Last but not least, you need a unique idea that will get people to use your app. Today, there are tons of dating apps tailored to specific personalities and niches — from a dating app for cat lovers to ones for the LGBTQ+ community. For some inspiration, here’s how a handful of popular dating apps were developed.
Tinder
Back in 2012, Sean Rad and Justin Mateen won a hackathon with an idea for an app that would revolutionize the way people meet online, matching them based on location and mutual interests with just a swipe of a finger. Now, Tinder is one of the highest-grossing non-gaming apps in the world, with more than 430 million downloads.
Tinder made the swipe gesture a fixture in online dating: Swipe right on someone’s profile if you like them, or swipe left if you’re not interested. If both users swipe right, it’s a match, and you can start chatting. “We always saw Tinder, the interface, as a game,” Rad said in a 2014 interview with Time.
Bumble
Bumble is like Tinder’s woke younger sibling — in fact, it was launched by a Tinder co-founder Whitney Wolf Herd.
Wolf Herd doesn’t come from a computer science background, and has said she’s never written a line of code. But her idea for Bumble was intriguing: Empower women to “make the first move” and start a conversation, defying outdated heteronormative stereotypes about dating. Once there’s a mutual match between users, one person has “first move” privileges. If they don’t start a conversation, the match expires after 24 hours.
OkCupid is kind of the O.G. of dating apps. In 2003, four math majors at Harvard launched the website, and in 2011, OkCupid became the first major dating site to develop a mobile app.
“The tricky part in designing it was figuring out how to take something mysterious, human attraction, and break it into components that a computer can work with,” OkCupid co-founder Christian Rudder said in a TED-Ed Talk. “The first thing we needed to match people up was data, something for the algorithm to work with.”
OkCupid users answer questions — with topics ranging from political views to favorite pizza — that are then compared to other users’ responses to pair prospective matches.
Hinge
Hinge started off as a Facebook Canvas app built within the social network’s frame, that connected people based on their mutual friends.
“Computers are something I really threw myself into as a kid. I love to code,” Hinge founder Justin McLeod told Guy Raz on the podcast How I Built This. “So I decided to build an application that would allow people in the class [at Harvard Business School] to list their friends on Facebook. And if two people matched it would alert them.”
Raya
Often referred to as “Tinder for Celebrities,” you have to apply to join Raya, the exclusive, private dating app that launched on iOS in 2015. The reason for Raya’s strict vetting process is “to foster a community where all members feel comfortable and their privacy is protected,” according to Raya’s terms of service.
The app, which costs $9.99 a month, is intended for high-profile members who only want to mingle with a curated selection of single people. As Raya founder Daniel Gendelman put it in an interview with The New York Times: “I tried to solve a big problem for a small amount of people.”
The rise of remote work over the last couple of years means that there are way more remote coding internships out there. This is great news for people who may not live in areas with a lot of opportunities (not to mention, for the companies themselves who now can tap a more diverse talent pool). And while it might seem like a remote internship would be fairly different from an in-person one, the nuts and bolts are essentially the same: You’ll have a set of responsibilities and tasks with timelines and benchmarks to measure success.
That being said, there are some unique aspects to remote internships that you’ll want to be prepared for, especially if you’re used to in-person collaboration. Here’s what you can expect during a remote coding internship — and how to find one in the first place.
First things first: What will you do during a remote coding internship?
In a word: anything. As an intern, you’ll likely wear several hats. One day you might work on a research project for most of the day and the next you might be pair programming with a teammate. This variety of work is one of the biggest benefits of doing an internship. It exposes you to different types of projects and challenges, and you’ll have the opportunity to work with a lot of different people.
Some tasks you can expect to spend time on during a coding internship are writing code, debugging code, working with front- and back-end design elements, and providing input on user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) features.
If you’re new to coding and nervous about missing out on the experience of learning to code right next to someone who is an expert in a language you want to learn, don’t worry. Eva Sibinga, a Codecademy Data Science Curriculum Developer, says she probably learned more coding during her remote internship than she would’ve if it were in-person.
“I learned so much coding because it was remote,” Eva says. “Instead of standing over somebody’s shoulder watching them code, we were constantly screen-sharing, and that was honestly an amazing way to learn…[Code] is so much easier to read when it’s directly on your screen in front of you.”
And sure, you could get this kind of experience with a great mentor outside of a professional internship. But what makes an internship particularly valuable is how you’re solving real-world business problems, interacting with clients/consumers, working within budgetary constraints, and operating under the stakes of professional deadlines. Not to mention, you’ll get incredibly valuable networking opportunities as you work alongside your teammates. All of these aspects, by the way, are broadly similar between remote and in-person internships.
What does communication look like during a remote internship?
Where things will really differ is in communication. Ideally, you’ll have a set 1/1 meeting with your supervisor — if not, you should feel empowered to ask for one — and you’ll attend a regular team meeting, where you’ll get to learn a lot just by being there and listening in. With remote work, a lot of feedback happens asynchronously, so your supervisor may opt to add comments to a doc or Slack in lieu of talking it out. That said, don’t be afraid to ask for more clarity or context to the feedback — this is your opportunity to learn, and your supervisor is there to help.
Just remember: If you want to take advantage of networking opportunities during a remote internship, you’ll have to be much more proactive about it, since you won’t have opportunities to strike up a conversation as you, say, heat up your lunch in the office kitchen. This could look like attending a Zoom happy hour or asking someone at the company for a 30-minute remote coffee to hear about what they do and how they got there. (Don’t be shy about this! Most people love talking about themselves and will generally be impressed by your initiative.)
Luckily, companies are starting to catch on to this need for more opportunities for connection, and they’re offering regular virtual events for their team. “My company hosted lots of virtual events, like painting classes, cooking classes, and yoga sessions, which helped to maintain the great company culture,” Sylvana Santos, a Codecademy Software Engineer, says about her remote coding internship.
In terms of assignments, you might be more likely to work on a robust independent project instead of a cross-disciplinary team project. You also may find that you’re forced to be more self-reliant during a remote internship than an in-person one, since there’s less hand-holding — which actually may be to your benefit in the end, since self-reliance is an essential career skill. (Of course, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t speak up if you need help or clarification!)
Another bonus? You’ll also be less likely to be asked to run “gopher” tasks since you can’t really get coffee for the team meeting if everyone’s remote.
What should you look for in a great intern company?
“Great people make great internships,” Sylvana says. “It’s important, especially early on in your career, to surround yourself with people who are knowledgeable, cooperative, and considerate.”
When you’re looking for an internship, she says to make sure you ask about how the company has set up systems to help ensure that interns are well supported. For example, do interns get paired with a mentor? Do interns get some sort of roadmap with individual goals? Do they get those aforementioned 1/1 meetings with a supervisor who can give them actionable feedback?
Also remember: Interviews are a two-way street. The hiring team is trying to decide whether you’ll be a good fit for the position, but you’re also trying to figure out if this is where you want to be. So ask your future employer questions and gauge whether the internship is right for you.
Danny Roberts, Senior Technical Recruiter at Codecademy, suggests trying to get an idea of the types of projects you might be working on, even just at a high level. That can help you determine if it’s the kind of work that sounds engaging and provides a path to growth. Plus, if the hiring manager has a decent sense of the work you’ll be doing, that’s a good sign that the company has a program that’s geared towards making sure interns have a positive experience. Also, if you’re hoping the internship will turn into a full-time role, Danny says don’t be afraid to explicitly ask if that’s a possibility.
What about blatant red flags? According to Sylvana, “If the engineer(s) that conduct your technical interview deliberately make you feel incompetent or unsupported, that is probably a good indicator that it’s not the right place for you to start your journey as a developer.”
Build in accountability check-points to get the most out of your remote coding internship
While there are several ways for a company to create a positive environment for a remote internship, there are things you can do to ensure your experience is a good one too. Something we hear often is how challenging the lack of accountability is that can come with remote work. Sylvana noticed this during her internship.
“I was so used to working at a desk where my managers and peers could encourage me and keep me accountable,” she says. “But in the remote world, the temptation of my bed and the lack of people around me made it easier for me to lose focus.”
One way to combat this is with the Pomodoro Technique, a time management system that can help you focus while also making sure you get breaks when you need them. Sylvana used another approach: “I set up frequent pair programming sessions with people and made sure that I communicated my progress to the team.”
Also, look out for burnout!
Interestingly, the complete opposite of the accountability issue can also be a challenge for people, and that’s what Eva experienced.
“Because it was all online, I felt like I had to be available all day, “ she says. ”I didn’t want to walk away from my computer because that was where the entire internship was happening…If it were in a building, I wouldn’t feel any qualms about popping out for 20 minutes to get a coffee in the middle of the day and take a break. But it was harder for me to take breaks in the remote environment.”
If you notice that you’re not getting breaks and feeling totally drained, you should absolutely bring this up with your manager. They can help you brainstorm a solution, like a mandatory 15-minute break every couple of hours.
How much do you get paid as an intern?
The majority of today’s tech internships are “qualified paid internships.” This means that, in the U.S., you’re considered an employee (meeting seven criteria outlined in the Fair Labor Standards Act, FLSA), and you legally have to be paid the federal minimum wage — at the very least. You also have to be paid overtime.
The federal minimum wage is $15/hour. So if your hourly rate is below this, you should bring it up with your manager. You can reference the Internship Programs Under The Fair Labor Standards Act during your discussion if you need to. Remember: You’re legally entitled to at least $15/hour.
Now the good news is that you’ll likely earn more than the federal minimum wage as an intern in the tech world. For example, the average hourly wage for a U.S.-based coding internship in 2022 is $30.86/hour, according to ZipRecruiter. And a cybersecurity intern makes an average of $30/hour.
On the flip side, not all internships are paid. More often than not, an unpaid internship is tied to a formal education program and the intern receives academic credit for their time. But there are other situations that qualify an internship as unpaid, and if you move forward with an unpaid internship, you can still explore other means of compensation.
While earning her Master’s Degree at CUNY, Eva applied for and got a grant that was open to students in her program who wanted to pursue an unpaid internship. “The grant meant that I didn’t have to worry about my rent all summer,” she says.“It’s a good reminder that applying for a grant feels like a really big thing. But some grants are just a matter of a thousand dollars here or there, or even hundreds that make an internship possible.”
If you’re interested in looking into a grant for an unpaid internship, reach out to the head of your program or check with the career center at your school. You can also explore grants and scholarships outside of the school setting, like ones for the BIPOC community or women in STEM.
How to find a coding internship
Now that you have a good idea of what to expect during a remote coding internship, it’s time to actually find one. There are a ton of online resources to find remote internships, as well as a few other ways to search for them. Here are some to start with:
Company websites
One of the best ways to find a coding internship is to check a company’s website or reach out to them directly and ask if there are any opportunities available. You can start by making a list of the top five to 10 companies you want to intern with and work your way through the list.
AngelList
AngelList is a platform for startups, angel investors, and job-seekers who want to work at startups. One of the benefits of interning at a startup is that you’ll learn a ton in a short amount of time. You’ll roll up your sleeves and help a new and emerging company get off the ground. (Keep in mind that one of the drawbacks of working in an early-stage startup is that there’s often a lack of structure and you’ll likely have less hand-holding.)
Handshake
Handshake connects recruiters with students and recent grads, giving them a chance to work with high-profile, fortune 500 organizations, as well as small businesses.
Built In
If you’re interested in working at a startup or tech company, Built In is a great resource, and they have a whole section dedicated to internships.
Indeed
While Indeed is known for its regular job listings, it also has opportunities for interns. The site features dedicated internship listings that you can search through, and their filtering options can help you match your preferences to an internship.
Glassdoor
Glassdoor is another powerful job search engine, and it lists internships. The site also provides reviews from past and current employees, so you can get an idea of the company culture and day-to-day working environment before applying for an internship.
LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a great way to connect with industry professionals, recruiters, and company executives. Not only do companies list internships on their accounts, but you can reach out to folks directly and see if they’d be interested in doing an informational interview with you. This is a great way to learn more about their position, company, and internship opportunities.
Don’t forget to think outside the box!
If you’re an undergrad, graduate student, or still in touch with your college professors, don’t hesitate to reach out for any leads on internships. That’s how Eva landed her internship. “I knew that my professor worked for this small data visualization firm in New York City, so I just emailed her and said, ‘Hey! I’m really enjoying this work. Any chance that you or somebody else would want an intern?’” Moral of the story? When in doubt, just send the email.
Landing a great internship is easier if you have a solid foundation in the technical area you’re pursuing. Maybe you took an extensive list of college courses. Maybe you have a really impressive portfolio to show off during the interview process. Even so, you might be looking for new skills to add to your resume or ways to advance your knowledge in a certain area, which is where an online course comes in.
If you’re feeling like you want to brush up on any coding skills, check out some of Codecademy’s most popular courses:
Looking for more? Here’s some extra internship advice from the Codecademy team. Good luck!
I was checking our seasonal printable library recently and noticed that we didn’t post any love-themed printable for a long time! It inspired me to create this ‘veni, vidi, amavi’ printable poster. Featured Latin quote can be translated to ‘I came, I saw, I loved’ what is a really cool text to have hanging on the wall not only for valentine’s day.
Veni, Vidi, Amavi Printable Poster
I like designing posters because I think they are really universal decorations. They are perfect both for a seasonal office accent and the house party knick-knack. This Valentine’s Day poster is easy to print and available in two different sizes – A4 and A5. This way you can use it even as a divider for your planner.
For Personal Use Only.
What types of decorations are your favorites? If you like posters do you prefer them to be minimalistic or would you like us to have some colorful full-print posters from time to time? I would love to hear your thought so make sure to let me know in the comments below.
Looking for something specific?
If you have an idea for a printable, let us know in the comments! We are always looking for inspiration. If you decide to print today’s Veni, Vidi, Amavi Printable Poster, make sure to share photos of your decorated room with us via Instagram or Twitter.
The 2022 Winter Olympic Games kicked off its opening ceremony last Friday night in Beijing. Did you tune in to watch the technicolor spectacle? How closely do you follow the Winter Olympics? What events have you been paying attention to? Which Olympic sports or athletes are your favorites?
Tell us in the comments, then read the related article to learn more about the opening ceremony.
Want more Picture Prompts? Find them all in this column.
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