July 2022

The Power of Networks

I joined Intel Labs as a Sociotechnical Research Intern in May 2022. As a first-generation college student, this is a major accomplishment that brings me much pride. Though, the journey was more complex than the offer letter I have in my hand today.

During the fall, I joined Slack groups, Discord channels, and list servs. I signed up for alerts from all the major tech companies. Each of these spaces revealed the folks actively doing social science research in the tech world. I compiled a list of names and began sending emails for informational interviews. I synthesized notes, followed up on leads, and began strategizing cover letters and responses to interview questions. Applying during the fall semester was essentially an unpaid, part-time job.

All-in-all, I applied to ten graduate research internships. One of which ended up with an offer in hand.

The point here is that I did things the hard way. The front door. Without insider support. Without a network. With even a moderate level of professional experience, you would know that your likelihood of success plummets with this strategy.

Today, I want to show how those skills translate to large companies like Intel. So, that the next time you apply for internships or jobs, you have a network of expertise and support to help you through the process.

You’re at Your Internship, Now What?

If you are interested in finding another internship for next summer, extending the one you have, or looking at a career after graduation, then you need to figure out how to accomplish that. I will be talking a lot about Intel as it is my personal experience. However, many major tech companies (Amazon, Meta, Google, Microsoft, etc) are applicable to this article. The goal is to make the most of the fact that it’s easier to talk to people at these companies when you are on the inside, rather than cold-emailing from the outside.

A colleague at Intel once said to me “Intel’s HR is more about placement than it is about hiring.” Which makes a lot sense.

Intel has over 100,000 employees. Over 20,000 just in Hillsboro where I am interning. Many, if not most, open positions are filled by current Intel employees. This means that networks and personal connections are an increasingly important factor to landing a position that you want. Due to this, getting your foot in the door at Intel is often the most difficult part, so now it is time to make the most of it.

Where to begin?

My internship deals with retail implementations of computer vision systems. An intellectually stimulating space that has real potential for impact. However, if I were to design my own position, it would be studying toxicity online. That is where my passion and intellectual curiosity align.

So, I set out to find who, if anyone, does this work at Intel.

I will be honest, I was pretty ignorant to the diversity of work conducted at Intel when I began. I didn’t even know that Intel Labs, where I am an intern, existed until I applied to internships this past year. So, I was starting with little corporate knowledge to point me in the right direction.

The effort required for each connection are not made equal. I spent a disproportionate amount of time finding the handful of people I reached out to cold (5). That sample is dwarfed by the number of referrals (40+) I have received.

When I began, I had to rely on my intellectual curiosity. I didn’t have the vocabulary and institutional knowledge to ask for what I wanted. I didn’t know the right acronyms nor the position titles I was looking for that are now crystal clear in hindsight.

I approached this process with two goals:

1. Figure out who is doing social science research on/with content creators, live streamers, and gamers.
2. Figure out how social scientists navigate value for industry motivations.

I find having the second question allows you to derive value from conversations that may not be the best fit for your networking needs.

My initial network consisted of events I had access to as an intern, the referrals from my work group colleagues, and the random guessing from scrolling through the employee database.

Once I had connected with this initial set of people, which took effort, I was able to watch to magic of networks play out in front of me.

Being forthright in the one-on-ones about what your goals and interests are will lead to great successes. Relying on the kindness of these folks, I would get subsequent referrals. With each referral I would get closer and closer to my interest area. Eventually I relied wholly on referrals rather than manually searching for relevant people.

An Immediate Success

One month into my internship I had a conversation with someone in the gaming division. I described my background and research passions (as I had become practiced at in other calls) and there was immediate fit. There was ongoing product development in the anti-toxicity space and partnerships with various industry games partners that they were looking for support on.

Over the course of two weeks, my manager discussed the terms of dedicating one day a week to a project in gaming. Now I would be working with folks charged with making gaming more inclusive including software, hardware, and research directions.

Exactly what I wanted.

Now I get to work on an intellectually difficult problem that will (hopefully) result in an academic publication, while also meeting games folks at Intel and broadening my connections to the games industry. A huge boon to my research and to my passions.

The Long Term

How these relationships will help my prospects for future internships and jobs is still yet to be revealed. What I can say confidently is as follows:

1. I know Intel much, much better. I know about business units, verticals and horizontals, re-orgs, and career progression. Even in my short stint as an intern, I was able to facilitate meaningful connections between people who have been at Intel for 10+ years. I have had multiple Intel employees offer to write me letters of recommendation and support my efforts for internships and jobs in the future.
2. I know industry research much, much better. I know more about how products come to be. I know more about how research is conducted and made valuable at each stage of the development process. Most importantly, I know more about how my unique skill set can fit in at a place like Intel.
3. I know so many more intelligent and kind people. The forever upside of dedicating time to talking to people is that you will undoubtedly find those you connect with. The vast, vast majority of conversations I had have been positive. I intentionally brought curated questions and a positive attitude to each conversation, and it was almost always returned in kind.

All of which would be impossible without the kindness and willingness of the folks who talked with me at Intel. It should not go without saying that I spoke with employees from nearly every position and tier of seniority. Engineers, developers, researchers, and designers. Interns, managers, principles, and fellows. People with schedulers whose time is closely guarded.

In my time learning about Intel, I was never once turned down for an informational interview. Every single conversation was centered around my needs and goals. Every employee was excited to talk and tried their best to help me.

Make the most of your time!