I interned at a gene-editing company at 16, here’s what I learned
Def. Internship (noun): An elusive world that every high school student should know about.
Internships are the best way to gain specialized skills, build your network and if you’re good at your work, find a job. I spent the past summer working at a gene-editing company and figuring out what exactly a successful internship looks like; the purpose of this article is to identify strategies to improve your internship experience.
How it all began…
Summer 2021 was the best time to relax and gain new skills. As I had learned about gene-editing during the previous school year, I was on the hunt for an internship at a gene-editing startup. I was leaning more towards a startup because of the fast-paced and less-populated environment. It was almost a miracle when a company by the name of Mediphage Bioceuticals was looking for a Research Assistance Intern. With some research, I found that they are a company working on developing non-viral DNA delivery vectors (Delivery vectors are the tools used to deliver gene-editing tools such as CRISPR into the genome of cells). They were looking for an intern to drive forward their competitive intelligence efforts and as I had a decent understanding of the gene-editing space, I applied for the position. I won’t bore you with the details, but I got the position and that’s the story of how I got my first internship. Yay! 😃
But that’s not the end… ☹️
The paragraph above is just a very succinct summary of how I got started, but the story didn’t end when I received the acceptance letter (to my surprise). The real story began on my first day of work — July 6th.
On the very first day, I was thrown into the new and hella complex world of *DELIVERY VECTORS*. In my own independent projects, I had mostly looked at the applications of CRISPR to treat HIV and other genetic and infectious diseases so my initial knowledge of delivery vectors was minimal, to say the least.
What is the difference between minicircles and plasmids?
Why are non-viral vectors better than viral ones?
Are nanocarriers used to deliver the vectors?
Luckily, I had two great mentors to give me resources and guide me along with my projects. I leaned on the resources they shared with me to catch up my knowledge on delivery vectors.
What I did right 👍
Going from a school environment to a startup environment can be super challenging for many high school students. Unlike school, the real world doesn’t function based on grades and it can be hard to go from the mindset of seeing everything as a test to a mindset where you see everything as a growth opportunity. Going into my internship, I was already aware of this crucial difference which pushed me do a better job at learning.
1. Familiarize yourself with the field, company, and technical knowledge
I took the first week of my internship to learn as much as possible about the field I was working in, the work my company was doing, and the technical side of the company’s product.
I read literature review papers to familiarize myself with both the status quo of the delivery vector field and the science of viral and non-viral vectors. For more information on the company, I initially asked my supervisors for surface level explanations and then I doved deeper into the company’s science and investor content.
It’s so important to know exactly the context of your work from the very beginning because it will give you the necessary knowledge for your projects and at the end of the day, the purpose of your internship is to learn about a new field. Think of a movie and how sometimes a narrator sets the scene at the beginning. That early narration makes it easier for you to understand the rest of the movie and it immerses you in the fictional world of the movie.
Most internships are 8 weeks long and by taking 1 week to learn the basics it can make the rest of your time much more productive.
2. Meet and get to know as many people in the company as you can
One of the main reasons why I wanted to work at a startup instead of a big company like Google or Microsoft was the opportunity to immerse myself in the community. Startups have that added benefit of a small but inclusive community of people.
Luckily, I was working at a company with less than 20 employees. This gave me the opportunity to reach out to all the employees and set up a 1-on-1 meeting with almost every single person.
The 1-on-1 meetings are the best opportunity to learn about different career pathways, get personalized advice, obtain educational resources, and ask more technical questions that match the knowledge of the person you’re talking to.
I would say that even more than knowledge and skills, the biggest value you can gain from an internship is the network you build. Even after your 8 week internship comes to an end, if you’ve taken the time to personally get to know your co-workers, you will stay in contact with them long afterwards.
Your network is your net worth!
3. Constantly ask for feedback
When I first started working on my internship projects, I really felt out of my comfort zone.
How was I supposed to create a database and write a final report?
I had never been asked to make such content so I didn’t know how to make the best database or the best final report. And as a perfectionist, I wanted to do everything like a pro from the very beginning. But at the same time I knew that I was just starting to learn these skills and that I wouldn’t get everything 100% perfect the first time.
The solution to my problem was ITERATION.
Specifically, iteration after receiving feedback. I started sending my supervisor a link to every page of my report and I would iterate based on her comments.
The construction of a building is a good analogy to illustrate this method. If you’re standing at the base of the building you can’t just jump to finish the ceiling. Nor can you build every floor individually without looking back at your work from the previous floor because then one floor might be faulty and the whole building will collapse. So the best method is to look back at the floor you just made, inspect it for faults and then continue forward if no changes are required.
What I could have done better 🧐
For my first internship, I picked up quickly on many of the central points: building my network and creating a feedback <-> iteration loop . However there are certain changes I would make to improve my next experience.
1. Set up weekly meeting with my supervisor to reflect
During my internship, I picked up the habit of sending weekly updates to my supervisors. In these updates I stated the work I had completed and included links to the content I’d created. This habit was a great way to reflect on my work.
However, I didn’t set up a way to reflect on my overall internship experience. Doing so would have helped me better communicate my goals with my supervisors and it would have helped them to get to know me more.
In the same way that I had wanted feedback on my work, I also needed to receive and give feedback on my overall internship experience.
You can also get feedback from your supervisor on your overall experience at the end of the internship. Growth during an internship takes shape in both your knowledge + skillset and personal growth.
2. Tracking my growth to prevent a plateau
I can say without a doubt that I grew IMMENSELY over my internship. Who I was before this summer is completely different from who I am now; in terms of my work habits, hard and soft skills, knowledge, network, etc.
But looking back at my experience, it’s hard to pinpoint when exactly I grew.
It’s like when you were 5 years old and you saw your cousin who was a baby at the time, but now you see they are a fully mature adult and you think to yourself: “When did they grow so much?”
In the same way, I didn’t keep track of my growth in a tracker during those 8 weeks so I was both overwhelmed and underwhelmed by my growth.
Why underwhelmed?
A few weeks before the end of my internship, I felt as if I wasn’t growing as much as I should have been. I hadn’t realized it until those final weeks but my growth had plateaued in comparison to the first few weeks. I couldn’t pinpoint exactly when the growth curve began flattening — because I hadn’t tracked my growth — so I felt like I had been wasting my time in those final weeks.
Therefore, keeping track of your growth in a tracker in a Notion document or a journal would allow you to:
- Better quantify your growth.
- Recognize when you’ve stopped growing early on.
Strategies to optimize your internship experience 🎖
Similar to how you need to ask for feedback on a piece of content you are creating and reiterating, experiences also need to be reflected upon and reiterated.
The keywords here are simply FEEDBACK and ITERATION.
Keeping in mind all the things I did well and what I could have done better, I recommend 3 strategies to optimize your next internship experience:
- Keep the intention behind your internship at the forefront of your thoughts. Are you doing this internship to grow your knowledge and skillset? expand your network? build cool projects? get paid well? Whatever your intention is, keep it as your motivation for everything you do.
- Build a growth feedback loop for yourself. You can do this however suits you but I recommend the following framework: track your growth on a tracker → reflect every week with your supervisor → make a list of your own takeaways and action items for the following week → repeat.
- Identify who can help you with what exactly. You are undoubtedly going to have questions during your internship and not everyone can provide you with an answer. Set up 1-on-1s with your co-workers to network with them and identify who has the specific knowledge that could help you in the future.
Final words…
I’m so grateful for the internship opportunity I had this summer because it allowed me to grow in multiple ways. At the end of summer, I had a better direction of where my interests are heading and what topics I want to explore next. Truly, the beauty of an internship is getting to immerse yourself into the field you are studying. Instead of spending your time just obtaining theoretical knowledge, you get to get your hands dirty and meet amazing people.
I hope that the reflections in this article were able to help you get the most out of your internship experience!
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