Should I keep applying to internships or focus on full-time roles?

[u/PapayaThePanda]

I graduated recently with a CS degree. So far my experience is 6 months as a contractor intern and just over a month as a full-time contractor at a big Fintech company.

I’m actively job hunting right now and have landed some internship interviews at some big companies (TikTok among them). I’m a little torn on how to approach this.

At this stage in my career, does it make sense to still be considering internships, or should I be aiming squarely for full-time roles? Curious whether internships at big-name companies are worth it as a foot in the door, or whether I’d be better off holding out for full-time offers given that I’m already working full-time as a contractor.

Would appreciate any advice from people who’ve been in a similar spot. Thanks!

[u/lhorie]

FTE > Internships

You may want to double check if you're even qualified for the internship as you already have industry experience

[u/Ok-Track-5682 → u/lhorie]

Can't speak for tech industry specifically, but from immigration perspective I see lot of people who think bigger company name on resume will open more doors later. Sometimes this is true but also sometimes people get stuck in cycle of always chasing "better" opportunity instead of taking what's already working

You already have full-time contractor experience which is pretty solid foundation. If internship leads to direct conversion at end then might be worth considering, but otherwise you're probably better focusing in full-time search since you already proved you can handle real work environment

[u/gigantic_panda]

An internship gets you in front of people, gives you experience, and time to work up to the role.

You can keep applying to real positions but I think of an internship as an "extended paid interview" where the team would hope to offer you a position at the end of you do well.

In any case, I wouldn't reject anything that gives your career or life some momentum.

[u/Ambitious_Signal_176]

For internships, most companies will require you to be a student no?

[u/Significant_Soup2558]

With a full-time contractor role already on your resume, full-time positions should be your primary focus. Applying to internships at this stage can read as a step backward to hiring managers at companies where you'd want to work long-term, and your Fintech contractor experience is solid enough to compete for entry-level full-time SWE roles directly.

The TikTok process is already in motion so see it through, but the question worth asking is whether it's likely to convert to a full-time return offer and whether the company's current environment suits your goals. If the conversion odds are low, the brand name alone probably isn't worth the detour. A service like Applyre can keep full-time applications running in parallel while you finish the interview processes already in progress, so you're not pausing the broader search for any single pipeline.

Your experience level is past the internship stage. Aim accordingly.