My internship journey at Snyk

As a senior at Xavier University studying Public Relations and minoring in Advertising, I was fortunate enough to work at Snyk as a Social Media Intern on the Marketing team during the 2022 Summer Internship Program. 

The experience provided me with ample time and opportunities to grow as a social media professional and dip my toes into the cybersecurity industry.

The Snyk Boston office

Throughout my internship I spent three days per week in the Boston office with my fellow interns and Snykers. The office was amazing. With different areas and opportunities to get together and chat, like the coffee bar, Wednesday lunch, and various after hours events, it was easy to integrate myself into the Snyk community. Everyone was inviting and always willing to let me pick their brains.

While I was in the office, all of the interns met weekly with the Emerging Talent team for various programs such as team building, career advice/workshops, and cybersecurity knowledge. These were some of my favorite meetings in the program as we all came together to learn instead of being on a Zoom call. 

By being in the office and attending the events, I learned so much from picking the brains of people who’ve been in cybersecurity for several years. Over time, the office became a place of friendly faces that I looked forward to seeing throughout the week.

Snyk living its core values

When I first applied to Snyk, what stood out to me the most were Snyk’s core values — One Team, Care Deeply, Learn Always, Ship It, and Think Bigger. Throughout the internship, I experienced how Snyk consistently applied these core values to its everyday attitude and leadership.

Learn always with Snykers 

At the start of my internship, I wasn’t sure if I would fit in among seasoned employees who knew Snyk and the industry very well. Although I didn’t know much about cybersecurity initially, I learned a lot in the first couple of weeks simply by talking to the people around me and on my team. It was like drinking from a firehose. I realized that I didn’t need to know all the ins and outs of cybersecurity and instead just needed to understand the basics — what Snyk does and sells — and absorb lessons from the Social Media team to best perform in my position. The Social Media team taught me a variety of different things, such as how to write in Snyk’s voice and tone, learn from past social media posts, manage social media campaigns, collaborate with other teams, and so much more. Knowing all of this is crucial to my future career and I feel confident going into any role in social media. 

This taught me how Snyk embodies the value, learn always. I learned something new about Snyk and social media everyday. I was given different resources or an expert to talk to if I wanted a deeper explanation of a Snyk product or the cybersecurity industry. The people I worked with everyday made it possible for me to grow and achieve my goals.

We also had the opportunity to speak with several leaders in the company at least once a week. Snyk Founder, Guy Podjarny ,and CEO, Peter McKay, talked to us about Snyk’s culture and gave us career advice. They taught us how to stand out among others, the importance of hard work, and the importance of networking. I thought it was admirable that they both took the time out of their extremely busy days to talk to us interns and inspire us while doing so.

Care deeply as one team during Snyk Week of Impact 

Snyk truly cares deeply about social impact, as evident through the annual Snyk Week of Impact hosted by the company and led by Tori Lindahl. During the week I worked with other Snykers to pack hundreds of care packages for a homeless shelter, while others picked vegetables at community farms for local food banks, cleaned waterways, served a meal for veterans experiencing homelessness, and much more. This experience demonstrated two other core values — care deeply and one team. 

Snyk really is more than just a business. Snykers from all over the world were committed to helping the communities in which we live and work. I’ve never worked for a business that cares this deeply about making a positive impact, and stresses the importance of everyone coming together for the greater good. I was very impressed with how the program was put together, and it shows how Snyk cares about their employees, the environment, and those less fortunate.

Think bigger while shipping all things social media 

Given that this was my first internship, I wasn’t sure what to expect during my initial meeting with my manager. She spent the first two weeks getting to know me and running through everything I was going to need to know. She had our team take the Clifton Strengths assessment to better understand each other’s strengths and working styles.  I really liked this because it showed where each of us would excel. This was stress-free and made me feel valued. It showed me that I was more than just an intern and that I was going to make a big impact. 

Throughout my time on the Social Media team, I was given hundreds of tasks. I wrote social copy for different audiences and channels, and worked in areas that I didn’t even know mattered such as reporting, monitoring, user support, and listening. In social media, you don’t always have unlimited time to get something done. Messages often need to go out quickly. 

With Snyk moving so fast, the social media team consistently embraced Snyk’s “ship it” value to support other teams and most importantly, the Snyk community. 

I also strengthened my writing skills for the Snyk voice with my manager's helpful feedback. Instead of only assigning me simple tasks, my manager gave me opportunities to think bigger by challenging me to work on larger-scale projects and campaigns.  Although I didn’t always do things correctly off the bat, she would meet with me and show me how something could be improved and why we write a certain way at Snyk. My manager even had me organize a cybersecurity month campaign all by myself and lead the charge in collaborating with other teams. This was a huge step up from just working on small parts of campaigns.  It taught me how to connect all of the dots to create something bigger. 

Thinking bigger in my role was, “How can we attract and engage more people to Snyk through social media campaigns?” This was one of the more fun things I did here at Snyk as my team and I had to brainstorm and think outside the box to attract more users… and we did! 

Join the Snyk Internship Program 

This internship experience has helped and taught me more than I could’ve ever imagined. Through the program, I’ve learned how to use critical social media tools, improved my abilities as a content creator, and learned the skills to become a strong social media professional. My growth has been exponential. 

Equally important, I became a part of the Snyk community and gained a great network of supportive friends and colleagues. I was always cheered on by my team and others because everyone around me truly wanted to see me succeed. With this internship, I know I’m much closer to reaching my career goals than I was 6 months prior. 

I would highly recommend an internship at Snyk to improve your career growth, networking skills, knowledge of your field, and to show you what it’s like to work for a company that truly cares about their employees and the public good. 

Interested in a fulfilling and hands-on internship experience similar to the one Caroline shared? Take a look at our Emerging Talent roles to find your opportunity and jump start your career!