Sustainability Starts Early: Creating a Great Ops Internship

Representing the next generation of engineers, interns are integral to a sustainable SRE team. Why then, do some revolutionize your deployment process, while others never make it past their first commit? Interns and junior engineers can be particularly susceptible to burnout and effective mentorship can make all the difference.

With little effort, you can drastically increase the likelihood of successful internships. Supporting your intern with realistic projects and expectations, reasonable docs, and frequent feedback can tip the scales. Unfortunately, there is very little information out there about what this really looks like. I’ve known students who after an internship chose to leave tech entirely, and other who were inspired to start a career in operations. In this talk, you’ll hear about how you can set your intern up for success with concrete steps and examples.