This past summer, I was a Red Hat intern and conducted a top-secret operation with high-quality survey methods (OK, maybe just some interviews and conversations with fellow interns). I wanted to learn the keys to a successful internship experience at Red Hat.

Red Hat prides itself on running an incredibly strong internship program. The company realizes the importance of teaching future employees from the ground up. And the feedback I got from the interns I spoke with was overwhelmingly positive.

Takeaway 1: Start small. It’s OK.

Let me share a secret we were all scared to admit during the very first few days at Red Hat: There wasn’t a lot to do yet! The first few days of our internship involved having the same discussion: “What are you doing? Do you know what to do yet?”

The good news is that we got to know Red Hat’s internal collaboration tools very well. Most internships require a bit of settling into, so after initial introductions, there is typically some downtime. This is a good opportunity to speak up and offer to take on some small tasks to get your feet wet (i.e., sitting in meetings, shadowing, reviewing slide decks or reports, exploring software and other tools, etc.).

Takeaway 2: Ask questions.

Red Hat is a complex company with a complex business model. Think: subscriptions, services, and open source — oh my! And I haven’t even mentioned all the acronyms! As interns, even when we thought we understood the basic Red Hat business model, we discovered we were barely scratching the surface.

What to do?

Ask questions — lots of questions. At Red Hat and most other companies, you can expect to receive a supportive, open response when seeking guidance. In turn, you will be a more capable intern.

Takeaway 3: Intern ≠ gopher

Some say that landing an internship is more difficult than getting a job.

Positions are limited and extremely competitive. Sometimes, securing a good internship feels like it requires hundreds of interviews, three new suits, demonstrating a mastery of quantum physics, and creating new coding solutions. And after all that effort, you end up clicking away, editing and retyping papers, getting coffee, or making copies all day. Click, click, click. Coffee. Copies. Click, click. Copies. Coffee. Click.

The good news is that an internship at Red Hat is not typical. Red Hat wants its interns to do meaningful projects. Yes, you’ll likely do the occasional copying, but Red Hat wants to leverage your talent, creativity and new perspective. They want you to learn, grow and contribute!

I was more than ready to hit the ground running, thanks to having completed my first year in the NC State Jenkins MBA program. The NC State approach is to learn by doing, so I already had several “real company” projects under my belt by the time I arrived at Red Hat. But even interns without as much experience were given opportunities to work on important projects at Red Hat, and they contributed a lot to those projects.

Takeaway 4: “Can I sit with you?” are powerful words.

This is a big one. Huge.

Everyone starting out needs a mentor or counselor – someone to whom you can ask questions, vent, seek counsel, or just get an outside perspective.

Sometimes this is your manager, sometimes another professional within the company. Sometimes this is even a fellow intern.

Don’t hesitate to ask, “Can I sit with you?”

Ask to join meetings as an observer. You learn a lot just by being in attendance. This creates a positive environment and allows you to feel like you can contribute and add input.

As CEO Jim Whitehurst writes in “The Open Organization” about his early days at Red Hat:

“There wasn’t a traditional hierarchy and special treatment for leaders, at least not the kind that you might find at most other companies. In time, I also learned that Red Hat believed in the open source principle of meritocracy; that the best idea wins regardless of whether the idea comes from the top executive or a summer intern. Put another way, my early experiences with Red Hat introduced me to what the future of leadership looks like.”

Takeaway: Say “Thank you!”

I want to thank Red Hat for the opportunity to intern this summer. And I can say that every single one of us is leaving with a new perspective on our futures and careers. The number of interns who have completed multiple internships over the years at Red Hat is amazing; these people want to come back.

As Owen Wilson puts it so eloquently in “The Internship:”

“If a window opens up, don’t minimize it. Don’t click that little red X in the corner.”


Amy Jespersen is a second-year MBA student in the NC State Jenkins MBA Program. This article was originally published Aug. 7, 2015, on Opensource.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License.