How to get an internship at Yandex: the path from beginner to code master

Believe in yourself

Lera Terova

analyst-developer at Yandex Search

At the Faculty of Mathematics of St. Petersburg State University, where I studied, everyone said: “If you are very cool, someday you will get an internship at Yandex.” Everyone around was smart and with experience in participating in the Olympiads, but I came without such a background, so I didn’t even hope that I could apply for an internship. But my good friend and classmate went to Yandex. Once we chatted with him: for three hours he tried to “recruit” me and convinced me that everything would work out. Many thanks to him for this!

Show what you are capable of

It's time to show what you've learned. To get started, complete a few tasks on Yandex Contest - this is an online platform for solving programming problems. Write code in one of the programming languages, find and fix an error - you have probably done something similar at the university.

Ilfat Khairullin

DL-developer in Ekom and Rydtech group

I advise future interns to solve as many algorithmic problems as possible - they are good at pumping the ability to write error-free code. Personally, by the first interview for training, I solved 50-80 problems, by the second another 150, and by the last there were already 300-400. As a result, some tasks at the interview itself coincided with those that I had already passed myself.

The next stage is technical interviews, there are usually two or three of them. Here you need to show your knowledge to real professionals. Exciting, right? Careful preparation will help calm your nerves. Ask a friend who understands development to conduct a trial technical interview with you. Find a problem on the Internet, solve it and comment on all the actions, and let a friend ask questions about the code you write. And believe in yourself - you will definitely succeed!

Choose your path

Hooray, you proved who is the strongest, bravest and most skillful here. Now you need to decide in which team you want to train. To do this, you will have to attend several final interviews. Listen carefully to choose the most interesting tasks.

Egor Kolesnikov

developer at Yandex Search

At the final interviews, you already have confidence that you are one step away from the internship. If you have reached this stage, then everyone is convinced that you are a good specialist. Therefore, you should not be afraid whether they will take you or not, but think about which team you want to join.

In the final interviews, it is important not only to answer questions, but also to actively ask them yourself. Find out what the team does and what it expects from the intern, specify what tasks and challenges you will face. If you feel that this is not close to you, visit a couple more interviews. There are a lot of commands in Yandex - you will definitely find something to your liking! And at the final interview you can get acquainted with a mentor - this is your future mentor. Feel free to talk to him. Genuine interest will add extra points to you.

Learn to speak the same language as code masters

An intern is just as much a member of the team as the rest. And he often needs to interact with experienced colleagues not only from his own department, but also from adjacent ones. At Yandex, everyone is free from prejudices and the influence of positions: even a manager can consult with you.

Be curious and don't hesitate to ask questions. People in Yandex speak their own slang and I can easily forget to switch to human language. Therefore, if you hear something like “look at the latest ticket in the Tracker” or other unfamiliar words, feel free to ask again.

Masha Karpenko

backend developer at Yandex Tracker

When you come to Yandex, a million new words fall upon you, and you don’t even understand how they are related to each other. You try to ask a question by combining the terms that you heard from the mentor, but he does not understand what it is about, because you have not really figured out what is even going on yet. Now I myself am a mentor and literally do not leave my intern, because I know: his head is exploding.

Take on real challenges

During the internship, you will work on existing Yandex products. Create databases, prepare metrics, think over advertising strategies - the list of responsibilities depends on the team in which you work. You will receive a decent reward for your work - internships are paid. And the result of your work will be seen by all Yandex users. Isn't that a reason to be proud!

If you're still learning, no problem. You don’t need to spend 8 hours a day in the Yandex office, you don’t need to come by 9:00 either. The main thing is that you have time to cope with the tasks.

Sasha Obryadina

junior backend developer at Yandex Market

I did an internship in parallel with my studies, and there was a feeling that Yandex appreciated me more. At the university, there will be no gratitude for the work, but in Yandex you made some kind of feature, they use it, everyone likes it - they also praise you for it. By the way, the internship helped me in my studies: first I mastered the databases in Yandex, and then I had a course on them at the university.

Be inspired by the wisdom of a mentor

Even if everything is clear to you, you will not be left without communication with a mentor. Usually he himself appoints regular meetings: first daily, then weekly. Don't miss them: advice and feedback from an older friend is really valuable.

Ksenia Lisitsina

DL developer at Yandex SupportAl, mentor of Ilfat Khairullin

No one expects a trainee to know all the technologies right away and will do everything cool right off the bat. You need to discard thoughts like: "I was given a task - I must do it without asking questions." Ask for help and don't be shy to ask a mentor something - it's ok, it's normal!

Pump your muscles and calm your mind

Yandex offices have a lot of entertainment and relaxation areas. On Monday you can relax in the room with video games, on Tuesday you can play instruments in the music room, on Wednesday - sit on a massage chair, on Thursday - take a nap in a sleep capsule, on Friday - look for books in the office library. And do not be distracted by everyday tasks - they will be helped by individual specialists.

Lera Terova

analyst-developer at Yandex Search

In Yandex, even the workplace can be arranged the way you want - for example, ask for another table, bedside table or chair. For all this, there are teams that make the world of employees more comfortable.

The company also has a large community of interests. There are, for example, running and tourist circles, clubs for cinephiles, gamers and even plank lovers. And Yandex also has a corporate program "Summer Together". It gives company employees from different cities of Russia access to free entertainment: from lectures and boat trips to cyber tournaments in Dota 2 and League of Legends.

If you stumble, get up and move on

Your manager has given you the task of teaching the artificial intelligence a new dialogue. You did this for a week, and then you suddenly noticed by chance that at the very start you missed literally one comma. Now everything needs to be redone, and the deadlines are burning. Horror? Catastrophe? No, nothing bad happened.

Ilfat Khairullin

DL-developer in Ekom and Rydtech group

There was one mistake, after which I thought that I was finished. It was necessary to upload the data to the internal Yandex service and set the task of marking them up on a specific topic. To prevent already processed information from being sent back to markup, you can change it. I forgot to turn off this process, as a result, one set of messages was marked up 36 times. That is, 30-50 thousand rubles were wasted. It seemed that after this I would definitely be kicked out. But colleagues just laughed and said that everything was fine.

Few manage to do without minor oversights. The main thing is not to be silent about the problem, but to immediately talk about it - so the mistake can be quickly corrected. For help and advice, go to the mentor: he knows how to calm the trainee and restore his faith in himself.

Continue on your way

Completion of an internship is not the end of your story in Yandex. Great results can turn into a ticket to work: about 53% of Yandex interns offer to become full-fledged members of the team. The main thing is not to be silent. If you see on the calendar that there is a month left until the end of the internship, feel free to go to the mentor.

Ksenia Lisitsina

DL developer at Yandex SupportAl, mentor of Ilfat Khairullin

A month before the end of the internship, it is already clear how well the intern is doing. At this moment, you can and should ask the mentor if there is an opportunity to stay and what tasks await in the future. This is useful even if the team does not have a quota for new employees: the mentor will discuss the prospects for the intern with HR and other departments. You can always try to negotiate, the main thing is not to be shy.