From Humanities Major to Kakao Server Developer: Sharing Internship Preparation and Transition Tips

jaylene, a server developer on the Kakao Talk Platform Development Team, shared their experience of joining as a full-time crew member after completing a Kakao internship as a humanities and social sciences major. The author presented three core strategies for preparing for a developer role without prior job experience: building a knowledge channel, creating a sustainable environment, and knowledge sharing.

Internship Preparation Strategies

The author utilized educational institutions not merely as places to acquire technical skills, but as spaces for networking with industry developers and peers and for grasping trends. Basic CS knowledge was studied through books, while specific language syntax was learned via official documentation to build a strong foundation. Additionally, consuming development-related news and blogs in daily life helped maintain motivation, and documenting problem-solving processes on a blog helped build a portfolio. The author particularly emphasized that when solving algorithm problems, it is important to organize and diagram the approach and logical process rather than just focusing on the correct answer.

Internship Task Execution and Lessons Learned

During the two-month internship, the author completed individual tasks and gained the following lessons:

• Context-centric understanding: Understanding the service context and interconnected structures through internal wikis and scrums was essential for infrastructure design and domain understanding.
• Question-based documentation: When learning unfamiliar technologies, the author structured knowledge by self-answering questions about 'what I know and what I don't know'.
• Rule-based work: Adhering to team ground rules such as Git-Flow and PR Templates, and establishing commit conventions to manage progress.
• Logical implementation: It was important to write code logically, considering duplication, coupling, and technical debt, rather than indiscriminately importing external sources.

Recruitment Perspective and Growth

The author emphasized that the Kakao internship is a process of Positive selection, not one of finding flaws. Interviewers and mentors valued persistence in problem-solving, proactive immersion, and a desire for growth more than technical shortcomings. The author advised that leveraging one's strengths during the internship was advantageous in the conversion interview, and stressed the importance of having the attitude to jump into new environments without fear.