Internship offer selection - Meta vs. Microsoft

I would definitely pick Meta. I never interned at Microsoft, but the program at Meta is amazing.

My Facebook internship back in 2013 had lots of very smart people from top universities, and you'll likely work with ambitious + younger people.

I've heard Microsoft also has a great intern program (they apparently have a huge concert every summer?!), but I think the work won't be as intense and the average age in the workplace is much older.

The added pay for the Meta internship is nice, though that isn't the most important criteria as a student. If you're comfortable, could you share how much the per-month salary is for Meta interns these days?

Your concern about the return offer rate is legitimate, but I also wouldn't overthink it. Your attitude going into the internship should be to optimize for doing great work and making strong connections.

• If you get the return offer, you'll have a great full-time option.
• If you don't get the return offer (keep in mind this is not always in your control, e.g. Meta freezes new grad hiring), then you'll have a strong resume to apply for other roles.

If you end up picking Meta, we have a dedicated course for the internship! Nail Your Return Offer As A Meta Software Engineer Intern

Congrats on the 2 incredible offers - Super glad Taro was helpful here 😊

Similar to Rahul, I highly recommend taking Meta.

Microsoft is a great company for sure (most students would kill to have just a Microsoft internship offer), but I do think Meta has many substantial benefits:

• Higher pay - Both as an intern and as an FTE if you were to get a return offer (once this happens, the gap gets really big)
• Closer to you - I assume you're already in the Bay Area?
• More learning - I am very certain Meta interns are the most productive among FAANG and the industry overall. Meta's internship program also has a very structured feedback system

I interacted a ton with interns at Meta (as you can see from my course), and I can confidently say it's one of the most well-run in the entire tech world. Of course, this does have downsides:

• Lower return offer rate - It's certainly not 75% to 80% like it is for MSFT, especially now. It's probably closer to 50% - 65% nowadays. Even back in my day, I really doubt it was 75-80.
• Higher intensity - While many internship programs are cool with you not landing a real commit until late week 2, week 3, or even week 4, most Meta interns land something late week 1 or week 2. In general, Meta interns are expected to land 1 commit per day. When I say the Meta intern program is intense, I am not joking around - It really is.

All that being said, you have Taro on your side, so you would be much, much better positioned to survive than most. I recommend this discussion too: "Internship Metrics For Conversion?"