Technology or data: choose one kind of role first

You are already looking at technology or data internships, and the job titles do not match your courses. This note only helps you choose one kind of role for this round. How to apply, what to put in a portfolio, and how a technical interview is usually run are in Applying for technology and software roles. Online tests and assessment centres have their own notes. This page has no live test questions and no referral path into a named company.

Choose one kind this round

The words engineer and analyst in a title can mean different work. Read the duties, then choose one kind to prepare. Write down the other kinds so you do not change direction three times in one week.

1. Software engineering. The description usually asks for a program that runs, and for you to explain one feature from input to output. Coursework that you cannot open, or a part you cannot say you changed, is not yet evidence for this kind of role.
2. Data analysis. The description usually asks for a table you handled, the cleaning rules, one comparison, and what that comparison does not show. A statistics course with no table of your own is a course record, not analysis evidence.
3. Business analysis. The description usually asks you to turn a business question into a measure, a comparison, and a recommendation, and to say what the data does not contain. It does not ask you to become a software engineer first. Sending business-analysis materials to a software role, or the reverse, misses the duties.
4. A research-engineering or algorithm internship. Treat this as the target only when the description asks for both a research question and a small implementation that runs. If it does not say that, do not add the word research and call it this kind.

Quant, testing, and product roles can look similar and still ask for different work. If a description matches none of the four, leave this round as not yet chosen. Do not force it into the nearest kind.

When a course counts as evidence

It counts when you can still open the file, point to the part you did, and state one limit. The limit can be a small sample, code that runs only on the sample data, or a conclusion that depends on an assumption you have not checked.

It does not count when all you have is the course name, the grade, or a group page whose author you cannot name.

It is unknown when the description never asks for a work sample. Leave that unknown and make one small piece, rather than assuming a public repository is required. If a company or a course forbids publishing the file, describe the part you can defend. Do not paste data you are not allowed to show.

If you have only looked, and not applied

1. Choose one kind, and write why the other two wait.
2. Make one visible piece for that kind. For software, a feature that runs. For data analysis, a table whose definitions are written down. For business analysis, one page of recommendation with its limits. For research engineering, one small question and a short implementation.
3. Then use Applying for technology and software roles to shape the materials. Prepare tests separately, in Online tests and Group interviews and assessment centres. Without a recent account confirmed by its author, those method notes are not someone's interview memory.

What this note does not decide

It does not decide which employer suits you, compare pay, or offer a referral. It does not turn a course into a chance of admission. After the materials exist, whether a role is still open is whatever that posting says at the time.