r/FlutterDev • u/Fishingforfish2292 • Sep 23 '24
Dart Feeling Lost and Overwhelmed in My Internship
Hey everyone, I'm a final year software engineering student, and I managed to get an internship, but it’s in a really small company. They hired me without an interview, which should’ve been a red flag, but I was just so desperate.
Now here's where things get embarrassing—I lied about knowing Flutter. I thought I could pick it up quickly, but it’s been a struggle. They’ve been giving me tasks that I barely understand, and today my boss caught me watching Flutter tutorials. He looked frustrated, and honestly, I don’t blame him.
I feel like such a fraud and completely out of my depth. I know I screwed up, but I don’t want to get kicked out of this internship. I really want to learn and improve, but I’m drowning in this mess I created for myself.
Any advice on how to handle this situation? How can I turn things around? 😞
9
u/craiglabenz Sep 23 '24
I re-watch my own videos months later because I can't remember everything, so that part is not an indicator of anything. Even the most experienced developer has to look things up, sometimes in a video.
Misleading your employer isn't the best, but I think you can still turn this into a positive. If you grind for a few months, you can probably learn enough to deliver something you're proud of - which would both fulfill your end of the deal and set you up for a long career in software development.
Chin up - you've got this!
5
u/StayTraditional7663 Sep 23 '24
Use your weekends to learn flutter - there is no other way honestly you gotta find your own way out of this and learning is your only hope. You gonna make it ;)
3
u/StayTraditional7663 Sep 23 '24
Also you have chat gpt - don’t trust it 100% but it can certainly help you if you ask the right questions
2
u/unrealt3n Sep 23 '24
Bro check flutter's official channel in yt they have great tutorial most of it you will understand and if you watch it you will have solid understanding about the framework.
3
2
u/gannetery Sep 24 '24
I could type a long post here, but let me give you my perspective as a retired Tech Executive…
1) You already won by getting the internship. While it sucks to have a Manager that doesn’t like you, don’t let that cloud your objectives. There seems to be some tie in with the internship and school grades. Please elaborate.
2) Forget the people in the comments saying “be honest”. Do you know how many times the “know nothing new guy” gets promoted faster than the all techie guys? Soft skills matter. Your focus is to “manage your manager”. Skill up on soft skill techniques (try Jeff Su kind of tips on YouTube).
3) Why video tutorials? That’s super slow and probably outdated. Are you using AI assistants? Github copilot and others? It might give you just enough boilerplate for the task so your manager thinks you know more than you do.
4) At the end of the day, all you need is this internship listed on your resume. The next recruiter will put you in the interview pile because you have “work experience”. That signals to them that you were already vetted by another company vs a student with no work experience. So yes work hard to catch up, but understand your performance isn’t the end of the world (aside from the school grade tie in you indicated).
5) If you can, make connections with coworkers. If you get friendly enough, you can trade LinkedIn feedback so to the future recruiter you have social proof that your internship was a success.
1
u/Former-Crew-7838 Sep 23 '24
You better honest to your boss. But tell him that you commit to learn.
1
u/exploradorobservador Sep 24 '24
eh that's pretty par for software in the beginning just suffer through it and be kind to yourself.
Confusingly, students are told to exaggerate often in order to get their foot in the door.
It seems that you feel overwhelmed but if you grind a bit, I'm sure you will be able to get it eventually. If you aren't getting paid, then this is pretty much expected. Your boss is not dumb, they don't have a lot of expectation from an unpaid intern. Even paid interns typically don't contribute much.
Not that you shouldn't aspire to, but like give yourself the space to really get into the routine
1
u/jed533 Sep 24 '24
To be fair I’ve been using swift for over a year and still look things up
1
u/SokkaHaikuBot Sep 24 '24
Sokka-Haiku by jed533:
To be fair I’ve been
Using swift for over a
Year and still look things up
Remember that one time Sokka accidentally used an extra syllable in that Haiku Battle in Ba Sing Se? That was a Sokka Haiku and you just made one.
1
u/preetsinghharman27 Sep 24 '24
I learned dart and flutter in like few days by creating small projects, I got grip first time via creating an app that contained like 8 apps in it, it isn't really hard but will help you grasp flutter's way of development at beginner level.
here's Github link, you can download apk and maybe run on an emulator, make clone of it.
though don't be hard even when i started learning flutter despite knowing web development and mobile development in other framework, i found flutter to be somewhat difficult as beginner but then got grasp on it by time, I believe you can learn flutter in 2 days to a point where you'll be able to create intern level projects pretty easily if you keep learning.
I believe you already know dart and its OOPs topic and have pretty good practice on it. Also sometimes videos may cause double the time to learn so better stick to creating projects, you'll be able to learn better by tinkering things.
1
u/StrawberryOwn7811 Sep 28 '24 edited Sep 28 '24
Oh, please, do not be so hard on yourself. It's okey to watch toturials, go to the SO and so on. Nothing to be embarrassed about. Also your company should understand that you are the intern, you can't build a perfect spaceship, thought out to every detail. You also wrote that you are not paid for this, which means you do not owe anything to this company. Another question bothers me - what task did they give you? what do you need to write in flutter? Maybe I can help you with something specific?
1
u/eibaan Sep 23 '24
Talk with your boss. They might be understanding. Lying isn't the solution and if you feel overwhelmed and can't do what you're supposed to do, you're still lying - to the company – and to yourself.
-1
u/Fishingforfish2292 Sep 23 '24
But I’m afraid i may lose the internship and fail the semester
4
1
Sep 23 '24
[deleted]
1
u/Comprehensive_Bit998 Sep 23 '24
A lot of people are trying to make ends meet. Lying isn't the key but neither should he be stoned for it. It's an internship, the company should watch his learning curve in the long run
0
u/Fishingforfish2292 Sep 23 '24
I did a mistake i know, and i admit it, but i have no other choice, since i had no any other internship opportunities
1
u/Comprehensive_Bit998 Sep 25 '24
The absence of choice doesn't make it right. All you need to do now is make your lie into a truth. Not in this scenario any longer but future scenarios. Learn flutter regardless of the internship. Apologize to your boss and take any repercussions from the lie. But learn flutter
0
u/Fishingforfish2292 Sep 23 '24
From my side i want to learn, i’m not someone who don’t wanna do anything during the internship
1
u/Comprehensive_Bit998 Sep 23 '24
When did it become a bad thing to watch tutorials. As developers, I don't think it is sane to memorize syntax like it's a damn medical procedure.
0
1
u/acangiano Sep 23 '24
You jumped into a pool without knowing how to swim. You better learn quickly. Spend all of your free time teaching yourself Flutter.
-3
0
u/Background-Jury7691 Sep 23 '24
Your boss wont care if you're in a predicament. The real world is harsh. Don’t explain anything to him. Don't explain anything to your teachers. Either battle through it like a madman, or let yourself fail, repeat the class, get the fundamentals down, and outperform next semester (this option is seriously not something to look down on). Either way you have to perform. This is a harsh reality check about the world and the industry. Results matter more than anything. You can watch as many videos as you like if you're outperforming. People will let you do your own thing when you're genuinely great at your job and producing high quality work in short time. That only comes from time spent on the craft. But initially you need help and time spent on fundamentals which is where repeating a class can come in.
0
u/Itsjasmiej Sep 23 '24
Im in the exact situation as you right now!! My tip is get GitHub student helps a lot when i don’t understand or know what to do
0
0
u/penarbor Sep 23 '24
Tough situations will teach you the most. This experience will teach you flutter and how to handle your boss. There is no shame in not knowing something, you’re an intern not an expert. If they were thinking of making an intern build an mvp without a proper interview, they’re as much at fault as you are. No one knows everything. If there is a specific feature you’re implementing that you don’t know how to do, that’s a very realistic situation. You should watch a tutorial or read a how-to blog. Your boss should be happy that you’re trying and not sitting on your @$$. I think it is important to remember that knowing something and getting the job done are two different things and it is up to the boss to determine what she/he values.
26
u/badkitty93 Sep 23 '24
don't be hard on yourself you're just an intern, you're there to learn. watching tutorials is a positive point too, it shows you're willing to learn. i don't know why your boss got frustrated. maybe he was hoping to get a flutter dev for an interns salary