In 2022, Duolingo hosted its largest intern cohort to date and for the first time in two summers, we were able to welcome our interns into our offices! At Duolingo, we strive for excellence and our intern program is no different—in fact, we’ve recently won a few awards that we’re pretty excited about!
- Internship Program Trailblazer award by OneReq - This award recognizes our internship program for providing an innovative, engaging intern experience, and strong key results.
- UnTapped’s Top Internship Programs of 2022 - We were selected based on our commitment to DEIB, equitable compensation, opportunities for advancement, and professional development.
- Handshake’s Early Talent Award awarded to employers with best-in-class talent engagement that launch careers for Gen Z.
Every year, our interns not only get to experience our quirky culture, bond with other interns and gain professional skills, they also get to work on a project that has real impact at Duolingo! Here are just a few ways our program is redefining the intern experience.
The internship starts the moment you sign your offer letter
We want interns to walk into the office on their first day feeling confident, welcomed, and excited for their summer. Interns are able to get to know each other through a variety of fun virtual events leading up to summer, including a Discord channel and a monthly newsletter to keep them up-to-date on all things Duolingo!
Fun is the first step
Since this was our first in-person cohort in a while, we wanted to make sure our interns got to explore their new city, hang with each other, and enjoy all the fun perks being a Duo has to offer!
Interns received interactive swag designed to welcome them to Duolingo and help them connect with each other and their city. These packages included a backpack, t-shirts, an instant camera, the Intern yearbook, and giftcards to some of our favorite spots in town.
Throughout the summer, interns are encouraged to go on a variety of adventures, like a Segway Tour in Pittsburgh or a Chinatown Food Tour in NYC, pod meet-ups hosted all over Pittsburgh or NYC, culminating in our biggest intern event, National Intern Week! Interns are also included in Duo-wide events like Hackathon, Duoversary, and club events!
Interns work on impactful projects
As a DuoIntern, everyone has the opportunity to work on real projects that affect our learners. Interns are fully integrated into a team, paired with a “host” (kind of like a mentor), and work on a project they’re passionate about while helping to contribute to team goals and develop professional skills.
Some examples of past intern projects include introducing “Hard Mode,” creating internal tools to help us better understand our learners, and even giving Duo a fun costume!
At the end of the summer, Duos look forward to the Intern Project Showcases to see how our interns improved our products and internal tools and, of course, to celebrate!
We offer personal and professional growth opportunities
Beyond working on impactful projects, interns have the space to grow professionally and personally. This includes regular check-ins with their host, one-on-one mentoring, workshop opportunities including StrengthsFinder, and our Duolingo University Summer Series, which gives interns visibility into projects and teams across the company.
Our interns are (hopefully) here for the long-haul
The ultimate goal of the intern program is to have interns return as new grads! DuoInterns are not competing against each other, but working together towards a common mission, and we think that’s really special. For many of our interns, this summer was just the beginning of their career at Duolingo!
If you are interested in joining the fun, you can apply to be a DuoIntern at university.duolingo.com!
