At Duolingo, we understand firsthand the impact that access to education has on the trajectory of learners’ lives, including our interns. As we’ve grown as a company, our interns have grown with us; many of our current “Duos”, including our Chief Product Designer, started off as interns! To level up our internship program, we challenged ourselves to harness the passion at the heart of our mission to do more to support underrepresented students within computer science.
Thus, the Duolingo Thrive Program was born. Since the program’s launch in 2021, the majority of our “Thrivers” (including Pedro!) have gone on to become full-time Duos.
What is the Duolingo Thrive Program?
The Duolingo Thrive Program is an immersive 10-week summer internship program that provides second-year students from communities underrepresented in tech the opportunity to develop their technical skills and experience what it’s like to work at Duolingo.
A “Thrive” class is made up of ~25 rising juniors pursuing careers in software engineering, product design, product management, or studio art. Each Thrive Intern gets to conquer new challenges and help us develop better language education for learners around the world.
In addition to the DuoIntern experience, there are three core elements that make the Duolingo Thrive Program unique.
Hootcamp: your technical and professional cohort
Hootcamp is a series of interactive courses led by Duos from across the company. Primarily frontloaded in the first two weeks, Hootcamp courses are broken into two types: role-specific and cohort-wide. Role-specific courses are designed to teach the technical basics of the role, and cohort-wide courses are aimed at developing professional skills to help students “thrive” in their careers at Duolingo and beyond.
Some examples of Hootcamp courses include:
- Systems Architecture
- Web Frontend
- Prototyping in Figma
- Gallup StrengthsFinders
- Personal Branding
- ...and 20+ more!
Unique group projects with Duolingo software engineers
Our second core element is the projects the Thrive Interns develop. Hootcamp gives our Thrive Interns the tools and skills to collaborate with each other in building their uniquely impactful group projects. Our interns are divided into small groups and led by a tenured Duo called a “Thrive Host”. Thrive hosts spend the months leading up to the internship designing original group projects that tackle strategic problems outside of the scope of current Duolingo teams. Some examples of past projects include:
- DuoRetro: An internal web tool for Duolingo employees to conduct retrospectives. This tool helps teams reflect on their sprints or projects, assess what went well, identify areas for improvement, and enhance future effectiveness.
- DuoChat: Design a new chatting experience for the Duolingo Learning App that enables learners to converse with our world characters about everyday topics.
- 3D animation: Explore the role of 3D animation at Duolingo by introducing the computer animation pipeline and its benefits to the team, while, of course, maintaining Duolingo’s signature style!
In their final week, our Thrive Interns present their projects to the company during a project showcase.
Mentorship to last beyond 10 weeks
In addition to the support that they receive from their Thrive Hosts, Thrive Interns are matched with a mentor called a Thrive Buddy. Buddies are early-career Duos (matched to the Thrive role) who help Thrive Interns navigate their transition into professional life, tackling topics like:
- Professional networking at Duolingo and beyond
- Time management
- Collaboration and communication
- Interns’ individual professional journeys
The impact of the Duolingo Thrive Program is designed to last far beyond our interns’ 10 weeks at Duolingo. Our Thrive Buddies build meaningful relationships with their interns and are committed to mentoring them through their return to school in the fall and as they transition into professional life.
In addition to Thrive buddies, Thrive Interns are encouraged to get involved with our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), specifically in our Kalidescopic Connections mentorship program. Kaleidoscopic Connection is an ERG Buddy program, developed as a way for interns to build relationships with Duos from similar backgrounds and support each other in the workplace through their respective ERGs (DuolingoBLAC, FuegoERG (Latinx/Hispanic), International ERG, LGBTQIA+ ERG).
Thrive internship roles and tracks
Software Engineering
The Software Engineer Thrive Internship opens yearly at the end of Semptember and is a perfect stepping stone for students pursuing Computer Science.
What we look for:
- Completion of at least two college-level computer science courses
- Programming experience in one or more of the following languages: Java, Python, Kotlin or Swift
- Dedication to our mission of accessible education
Product Management
The Product Management Thrive Internship allows you to have ownership over product optimizations and features, from independently run experiments to major product decisions and opens in October yearly.
What we look for:
- Ability to utilize user insights, data, and statistical analyses to inform decisions
- An instinct for creating simple and intuitive user experiences
- A desire to make the world a better place through technology and education
Product Design
Product Designers at Duolingo Learn and collaborate with world class designers while gaining experience to fast track your design career! Our Design roles open in early November.
What we look for:
- Experience in designing screens with one of more the following software: Figma, Adobe XD, Origami, Sketch
- Portfolio - should consist of one to two projects you’ve independently driven
Studio Art
As an Illustrator or Animator Thrive Intern you will develop your technical skills through hands on training, workships and lectures from Duolingo artists. Our Design roles open in early November.
What we look for:
- Completion of at least two college-level design courses
- (Illustrator) Experience illustrating in creative software such as Figma, Photoshop, or other comparable software
- (Animator) Experience animating in creative software such as Animate, AfterEffects, Harmony, or other comparable software
Learn more about the DuoIntern experience and don't forget to check out our current openings!
