Graduating Without a PhD Internship [D]

In early 2022, I was deciding between PhD offers. The deal maker was a prospective supervisor telling me that through their connections with big tech, I would be able to do a PhD internship each summer, which was one of my main goals for the PhD.

During my first and second years, they would tell me that companies prefer late-stage PhD students, so I should wait for the next summer. It eventually turned out they did not actually have the connections.

Four years later, I am due to graduate without ever having done a PhD internship. I managed to land some interviews by cold-applying everywhere, but most roles were for roles outside my niche research area, which understandably led to rejections.

I went back through my emails and found every interview I did. Here is the summary:

09/22: Start PhD 09/23: PhD Research Intern @ Big Tech#1. Rejected after two interviews. I do not think I had a strong enough background in the field.

01/24: PhD Research Intern @ Startup#1. Rejected after one interview. The interviewers did not seem to have much ML experience.

01/24: PhD Intern @ Car Company#1. Rejected after the first interview. They were looking for a C++ SWE.

03/24: PhD Research Intern @ Big Tech#2. Passed all stages, but failed team matching.

03/25: PhD Research Intern @ Big Tech#2. Skipped some stages, passed others, but failed team matching again.

10/25: PhD Research Intern @ Startup#2. Rejected after 5 interviews. Again, I do not think my background in the field was strong enough.

01/26: PhD Research Intern @ Car Company#2. Rejected after the first interview. They found a better fit for the project.

03/26: PhD Research Intern @ Big Tech#2. Skipped some stages, passed others, but failed team matching again.

03/26: PhD Research Intern @ Startup#3. Interviewed, but the internship start date is after my PhD completion date.

07/26: End PhD

I feel like I am at a severe disadvantage, and almost worse off than before I started the PhD. I used to get more interview invites; now I get rejected straight away.

I did manage to collaborate with two big tech companies (via cold email), and was asked to return after my PhD, but the team was not strong and I am now extra wary of ending up in another bad team.