Had an internship interview at a large tech/government contractor company last Friday and I’ve been overthinking it ever since. They said decisions would take around 1–2 weeks, but the waiting is honestly making me analyze every little detail.
The interview focused a lot on APIs, backend systems, adaptability, and project experience rather than heavy LeetCode-style questions. I talked about some AI/backend projects and experience with FastAPI. At one point, while explaining I’m comfortable learning different technologies (specifically APIs), I mentioned PostgreSQL/MySQL and now afterward I’m worried I sounded dumb because those are databases and not frameworks.
They also mentioned they had a large applicant pool and chose me to interview, which I can’t tell was encouraging or just something they say to everyone (or saying that to make me feel better after rejecting me lol).
Another thing messing with me is that part of the role involved working with enterprise AI/chatbot systems, and I asked whether they do any model training (I meant fine tuning). I meant it as a genuine technical question, but afterward I started worrying it sounded like I didn’t understand the role correctly because they do use a proprietary source for the chatbot.
For people with internship experience:
- Do interviewers would analyze those mistakes I made?
- How do you stop overanalyzing interviews while waiting?
I'm fairly new to recruiting so I'm sorry if some of these questions are dumb haha.