Inhwa SonAfter knocking on the door of the MLH Fellowship Program three times, I finally became a Fellow!
I learned about the program from a friend I met at UKC last year. Although I reached the final interview stage for both the 2023 Fall and 2024 Spring batches, I was rejected at the Project Matching stage each time. I applied again for the 2024 Fall Batch, and finally, I received an email confirming that I was matched with an MLH project and have completed the registration process.
What is MLH Fellowship?
It's not exactly an internship, but you can think of it as an internship-alternative program that lasts for 12 weeks. Around 10 people form a pod to work on projects sponsored by external organizations, while also receiving training throughout the 12 weeks. And of course, you get paid! (Up to $5,000)
I applied to the Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) track, but I could have applied to up to three programs, including Open Source and Web3.
And I successfully got accepted into the SRE track!
How to Apply
Selection process:
- Submit application
- Personal interview
- Technical interview
- Project matching
- Enroll as Fellow These are the five steps in total.
1. Submit application
After reading testimonials from those who were accepted, it seems that the application submission is extremely important.
You have to answer two questions:
- Why do you want to become an MLH Fellow? (500 words)
- The MLH Fellowship is a diverse community that welcomes Fellows from a wide range of experiences and backgrounds. What perspective or experience will you bring to the fellowship to strengthen our community?
The questions haven’t changed throughout the three times I applied, so it seems like they keep these the same.
I filled almost all 500 words when I submitted mine.
Although the application period for this program is quite long, it seems to operate on a rolling basis, so I recommend preparing in advance and applying as early as possible. This way, you can get to the interviews faster.
Also, when submitting the application, you need to provide a GitHub repository that represents you. In my case, I had to highlight my DevOps experience, so I submitted a project I worked on during a hackathon. Though it was a simple setup, it had a front-end, back-end, and database, so I used that for my submission.
2,3. Interviews
After submitting the application, you’ll receive an invitation for the Personal Interview.
Both the 2nd and 3rd interviews are quite short, lasting only about 15 minutes, so there’s no need to feel too much pressure. The questions weren’t particularly difficult; they mainly focused on why I wanted to pursue this field and why I was interested in the program.
For the third interview, you’ll be asked to explain the project you submitted in more detail, with follow-up questions based on that. They might ask what part of the project you were responsible for, whether you encountered any challenges, and if there are areas you think could be improved or things you wish you had done differently. The questions are aimed at gauging how seriously you took the project and whether you had ownership over it.
After completing the third stage, you’ll automatically receive an email with a detailed survey about the projects. The first time I applied, I foolishly completed the project matching survey a week late.
4. Project matching
For both the 2023 Fall and 2024 Spring batches, I couldn't progress past the fourth stage.
I was placed on a waitlist, with the hope that they would match me with a suitable project if one came up. But after a few months, I received the dreaded email starting with "Unfortunately..."
However, this week, I received an acceptance email.
I got in on the third try!
What's on next?
Starting on 9/30, I began my new journey as an MLH Fellow, and now I'm in week 1. It's been really exciting to meet people from all over the world who share common interests. My project will be JavaScript-based, so it will offer me many opportunities to learn."
