With no SDE internship experience, Xiao turned 600+ applications into offers from Adobe.
Xiao completed her undergraduate studies in Industrial Engineering in Hong Kong before pursuing a master’s degree in Computer Engineering at Columbia University. With a background focused primarily on research and limited software engineering experience, she initially struggled to identify the right direction and preparation strategy for SDE roles.
After joining Drill Insight, Xiao strengthened her profile through career planning, industry-level project training, resume optimization, and mock interviews. Following more than 600 applications, she secured interview opportunities with DoorDash, NVIDIA, Adobe, and Intuit, ultimately receiving offers from Adobe .
In this student success story, Xiao shares how she closed the engineering experience gap, improved her interview performance, and successfully transitioned from a research-focused background into competitive SDE opportunities.