Meet Vikram Singh ‘23, a double major in computer science and mathematics, who has been working as an iOS software engineer Intern at Lyft following a competitive selection process.

“I applied to the program through LinkedIn, and after a week, a recruiter reached out to me for a behavioral interview where I discussed my experience, education, and ambitions. After the first round of interviews, where I was tested on my UI/UX knowledge and system design and code efficiency skills, I had to complete a technical assessment, which involved implementing a

(restricted implementation) maximum value priority queue. Using a couple of creative and clever tricks, I created my own efficient data structure and was moved to the third round, where I was asked to code the game ‘Snake’ as an iOS application with native UIKit UI elements. Using various data structures and working with Swift and Xcode, I had to build an application within an hour. I finished all of the parts and developed clean code, and I was super grateful to receive an offer the next week.”

Vikram began his internship in May of 2022 and has been building on the skills he showcased during the interview process.

“As an iOS Software Engineer, I’m working specifically on Lyft Pink, a premium membership plan which offers discounts for frequent users. My experience on this project has taught me a lot, especially about the programming language Swift, the scalability of mobile applications, and database and cloud technologies.”

He credits his previous work on similar projects for his success at Lyft and encourages other students seeking similar opportunities to do the same.

“Get started on your own personal projects! Having a couple well developed iOS projects before applying definitely set me apart from other applicants and gave the recruiter confidence that I have potential as a candidate. Put yourself in the shoes of the company—why would they want to gamble time and money on someone who doesn’t showcase their experience when they can reach out to candidates who have shown what they can do!”

Last spring, Vikram completed a user experience and software engineering internship at Liberty Mutual Insurance, where he utilized a variety of coding software to implement a customizable list component for the company’s internal design system. At CICS, Singh serves on the leadership team of BUILD UMass and is working on establishing a club for mobile developers.