The duolingo take flight summit.
An online seminar event focused on preparing internship-seeking students for the technical interviews and giving insight into Duolingo as a potential employer. An event I’ve been hoping would return for months.
I developed an interest in joining Duolingo as an intern while I was studying abroad in Spain. I used their app every single day to practice Spanish (admittedly sometimes music when I wasn’t feeling like a full lesson). And it really helped to ensure I practiced every single day I was there. Using Duolingo was akin to making your bed in the morning - maybe not the most important aspect of my language studying - but it set the tone for how I would make a conscious decision to study every day.
I even reached out to their newsletter while I was abroad asking about how the spanish language could vary so much between the different areas of Spain, and to my surprise Cindy Blanco - a senior learning scientist - reached out within days with an incredible anecdotal experience of her own study abroad adventures. Call me a fish, because I was hooked! 🎣
This led me to eventually researching the company more thoroughly on LinkedIn and through their own career/mission pages of their site. I gathered several key takeaways about duolingo that I think are worth sharing here:
1. Duolingo really cares
I of course don’t work at duolingo (yet) but it seems they have a work culture that really values their employees. Not in a “we’re a family” sort of cheesy values but a serious understanding of the fact that employees have lives and are a valuable part of the company. They show this through their in-office kitchen, exceptional learning environment, intern celebrations, and much more!
2. Learning changes lives
Duolingo claims it exists to develop the best education in the world and make it universally available. The do nothing but show that through the many learning experiences and incentives that the offer their employees - it truly is a culture around learning and what more could you want from a company early in your career.
3. Just have some fun
Above all else as I researched Duolingo I saw the many ways they made working fun. Everyone who posts on linkedIn says incredible things about the company and how it was an amazing work environment. That aspect of work - having fun - is maybe one of the most important despite being talked about so little.
So how could I not really want to be a Duo intern? Seeing that post about the take flight event, I’m sure someone could mistakenly think I had won the lottery, my smile spread from ear to ear. I even commented on the linkedIn post - which is a little wild. Needless to say I hope duolingo is able to see in me what I see in it.
Post-event I couldn’t be more enthusiastic about the opportunities at Duolingo and I’m looking forward to their positions opening!