Following up the success of last year’s Early Career Talent Summer Internship Program, our first ever hybrid internship effort, the 2023 class is proving to be every bit as ambitious, eager, and motivated. 

This year’s interns come from different backgrounds, schools, and regions of the world. But one thing they share with all of us at Sony Interactive Entertainment is a high level of passion as they embrace new possibilities while pushing the boundaries of our craft. 

To spotlight some of these qualities, we sat down with a few interns from across our global offices to learn more about how they bring passion through play. 

Eligh Alvarez, Software Developer Intern – Build & Tools
(University of Wisconsin-Madison | Madison, WI | Hybrid)

How do you bring determination, ambition, and joy into the work you do at Sony Interactive? 

As a returning adult student at UW-Madison and a veteran, I’ve had life experiences outside of school that have given me insight about what I would like to do with my life. I’ve always been interested in computers and gaming, growing up with a PlayStation 2, and I’ve found great enjoyment in my computer science program. Working at Sony Interactive as an intern is yet another step toward a permanent position as a software developer working in a career I sincerely enjoy. I’m extremely happy to be doing work with a skilled team on applied projects.

What is your favorite part about working in the Madison office?

The best part about my current office is the location. Downtown Madison is a beautiful area surrounded by lakes with an amazing capitol building at its center. The streets are lined with some great restaurants. The entire area has a wonderful vibe and definitely encourages working at the office on nice days!

Jayden Sansom, Visual Arts Engineering Intern
(North Carolina State University | San Diego Studio | Hybrid)

How do you bring determination, ambition, and joy into the work you do at Sony Interactive?

At Sony Interactive, I fuse determination, ambition, and joy into my work by a relentless pursuit of knowledge, setting high goals, and fostering a positive and collaborative environment with my mentors and peers!

I always approach challenges head on and take every change as a new problem-solving experience so I can deliver quality and exceptional work to my team. I continuously strive to grow and impact the delightful PlayStation community of which I have long-since been a part. And of course, I love to bring fun into the work I do, infusing prototypes with funny images or just having a fun outing with coworkers! Ultimately, I’m dedicated to leaving my mark on PlayStation by combining and presenting these qualities every day.

What are your typical day-to-day responsibilities in your current role?

In my role as a Visual Arts Engineering Intern, my typical day-to-day responsibilities contribute to the success of a larger-scale project for the VA Engineering team. This team has produced a highly efficient workflow and collaborative pipeline, allowing for my questions to be answered quickly and explained thoroughly. By constantly learning from the team, I am able to engage in tasks such as implementing innovative solutions, troubleshooting technical issues, collaborating with colleagues to gather feedback and insights, and continuously refining and iterating upon a project’s elements. This experience has allowed me to grow both professionally and creatively, while also contributing to the overall success of PlayStation’s visual arts team.

Jilly Song, Software Developer Intern 
(University of Waterloo | Waterloo, ON | Hybrid)

How do you bring determination, ambition, and joy into the work you do at Sony Interactive?

Working for a gaming company is something I’ve always wanted to do and becoming an intern at Sony Interactive really excited me! 

Understanding my role and how my work fits into the bigger picture is important to me. Knowing my contributions have an impact on the entire organization gives me a sense of purpose and motivation. I like to set clear goals for myself, both short term and long term, and document my learnings. Additionally, keeping a daily journal to track what I’ve done each day helps me reflect on my work and keep track of my progress. 

I enjoy actively seeking out new challenges and opportunities, whether it’s trying out different roles, taking on additional responsibilities, or learning new technologies on the side. I’m always up for the challenge and eager to grow!

Bringing joy into my work is super important to me, too, and has been a huge part of my experience at Sony Interactive. I love getting to know my PlayStation family and building connections with the amazing people here! It’s not just about the work; it’s about creating a positive and supportive environment where we can all thrive. I’m an optimistic person, and I believe every day is a chance to learn and explore new things. On top of that, I’m also very excited for my project this term. I look forward to celebrating each milestone and know that I will be growing and learning a lot this summer.

What are you looking forward to the most this summer?

This summer, I get to take responsibility for a project that I will be managing from beginning to end. Later in my term, I will get a chance to propose my solution to the team and begin to push my feature into production. This is something that I am really excited about because I know my work will be very impactful and I will eventually be able to see it in action. The project involves tools that are new to me, so I know that through this experience, I will be able to expand my technical knowledge and become a better programmer.

Amena Syed, Software Developer in Test Intern
(University of Waterloo |Waterloo, ON | Hybrid)

How do you bring determination, ambition, and joy into the work you do at Sony Interactive?

I felt like my willingness to learn helped me contribute to both team culture and projects. One of the things I did early on in my internship was document what I wanted to achieve, which allowed me to visualize my goals and see through them. Working alongside great people on my team gave me a glimpse into what a quality driven attitude looks like, and lucky for me that energy was contagious.

How would you describe your team and team culture?

I’m currently working on one of the teams that supports the PlayStation Store. I joined PlayStation during a time when our team was being rearranged, but despite that, what I felt during this unique onboarding process was a sense of unity between the interns and full-timers – how “WE” can learn from each other to best support team goals.

Dhruv Panchmia, LAB Intern
(University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign |Tokyo, JPN | Hybrid)

How do you bring determination, ambition, and joy into the work you do at Sony Interactive?

As an Electrical Engineering student, programming isn’t quite my forte. In fact, the last programming class I took related to software engineering was in high school. Regardless, I decided I still wanted to try out potential career paths aside from electrical engineering, which brought me to my current position at Sony Interactive. For me, programming is a problem-solving tool. My main goal by the end of the internship is to significantly increase this tool count. I believe I have been making progress and hopefully, will continue to do so. It’s easy to try and learn new things when the concepts and the goal at hand are so interesting. Additionally, being able to develop something for a company I admire brings me joy. It allows me to go to work ready to do a better job than the day before. By the end of the internship, I hope to leave my mark here by having done something meaningful for the company.

What has been a highlight of your internship so far?

Highlights have been some of the numerous events the NPX team has organized for us. Each one acts as a really nice way for interns to get to know the many different people that make up the NPX team and it really helped me settle in better. These events make interns feel valued and also add an extra level of fun to the whole experience. It just gives us all a much better understanding of what the company culture is like and I am all for it.

Marina Ten Have, LAB Intern
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Tokyo, JPN | Hybrid)

How do you bring determination, ambition, and joy into the work that you do at Sony Interactive?

I bring determination by keeping myself accountable to our project’s end goal of serving the Network Platform Experience group. I bring determination to my work by ensuring that I fulfill the goals I set for myself. I bring ambition by remembering that the work that we’re doing is integrated into PlayStation products to make gamers happy, inspired, motivated and more connected to each other. Finally, I bring joy to the work I do everyday because I simply love programming and being able to build new things and solve problems. I also love working with other interns and collaboration.

How would you describe your team and team culture?

I’d describe my team as optimistic—we make the most out of obstacles and the problems we face. We’re all very positive. There have been multiple instances where we have turned “failures” or unfortunate situations into funny moments together. We also make sure we respect and help each other. We try to eat lunch together every day, using the opportunity to get to know each other better, rather than discussing work.