VS Code Insiders Podcast Life of a VS Code SWE Intern with Christy Nguyen
Sep 15, 2025
Christy Nguyen, a rising junior from the University of Washington, shares her inspiring journey to becoming a VS Code software engineering intern. She details how she secured her internship and the development of the highly-requested Git worktree support feature. Christy also dives into her experience with mentorship, team dynamics, and the balance between remote and in-office collaboration. She offers valuable insights on using AI tools in development and encourages others to contribute to open source projects.
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How Christy Started Coding
- Christy started coding in junior year of high school after taking AP Computer Science and loved printing "Hello World."
- She later joined Computing For All to build web projects and gain practical experience before internships.
Internship Path Through Microsoft Programs
- Christy used Microsoft-sponsored programs (Computing For All → Discovery → Explore) to progress into internships.
- She proactively asked to work on VS Code and got placed on the VS Code team.
Progressive Intern Learning Model
- Discovery exposed Christy to UX and product work while Explore introduced PM skills and light dev.
- The VS Code (suite) internship let her focus heavily on coding and shipping user-facing features rapidly.