Summer 2025 Plinterns: A look back

Every summer, Plaid welcomes a class of curious, driven, and wildly talented interns—our Plinterns—to work across engineering & new business sales. This year, our 2025 Plinterns joined us from across the country, contributing to projects that push the boundaries of fintech, from AI-powered development tools to outbound strategy for emerging markets.

Whether they were working from our San Francisco or New York offices, jumping into discovery calls, architecting backend systems, or enjoying a boba run, our interns left a real impact on the people and the products that power Plaid.

We sat down with a few Plinterns to hear what they built, learned, and loved this summer. 

Here's what they had to say:

Rahul Khanna
Team: Credit
UCLA 2026

What's a moment that made you feel part of the team?

One of the best parts of Plaid has consistently been the culture and community; whether it's taking a quick walk around Manhattan for post-meeting coffee or watching a Broadway show for the first time with other interns, I’ve always felt extremely close to the team. My favorite moment in particular has to be the plintern picnic near Chelsea piers - playing board games while talking, eating, and listening to music was an amazing vibe.

What made this internship different from others you’ve had?

This internship was especially unique compared to my previous ones because of the level of attention dedicated to the interns. Our projects were, as a whole, significantly more high-impact and technically interesting than my previous projects, and it was clear that Plaid was passionate about making interns a first priority in terms of support. Everyone, from our mentors to PMs to even the CTO and CEO, was incredibly welcoming and made every possible effort to welcome and teach us. This was very different from other companies where interns felt like a second thought.

What advice would you give the next class of Plinterns?

The biggest advice I can give to the next Plinterns is to take complete advantage of the opportunities here. Essentially everyone at the company is receptive to having a coffee chat (including executive board!), and it's a great way to gain additional perspective on other parts of the company, or other technical fields.

Aishwarya Chakravarthy
Team: Credit
Georgia Tech 2026

What new tools, frameworks, or ideas did you pick up this summer?

I was able to pick up several tools and frameworks this summer, including the Go and gRPC stack, AWS Sagemaker (used for ML tasks), as well as encryption and compression with respect to S3 buckets.

What did your day-to-day at Plaid look like?

My day-to-day at Plaid involved a standup with my team where we discussed our progress and blockers, as well as some dedicated individual work time. I also met with my mentor everyday to discuss progress and next steps in relation to my project. Plaid also did a great job of organizing intern events so that I could end the day with a fun activity.

What made this internship different from others you’ve had?

This internship stood out from my previous experiences due to the significant independence I had in shaping and executing my project. In past internships, projects were typically fully scoped in advance, leaving me little room for architectural or design input. At Plaid, however, I was given a high-level problem statement and the autonomy to define the approach. This responsibility challenged me to make meaningful design decisions and ultimately contributed to a very rewarding learning experience.

What advice would you give the next class of Plinterns?

One piece of advice I'd give to future Plinterns is to stay open-minded about how you approach your project and the direction it takes. Plaid does an excellent job of framing projects as open-ended problems, which gives you the freedom to iterate and even pivot as you learn more. Don’t be afraid to take your project in a new direction if something interesting emerges!

Anmol Tyagi
Team: Integrations Platform
University of Waterloo 2026 

What new tools, frameworks, or ideas did you pick up this summer?

This summer, I gained a much deeper appreciation for the nuances of writing scalable Go systems. I learned how subtle patterns, like how you scope long-lived goroutines or manage context and tag lifecycles, can lead to surprising memory growth or garbage collector pressure if not handled carefully. It was a firsthand look at how performance issues can stem not from "bad code," but from code that behaves well under low load and silently degrades at scale.

I also deepened my understanding of distributed systems and databases, particularly around TiDB’s pessimistic transaction model and how query planning differs from MySQL. Lastly, I explored namespaced Redis key strategies to avoid conflicts across environments, and how stale key cleanup can silently affect coordination logic in queueing systems!

What made this internship different from others you’ve had?

This internship at Plaid stood out for its impact, access, and culture. I worked on a core scalability problem in a production system, a real, high-stakes project with long-term implications for infrastructure migration. It was far beyond what I expected from a typical internship.

Plaid’s openness also left a strong impression. I had a 1:1 lunch with the CTO, had a whole Q&A day with all of the company executives, and got to see firsthand how accessible leadership is. And as a bonus, I even played pickup basketball with Zach Perret, we ended up on the same team and won several games. Going from seeing him in all-hands to passing him the ball on a fast break really shows how Plaid’s leadership shows up as part of the team!

What advice would you give the next class of Plinterns?

My biggest piece of advice is to lean into ownership early. Interns at Plaid are trusted with high-impact work, and the faster you get comfortable asking questions, pushing changes, and taking initiative, the more you’ll get out of the experience!

Also, make the most of the intern events! They’re genuinely some of the best parts of the summer. From happy hours and trivia nights to escape rooms and casual hangouts, Plaid puts a lot of effort into making the intern experience fun and social. These moments are not just a great way to meet other interns and full-timers, but also where some of the most memorable connections and conversations happen. Don’t skip them, they fly by.

Jennifer Kim
Team: Scaled Access
MIT 2026

What was a surprising challenge you faced—and how did you tackle it?

This was my first time using Cursor and Unblocked to help me code, so it’s been interesting learning how to use them effectively. There’s definitely a balance to strike, knowing when to lean on them and when to step back and think through things yourself. It’s awesome that Plaid encourages the use of AI tools, because they’ve helped me debug faster, experiment with new ideas, and feel more confident in exploring unfamiliar parts of the codebase. I see this as an important skill for the future of software engineering, and I’m really glad I had the chance to build it during my internship.

What made this internship different from others you’ve had?

One of the things I loved most about my internship was having full ownership over my project. I had the chance to think deeply about different aspects of the work and come up with new ideas to improve it. It was also amazing to collaborate with people across several teams to bring everything together and make the project the best it could be. Beyond the work itself, the people at Plaid are truly what make the experience special. Everyone is so open and willing to chat about work, career paths, or just life in general. The lunches and social events were some of my favorite parts of the summer, and I’ve really loved getting to know everyone. People here are also incredibly helpful and always happy to answer questions, which made a huge difference throughout the internship.

What advice would you give the next class of Plinterns?

Learn as much as you can from your mentor and other people at Plaid. People at Plaid are incredibly talented, and it’s been amazing to learn from them and pick up new skills along the way. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, especially about their reasoning, so you can understand what to consider when making technical decisions. And definitely make time for lunch and dinner with your teammates! Those moments were some of the most fun and helped me feel much more connected to everyone at Plaid.

Anoushka Naidu
Team: Customer Growth & Experience
Carnegie Mellon University 2026

What's a moment that made you feel part of the team?

Before beginning implementation for my project, I presented the spec for it in front of my organization during an eng review. So many team members contributed to the process, calling out things I never would have thought of myself. We had a technically complex conversation about many of the details of my project, and I learned a lot from their perspectives and suggestions. I left the meeting a lot more knowledgeable not only about my project, but about how things are done at Plaid. When I was revising my spec after the eng review, several team members reached out and let me know I could ask them any questions I had about things that came up during the eng review. This collaborative problem solving was definitely a theme throughout my internship, and was one of my favorite parts of working at Plaid.

What made this internship different from others you’ve had?

As a Plintern, I was given very high ownership over my work. From design and product decisions to handling surprise edge cases with 3rd-party services, I was involved in every step of the process from conception to realization. This was in contrast to a previous internship of mine where decisions were made out of sight and then communicated to me after the fact. I liked being able to touch every part of the process and really feeling like the project was my own. It feels more rewarding in the end and that my insight was impactful on the trajectory of the project, rather than just being the person to carry out implementation.

What advice would you give the next class of Plinterns?

Be confident and comfortable handling unknowns. You should be ready to work through complex, unexpected challenges, which personally was one of the more invigorating parts of the internship for me. Having high ownership means being responsible for seeing a problem through from start to finish, even when the path forward isn’t clear, and being proactive in unblocking yourself, making decisions, and ensuring the final solution meets both technical and user needs.

Jack Li
Team: Security
Georgia Tech , 2026

What new tools, frameworks, or ideas did you pick up this summer?

Almost everything I’ve experienced during this internship has been both new and exciting. Prior to this, my experience was primarily in backend development, focusing on solving straightforward problems and implementing new logic or functionality. This internship is the first time I’ve been responsible for handling a project end-to-end. I worked on everything from drafting the design documentation, writing the backend, creating a new SQL database, making Terraform changes for new S3 buckets, developing an Airflow DAG script, and—stretch goal—building the UI to tie everything together. Throughout the project, I gained a deeper appreciation for the complexity and unpredictability that can arise at each step. Tasks that seemed simple at first often revealed unexpected challenges and edge cases along the way.

What's a moment that made you feel part of the team?

The moment that made me feel part of the team was when I had to present and discuss my design documentation. At first it was very daunting having to showcase my design and implementation ideas in front of others who were much more experienced and knowledgeable. But as the discussion went on, and questions were being asked and answered, it really made me feel part of the team. They had questions about my implementation design in which I provided answers and clarification, and they also proposed new ideas and improved my implementation as well as picking out problems that never crossed my mind when I was drafting the implementation due to my inexperience in working with various systems. 

What advice would you give the next class of Plinterns?

Don’t hesitate to ask questions, literally ask anyone. Everyone here has been incredibly friendly and willing to help. You’ll likely encounter tasks or projects that require assistance or feedback from people on different teams, and often a quick Slack message is all it takes to get the support you need. Also, make sure to have fun! Attend all the intern events—they’re a great way to take a break, connect with your fellow interns, learn about their teams, and hear what projects they’re working on. The internship goes by faster than you’d expect, so try and make the most out of it.

Arnav Kulkarni
Team: Payments
Purdue University, 2026

What's a moment that made you feel part of the team?

Being in person on a team at Plaid is awesome! The first moment that stuck out to me was randomly going on an ice cream run on a hot afternoon in SoHo. I was super taken aback at first, because the most I'd done is go on a coffee chat, but having that spontaneous moment, and just being able to walk and talk was super relaxing and refreshing. It changed my mindset from thinking about the team only in a work context to being able to connect outside of that. Since then, my summer was filled with many more fun chats and breaks just like that one. Those small moments seem trivial, but they make a huge difference in how you feel at work and really feeling like a part of something.

What made this internship different from others you’ve had?

Plaid really separates itself from other companies by culture. It sounds cliche, but the people and environment here are truly like no other. I'm always surrounded by friendly, intelligent colleagues who share a passion for contributing to Plaid's mission, and never hesitate to help each other out. There are so many different initiatives to work on and the barrier to picking up something interesting and working on it is extremely low, which is super unique to Plaid. It's also been super easy to reach out to anyone and everyone for a chat, whether it's the CTO or another intern. The internship program here is really well designed for you to challenge yourself with guard rails in place, and have a great time with everyone at the company.

What advice would you give the next class of Plinterns?

Ask a lot of questions to a lot of people. Everyone here is super open to extending a helping hand or just responding to curiosity, and you truly can ask anyone. A great opportunity is monthly coffee and questions with Zach, but even beyond that just walk around the office and say hi to someone new! Plaid has so many vastly different products and functions within the company, and learning about all of those is something that's super helpful, but separate from your day to day work.

Ron Wang
Team: Core Infrastructure
Stanford, 2026 (MS) + Berkeley, 2024 (BA) 

What's a moment that made you feel part of the team?

I am really impressed by the good mentorship and knowledge-sharing culture on the team. I also had a great time attending the Platform onsite in SF!

What did your day-to-day at Plaid look like?

I like my morning commute into the SoHo office, which is located in arguably the best part of the city. Checking out the queue at the Museum of Ice Cream or grabbing half-priced coffee at Capital One Cafe with my mentor has been great fun. Work-wise, I attend all of my team's syncs, and outside of that I also learned best practices, design tradeoffs, and bigger pictures from engineering review sessions led by senior engineers. Aside from my own work, I had a great time learning about the projects other team members and interns were working on.

What advice would you give the next class of Plinterns?

Talk to everyone, learn about their experiences/expertise, and what they are building. It's so nice and refreshing when your mindset expands beyond your own niche. You'll see why this is a great place to learn and grow.

Ethan Yuan
Team: Link Foundations
UC Santa Barbara, 2026

What project or call made you feel like a real contributor?

I really felt like a contributor when we started migrating existing workflows to use the new Futures library. Getting buy-in meant working closely with other teams to plan the rollout, set up dual-write for safety, and tackle concerns about reliability and scalability. Each conversation helped me realize the impact of my work and how it could help a bunch of different teams ship faster and more reliably.

What made this internship different from others you’ve had?

One thing that set my Plaid internship apart was how much ownership I actually got. I was able to ship new code quickly, but it wasn’t just about launching features; I had to make sure everything was reliable and easy for others to understand, since these systems handle literally millions of requests every day. The pace was exciting, but we always had to think about scaling and maintainability, so no shortcuts or messy hacks were allowed. Compared to other places, I felt like my work would actually hold up long-term and be depended on by tons of users, which was really motivating.

What advice would you give the next class of Plinterns?

One of the best things you can do during your internship at Plaid is to approach everything with a first principles mindset. Instead of just memorizing how systems work, take the time to understand why they were built that way. Stay curious about the history behind each technical decision, even if something feels clunky or confusing at first. Asking questions about how and why things operate will help you see the bigger picture and make better decisions, both for your current projects and anything you work on in the future.

Akshay Mistry
Team: Network Enablement
Georgia Tech, 2026

How did your work connect to Plaid’s mission?

What makes Plaid unique is its vast network of data. As the bridge between players in the financial world, Plaid is uniquely positioned to build a trusted web of linked financial identities and deliver instant, insight-driven experiences. In particular, our scale gives us a powerful advantage in detecting fraudulent patterns and behavior: an advantage that forms the foundation of Plaid Protect.

By improving fraud detection, we strengthen trust with both consumers and data partners, making the network more valuable for all participants. These improvements not only protect our ecosystem but also encourage broader participation in the Plaid Network, which is at the core of our mission.

What's a moment that made you feel part of the team?

This summer was filled with a ton of fun experiences that truly made me feel like part of the team. Plaid has an amazing culture where people are not only active and engaged in the office, but also genuinely interested in building connections beyond work. Everyone was willing to go out of their way to spend time together, making it easy to form real friendships. Whether it was joining an intern picnic in the park, hitting the golf range, catching a movie, going rock climbing, seeing a Broadway show, or even going on a simple coffee run, there was always an opportunity to connect. These moments gave me the chance to meet people across different teams, hear their stories, and share plenty of laughs. Looking back, not only did I learn a lot this summer, but I also built a collection of great memories and relationships that I’ll carry forward!

What advice would you give the next class of Plinterns?

Don’t be afraid to ask questions! Take advantage of how open and approachable everyone is by reaching out to people on different teams, even if their work isn’t directly related to yours. Plaid is a complex ecosystem, and the more you understand how the different pieces fit together, the more context you’ll have to make an impact. Those conversations will not only broaden your perspective but also help you build connections that last beyond the internship.

“As a Plintern, I was involved in every step—from product decisions to edge-case handling. It truly felt like the project was mine.”

– Anoushka Naidu

Ozgur Can Seckin
Team: Data Foundations and AI
Indiana University, Bloomington 2026

What new tools, frameworks, or ideas did you pick up this summer?

I’ve trained language models before, but this internship pushed me further. I picked up new objectives like contrastive learning and learned to track training and evaluation at scale with MLflow. I also got hands-on with SageMaker for ML workloads and used Spark to wrangle big data. All in all, it was an awesome crash course in running machine-learning projects in the real world!

What made this internship different from others you’ve had?

What stands out most is the fast-paced environment and the huge potential for impact. Everyone genuinely wants to make a difference and they actually have the freedom to do it by the senior management. I’ve never seen so many people spontaneously huddle up to brainstorm ways to make the company better. It’s energizing to work alongside teammates who are so motivated to drive change. Plus, the talent here is remarkable; I’m constantly surrounded by incredibly smart, dedicated people.

What advice would you give the next class of Plinterns?

You will start learning from day one. Actively listen to everyone: your mentor, your buddy, the managers… and ask questions. Go grab coffee with the others in the team and get to know them, make friends. See what impact you can make on top of your project and go further. Enjoy SF/NYC!

Olivier Mulkin
Team: Signal ML
UC, Santa Barbara 2026

What new tools, frameworks, or ideas did you pick up this summer?

Before this summer, my experience with ML was mostly research-focused—training models in isolation with minimal engineering beyond basic data prep. At Plaid, I quickly realized that working with real-world scale data demands a very different approach. You can’t just spin up a Jupyter notebook and expect it to scale. I had to learn how to run experiments on AWS infrastructure, using Spark and SageMaker for distributed data processing and model training. I also picked up MLFlow and Airflow to track experiments and manage training pipelines. This gave me a concrete understanding of what a full-stack ML infrastructure looks like and what’s required to build one that can support production-grade experimentation.

What's a moment that made you feel part of the team?

One moment that made me feel part of the team was when my mentor encouraged me to present my work in a data sharing session, and later to formally propose a model review in a 30-minute presentation to the full data team—over 50 people across ML functions. The team’s enthusiasm about adopting my internship project and productionizing the new model for client use made me feel like a meaningful contributor to the team’s mission.

What advice would you give the next class of Plinterns?

A few tips. First, don't spend too much time reading and spend more time asking questions and actually doing the work, that's the best way to learn. Second, attend the onboarding sessions, it's really useful to learn about the big picture at Plaid and meet key people in the organisation. Finally, attend all the intern and social events, they're really fun and help you blow off steam after a hard-working day! Pro-tip: have lunch with the CTO, he's awesome!

“What made the difference was seeing my internship project adopted by the team—productionizing the model for client use made me feel like a meaningful contributor to the mission.”

– Olivier Mulkin

Heidi Heffelfinger
Harvard 2026

What problem did your project aim to solve, and what made it meaningful?

I worked with the Partnerships team this summer to create vertical specific decks tailored to Plaid's different partners. This project aimed to simplify Plaid for our partners and explain our solutions in their words and for their own worlds, so they have easily digestible decks to provide to their customers explaining how Plaid fits in. It was awesome to work collaboratively with a different team and further my own understanding of the different verticals Plaid caters to while simultaneously getting to know the amazing people on the Partnerships team. Shoutout Cormick and Greta!

What new tools, frameworks, or ideas did you pick up this summer?

One tool I've strengthened a lot this summer is how to be more concise in my communication, specifically in email writing. I honed in on learning how to write a short but effective email that focuses on personalization, direct impact, and a call to action. Getting to play around with different versions of emails to see which ones garner the most attention was especially interesting and helped me continue developing this skill throughout the summer.

What's a moment that made you feel part of the team?

On my second day of the internship, the NB interns and their mentors all went to a pasta making class together that set the foundation for a great rest of the summer. Although this was such a fun day on its own and the best welcome to the team, it was not this one day or any one moment this summer that made me feel part of the team, but rather a multitude of many small moments that speak to the amazing culture at Plaid. The popup bagel runs, afternoon dog walks, happy hours, mini golf, tie dyeing... each moment combined to make me feel part of the team.

What advice would you give the next class of Plinterns?

Coffee chat with as many people as possible. Ask lots of questions. Write things down (with pen and paper). Get extra practice in. Push yourself out of your comfort zone. Go to happy hour. Seek out new experiences. Have fun!

Logan Teixeira
Cal Poly, San Luis Obsipo 2026 

What new tools, frameworks, or ideas did you pick up this summer?

This summer at Plaid, I focused on improving my client-facing communication skills through a set of versatile frameworks and strategies. I’ve learned to apply a layer deeper response framework, where I focus on acknowledging a client’s pain before asking follow up questions. I practiced seamlessly transitioning between discovery and pitch by centering the pitch around the client’s pain and how we can solve that pain, without diving deep into the technical details. I also improved my all-around objection handling by acknowledging a prospect’s concern, empathizing with this concern, giving a brief insight, and then smoothly moving the conversation forward with another discovery question. These frameworks have helped me become more intentional and strategic in every interaction.

What's a moment that made you feel part of the team?

From day one, the Plaid team made me feel like I belonged, and the consistent support in all ways has continued to reinforce that feeling. Whether it was bonding with the NBAs and NBRs at the Superman movie, grabbing sandwiches near the office, or having fun after work in the San Francisco company soccer league, I always felt included. Everyone’s positive energy and unique senses of humor have come out during the Giants game, company dinners, or wherever we are. Even the simple moments like joking around in the office throughout the day or having conversations on the side have felt meaningful. From big events to everyday moments, I’ve consistently felt like a true member of the Plaid team.

What did your day-to-day at Plaid look like?

My days were a mix of structured learning and hands-on contributing to the team. I ran mock calls, supported the NBR team with outbound efforts, and helped NBAs with recycled leads. I also collaborated with Account Executives on net new accounts and worked with the other Plinterns to create the weekly newsletter to go out to the New Business team. Shadowing and leading calls helped tie in everything I’m learning together and gives me a clear view into the sales process. Outside of work tasks, I enjoy coffee chats with other members of the GTM and Engineering teams, eating lunch with coworkers, and talking with others around the desks.

What made this internship different from others you’ve had?

This internship stood out because it was never busy work and I was treated as a real contributor from day one. I had the same responsibilities and potential for impact as a full-time new business associate. Everything I worked on directly supported the team and helped generate real pipelines. There was always something meaningful to do, and I could see the results of my effort. The authenticity and fast pace made it incredibly rewarding and unlike any internship I’ve done before.

Faye Roselle
Hamilton 2026

What problem did your project aim to solve, and what made it meaningful?

I completed a personal project this summer called The People Behind the Product. To begin this project, I decided to highlight Plaid’s new fraud solution, Protect. I focused on the human decisions, challenges, and insights that shaped the product, rather than relying just on the technical features. I felt its impact would be best understood through the people who made it real. I spoke with engineers, PMs, marketers, and partnership leads to learn how they collaborated, iterated, and launched. Their stories showed how Protect came from real customer pain points and was brought to life with speed, scrappiness, and ownership. The goal of this project is to make Protect more relatable, showcase cross-functionality, and provide context on this vital new fraud tool. A recording where I present my findings and tell the story of the Protect will be available soon!

What's a moment that made you feel part of the team?

One moment that really made me feel part of the team was our pasta-making class with the mentors, buddies, and fellow NB NYC interns! It came at the perfect time, right in the middle of the internship, when we were all starting to hit our stride but still getting to know one another more personally. It was so fun to step away from work mode to roll out dough, laugh over slightly lopsided pasta shapes, and just do something totally different. I walked away feeling closer to my mentor and buddy, more integrated into the intern cohort, and just generally more comfortable being myself at work. It was a small moment, but one that made a big impact on how I experienced the rest of the internship.

What project or call made you feel like a real contributor?

The recycled leads project made me feel like I was able to make a really tangible impact on the NBA team and Plaid in general. I really dove into personalized emailing, cold calls, and persistent effective communication. I loved being able to see the NBAs turn those into successful flips! I felt like more than just an intern—I was a representative of Plaid, actively pushing our mission forward and shaping how potential partners saw us. It made all the effort feel worthwhile, and showed me firsthand how my work directly supported the team’s pipeline goals. Being trusted with a project that had real stakes and then seeing positive outcomes unfold made me feel like I truly belonged at Plaid!

What advice would you give the next class of Plinterns?

For the incoming class of interns, I would recommend diving into the projects but also branching off and finding what really interests you. In the beginning, I felt less invested than I do now because I was solely focusing on what was expected of me. It's important to meet those expectations but equally important to dive into the community, join the culture, and explore all that Plaid has to offer. I began to really invest my time and energy into learning more about cross-functional work at Plaid which led me to discover holes in the dialogue with the NB team about new updates and products. This kickstarted my independent project. I realized I enjoyed the recycled leads reachout process, made that a priority, and was able to feel like I made a real tangible impact on the team by providing NBAs more potential flips. And mostly, don't be afraid to ask for a bit of people's time! Plaid creates an incredibly welcoming environment and you should make the most of it in your short 12 weeks!

Sarah DeSisto
Wake Forest 2026

What problem did your project aim to solve, and what made it meaningful?

This summer, I aimed to improve our onboarding experience. Though I had such a great experience onboarding, those involved in this project and I agreed that there is always room for improvement. We collected extremely valuable feedback from tons of recent Plaid hires, and I was able to contribute to this project while building new relationships. Onboarding is something all employees experience, and it was so exciting to work on something that can reach such a wide range of Plaids!

What new tools, frameworks, or ideas did you pick up this summer?

This summer, I really learned how to strengthen soft skills including emotional intelligence, coachability and ownership. All of these are really big growth targets throughout the duration of the internship. This being my first corporate experience, there was a lot of room for learning. As I got more comfortable in my role I found myself taking a lot more ownership over my work, and reaching out for feedback, new projects and outside learning sessions. I moved towards never being complacent and found myself learning so much more and making real, concrete progress in my skills and projects.

What's a moment that made you feel part of the team?

Since day 1, everyone at Plaid has put in so much effort to make sure we felt included and knew we were part of the team. As the internship progressed and we built new relationships with other employees, that only strengthened. With big events, like the pasta making class, and small events, like walks after lunch, I felt more and more a part of the team everyday. Everyone here is beyond welcoming and was adamant on making sure we always felt included. I can't think of a single day where I did not feel like a part of the team, and think the other interns would agree.

What advice would you give the next class of Plinterns?

Enjoy the internship and try to get to know the team! The summer really goes by quick so spend as much time as you can building relationships. The coffee chat culture here is not to be taken for granted, these were often the highlight of my day! I found the more I reached out, the more I got to explore different sides of Plaid and get involved on really cool projects.

Andrea Valle
Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo 2026

What's a moment that made you feel part of the team?

Ever since my first day at Plaid, I’ve felt like a valued part of the team. From the start, everyone was incredibly welcoming and eager to help, which made the transition smooth and enjoyable. One of the moments that really stood out to me was during one of our special happy hours. Those gatherings have been a great way to connect with the team beyond just work tasks. I also appreciate how the team goes out of their way to plan events for interns outside of work. These experiences have made it clear that I’m not just here to contribute, but that I’m also genuinely included and supported.

What project or call made you feel like a real contributor?

One project that really made me feel like a true contributor was the net-new project. It was a standout experience because I had the opportunity to work closely with an Account Executive as well as the other NBAs on the team. Before diving in, I took the initiative to check in with my partner and buddy to see if they had any recycled leads I could help with. From there, I was able to schedule and lead a call myself, which was a huge moment for me. What made this so impactful was the sense of ownership and collaboration. I genuinely felt like my work mattered, and that I was contributing directly to our shared goals.

What’s one thing you learned about working with customers or partners?

One important thing I’ve learned about working with customers and partners is how valuable it is to listen and really acknowledge their pain points. Especially in a role like an NBA, it can be easy to get excited and dive right into talking about all the great things Plaid can do. But I’ve found that taking a step back and giving the customer space to share their concerns first makes a big difference. When you show that you understand where they’re coming from, and that you’re not just there to pitch a product, they feel heard and respected. That helps build trust and shows them that we genuinely care about solving their problems, not just selling something. Once they feel understood, the conversation flows better and they’re more open to learning how our products can help. It’s a small shift, but it really helps strengthen the relationship and makes the experience better for both sides.

What advice would you give the next class of Plinterns?

One piece of advice I’d give to the next class of Plinterns is to always stay open to trying new things and to stay organized from day one. Being an intern at Plaid taught me how important it is to keep track of your daily tasks and make sure your calendar is always up to date. It might sound simple, but writing things down and staying on top of your schedule really helps you stay focused and feel more in control. It makes your work stronger and helps reduce stress, especially when deadlines start piling up. Being organized also shows your team that you’re reliable and thoughtful about how you manage your time. And when you’re open to learning and stepping outside your comfort zone, that’s when some of the best growth happens.

Rishi Dhawan
Santa Clara University 2026

What's a moment that made you feel part of the team?

A moment that made me feel part of the team was my very first day. I was warmly welcomed by the New Business team, and instead of diving straight into work, we spent the first couple of hours just talking about our hobbies and life in general. We built genuine relationships from day one, which laid the foundation for real chemistry and a strong team dynamic. What really sets this team apart is how much we genuinely enjoy spending time together even outside of work. Whether it's grabbing dinner, playing basketball, or catching the latest superhero movie, we actively make time to connect beyond the office. These moments have made it easy to ask questions, work together, and seek out new opportunities because I know I’m surrounded by people who support me and want the best for each other. It’s a truly collaborative and hands-on environment that makes learning and growing feel natural.

What did your day-to-day at Plaid look like?

I typically get into the office around 8:30 a.m. and start by setting an agenda for the day. I’ll grab breakfast with the other interns, then dive into product knowledge work before joining either a live discovery call or a mock call to sharpen my skills. After that, I spend time prospecting new enterprise accounts and reviewing them with my mentor for feedback. 

Around midday, I grab lunch with the New Business team, which is often followed by a coffee chat or two as I really enjoy getting to know the people I work with. In the afternoon, I return to my desk to work on the weekly newsletter and contribute to any ongoing projects. If I finish early, I check in with teammates to see if anyone needs help with anything or I am able to shadow or set up a workshop with them. 

Toward the end of the day, I grab a quick snack, follow up on all my cadences, and then wrap up by recapping what I accomplished and outlining what I need to get done next. I always set internal deadlines to help me stay on track and prioritize effectively.

What made this internship different from others you’ve had?

From day one, I felt like I could make a real impact. While it was intimidating at first to make decisions and work with a wide variety of real clients, it created the ideal environment for growth. It pushed me to get comfortable being uncomfortable, a skill that translates well beyond the workplace.

The breadth of knowledge you gain just by being at one of the largest fintech companies in the world is incredible. I learn something new every day because we're constantly talking to and learning from clients from early-stage startups to large enterprises. These conversations help you understand broader market trends and see exactly where Plaid fits into the ecosystem. Plaid is fast-paced, exciting, and filled with opportunities to learn and challenge yourself.

What advice would you give the next class of Plinterns?

Be yourself and take every opportunity to learn from the people around you. Don’t be afraid to ask for help or to seek out opportunities that genuinely interest you. Embrace the team environment and support others when you can, and don't hesitate to lean on your teammates when you need it. Treat every win and every loss as a chance to learn and grow. Keep building your knowledge one day at a time, stay curious, and most importantly have fun along the way. 

“From big events to everyday moments, I’ve consistently felt like a true member of the Plaid team.” – Logan Teixeira

To our 2025 Plinterns: thank you. You brought fresh energy, bold ideas, and serious heart to our teams. Whether you were helping us scale our data pipelines or refine our sales strategy, your work left a mark—and so did your presence.

We hope you left with new skills, great memories, and a community that’s rooting for you. From all of us at Plaid: see you soon.

👉 Ready to become a Plintern or Plaid full-timer?

Check out our Careers page to learn more about how you can unlock financial freedom for everyone.