Software Engineer Intern

Software Engineering Intern (Backend / Systems / Scraping Infrastructure)

Anakin (YC S21) | min. 6 months to 12 month Internship | PPO Track

Location: HSR Layout, Bangalore (In-office, Mon–Fri)

Stipend: ₹25,000/month

Duration: minimum 6 month and max. 12 months

About Anakin

Anakin is the data engine behind real-time competitive intelligence of global online commerce companies.

We help large internet businesses understand markets faster by collecting, structuring, and generating insights from massive volumes of public web data. Our systems operate across categories, geographies, and constantly changing websites. That means the engineering problems here are not toy problems. They involve scale, reliability, anti-bot systems, dynamic pages, messy edge cases, and production pressure.

If you want an internship where you mostly shadow people, this is not that.

If you want to work on real systems, solve hard backend problems, and earn a serious PPO on merit, keep reading.

What this role is

This is a hands-on backend/systems internship for campus developers who want to become strong engineers early.

You will work on real production-facing problems across backend systems, APIs, automation, data pipelines, scraping infrastructure, reverse engineering, debugging, and reliability. You will not be hired to learn around the edges. You will be expected to understand problems clearly, write code that works, debug what breaks, and improve systems with ownership.

This role is designed for people who want steep learning, high accountability, and a front-row seat to how a high-speed startup engineering team operates.

Why this role is hard

This internship is hard because the problems are real.

Web systems change without warning. Dynamic websites break. Anti-bot measures evolve. Production bugs rarely come with clean answers. Good code is not enough; you need judgment, debugging discipline, speed, communication, and persistence.

You will be expected to:

• understand ambiguous problems quickly
• break them into workable parts
• ship clean solutions
• test edge cases
• ask for help intelligently when blocked
• recover fast when things fail

This is not a complete one assignment and wait internship. This is a builder's internship.

What you will work on

• Build and scale backend systems, internal services, APIs, and data pipelines
• Work on scraping and web automation infrastructure for dynamic websites
• Debug production issues and improve reliability, performance, and maintainability
• Write clean, testable, secure, maintainable code
• Participate in code reviews, architecture/problem discussions, and testing strategy
• Benchmark tools, explore better approaches, and improve engineering workflows
• Ship features end-to-end with strong ownership
• Proactively identify bottlenecks, bugs, and opportunities for system improvement

What we're looking for

Technical

• Strong fundamentals in Data Structures and Algorithms
• Good programming skills in Python, Java, or any solid backend language
• Strong understanding of backend fundamentals, APIs, databases, and debugging
• Hands-on project experience in one or more of the following:
• backend development
• automation
• APIs
• web crawling/scraping
• reverse engineering
• systems projects
• Comfort with reading documentation, experimenting, and learning independently

Ownership

• Takes tasks from start to finish instead of waiting to be told every next step
• Communicates clearly when blocked
• Has high standards for output and follow-through
• Likes solving problems deeply instead of superficially
• Can handle feedback, pressure, and iteration

AI usage

We value thoughtful use of AI tools.

Using AI to move faster is good. Blindly depending on AI without understanding what the code does is not. We are looking for engineers who can use AI as leverage, not as a substitute for thinking.

Who will do well here

You'll likely do well if:

• you enjoy solving difficult technical problems
• you like backend/systems more than surface-level UI work
• you get energy from shipping working things
• you care about code quality and reliability
• you learn fast and don't need hand-holding
• you want to earn trust through output

You may not enjoy this role if:

• you want a slow-paced internship
• you prefer heavily structured classroom-style work
• you get stuck easily without asking or unblocking yourself
• you dislike debugging, production pressure, or ambiguous problems

What success looks like

By Day 30

• Understands the problem space, systems, and engineering expectations
• Completes reverse-engineering/onboarding training
• Demonstrates understanding through a working demo or scoped deliverable
• Starts contributing to code with guidance

By Day 60

• Builds and ships a backend component, scraper, or system improvement end-to-end
• Handles debugging tasks with increasing independence
• Understands testing, logging, failure patterns, and core system flows

By Day 90

• Owns scoped tasks independently from problem statement to deployment
• Handles edge cases, debugging, and communication proactively
• Starts becoming someone the team can trust on real execution

By the end of the internship

• Has delivered real work in production or production-adjacent systems
• Has demonstrated ownership, technical depth, and operating maturity
• Is evaluated seriously for PPO based on actual performance, not attendance

Tech environment

Our engineering environment includes technologies such as backend languages, databases, cloud infrastructure, containers, and data tooling. The existing stack in your earlier SDE draft includes Python/Java/NodeJS/TypeScript, AWS services, Postgres/MongoDB, BigQuery, Docker/Jenkins, and related engineering tooling.

You do not need to know every tool in the stack on day one. But you do need strong fundamentals and the ability to ramp fast.

Why join Anakin

• High ownership early in your career
• Learn how strong engineers debug, ship, and operate under pressure
• Build backend and systems depth, not just internship vanity projects
• PPO path for high performers
• In-office environment where learning compounds faster
• Exposure to startup speed, real customer problems, and real technical complexity

What you get out of this

This internship can become a meaningful launchpad.

If you perform well, you will not just complete an internship. You will likely come out with:

• real backend/systems experience
• stronger debugging ability
• better engineering judgment
• proof of ownership under real conditions
• a much stronger PPO case
• a stronger profile for future backend, platform, infrastructure, data, or systems roles

A strong performer here should leave with materially better career signal than someone who only did guided college projects.

Candidate FAQs

1) Is this a real engineering internship or mostly training/support work

It is a real engineering internship. You will be expected to work on actual systems and technical problems, not just shadow or observe.

2) Is this backend only

The center of gravity is backend/systems/scraping infrastructure. The role is best suited to candidates who enjoy backend engineering, automation, debugging, and infrastructure-style problem solving.

3) Do I need prior internship experience

No. Strong fundamentals, projects, problem-solving ability, and ownership matter more than brand-name internships.

4) Do I need scraping or reverse-engineering experience already

Not mandatory, but definitely a plus. Strong backend instincts and the ability to learn fast matter a lot.

5) Which languages are acceptable

Python and Java are directly relevant, but candidates with solid backend/full-stack foundations in other languages can also be considered. Your earlier draft also reflected openness to broader backend/full-stack language experience.

6) What kind of projects make a candidate stand out

Projects involving APIs, automation, crawling/scraping, distributed systems, debugging-heavy builds, performance optimization, or thoughtful backend design stand out more than generic CRUD clones.

7) What kind of candidate usually fails in this role

People who need constant hand-holding, hide when blocked, write code without understanding it, or give up quickly under ambiguity usually struggle.

8) Is office attendance mandatory

This role is Bangalore-based and in-office. HSR Layout, Bangalore, working from office Monday to Friday.

9) What is the interview process likely to look like

Checkout this section - Selection Process

10) How fast does the process move

Historically, the earlier draft suggested a fast process that can close within 1 day, or extend to Day 2 if logistics require it.

11) How is PPO decided

PPO is earned through actual performance: technical depth, speed of learning, ownership, debugging ability, reliability, and quality of execution through the internship.

12) What are the longer-term exit opportunities from this role

A strong intern here can grow into:

• PPO / full-time backend engineer
• platform/infrastructure/data engineering pathways
• stronger candidacy for high-bar startup engineering roles
• a better profile for systems, automation, backend, and problem-solving heavy roles in future

13) What kind of workplace is Anakin

High-agency, high-accountability, in-person, builder-led. Good people here usually like speed, direct feedback, ownership, and meaningful work over comfort.