How long do I have to be prepared before interning as a software engineer at Facebook, Google, Amazon, etc.? originally appeared on Quora, the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus.

Anecdotally, some undergraduate computer science students can land internships within one year of starting a computer science degree, without any prior experience. Many students take two to three years of hard work and lots of computer science coursework before their resumes are considered. After the resume screen, the only preparation that matters is passing the technical interview, which can be crammed in less than a month of studying.

Some students never make it to an internship at FB/Google/Amazon during four years, usually due to lacking sufficient preparation on interview questions or lacking confidence in themselves (and it really shows through during interviews). Or they’re not interested in big firms and prefer working in smaller, close-knit environments.

The point I’m trying to make is that “how long does it take” is not the principal deciding factor, it’s how hard and cleverly you’re willing to work to achieve your goals. Top tech firms generally prefer students that know stuff beyond what they learned in class, or at least students who have taken interesting upper-level computer science classes beyond the basics. This is a good signal of a genuine passion in STEM.

This question originally appeared on Quora. More questions on Quora:

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