Inside Figma: a Q&A with our 2021 interns and new grads | Figma Blog (opens in new tab)
The article shares career advice from four 2021 Figma interns and new graduates: Emily Jia, Langston Dziko, Daniela Velez, and Jago Pang. Their experiences show that early-career candidates should evaluate company culture, mentorship, ownership, growth opportunities, and alignment with a product’s mission—not just the role itself. Figma attracted them through its collaborative culture, enthusiasm for design, and opportunities to make meaningful contributions.
Choosing an Early-Career Role
- Emily looked for:
- Data science roles matching her technical background and goals.
- Fast-paced, product-focused work at growing startups.
- An empathetic culture centered on communication and connection.
- Daniela prioritized authenticity, community, and coworkers who cared deeply about Figma’s mission of making design more accessible.
- Langston focused on career growth, asking:
- Whether young engineers receive meaningful ownership.
- Whether their work contributes to broader company goals.
- Whether employees see opportunities to develop and stay long term.
Using Internships and Conversations to Explore Options
- Emily explored different companies through summer and off-cycle internships.
- Conversations with alumni and interviewers helped her understand less obvious tradeoffs between roles.
- She considered not only people’s day-to-day responsibilities, but also how they had grown in their positions—and whether she wanted a similar trajectory.
- Langston used internships to identify the types of work he enjoyed and those he did not.
- He also spoke with many engineers, repeatedly hearing that a supportive manager and team can matter as much as the specific project.
Why They Chose Figma
- Emily was influenced by a Figma blog post written by a software engineering new graduate. She valued that Figma gave early-career employees a platform to share their experiences.
- She was especially interested in joining a growing data team making its first new-grad hires and deliberately developing its culture.
- Langston was impressed by how enthusiastically Figma engineers spoke about the product. Their enthusiasm suggested he would own innovative projects while developing as an engineer.
- Daniela first encountered Figma through a collaborative side project. She enjoyed the product’s collaborative design experience and connected with the company’s emphasis on individuality and community.
- Jago credited Figma with helping launch his design career and wanted to support its mission of democratizing design, particularly through Figma for Education and the Figma Community team.
The interview suggests that students and new graduates should use internships, informational conversations, and employee perspectives to assess both the work and the environment. The strongest early-career choice is likely to be a role offering supportive mentorship, genuine ownership, meaningful growth, and a mission the candidate cares about.