4th year CS PhD student, a couple publications and a patent, applying for internships feels like a waste of time /u/qscgy_ CSCQ protests reddit

Title is the summary. I have 2 first-author publications from undergrad, another from last year, a patent, a couple of second-author pubs (one in ECCV), and no experience outside academia except some volunteer stuff that could be risky to talk about, depending on the recruiter’s political views. Last year I somehow got interviews for internships at 3 FAANG-tier companies, but none went anywhere. So it’s internship application season again, and I can’t shake the feeling that this is just not a good use of my time and I would be better served trying to find a summer job in some other sector. I’m scheduled to graduate in spring 2026, so this is my last chance at an internship. I know I need to apply to hundreds of positions (I did maybe 80 last time), but if I have to tailor my resume for each one and write a cover letter…even with AI assistance, that just doesn’t seem like the best use of my time, and I could spend it either finding employment elsewhere (always wanted to be a park ranger, for instance) or working on actual projects.

So what’s the move here? Should I spend hundreds of hours more on applications that almost certainly will go nowhere, or forget about an internship and just focus on finishing my doctorate?

For reference, I’m looking for both research and engineering/ops internships. My field of research is 3D reconstruction applied to medical imaging.

Title is the summary. I have 2 first-author publications from undergrad, another from last year, a patent, a couple of second-author pubs (one in ECCV), and no experience outside academia except some volunteer stuff that could be risky to talk about, depending on the recruiter’s political views. Last year I somehow got interviews for internships at 3 FAANG-tier companies, but none went anywhere. So it’s internship application season again, and I can’t shake the feeling that this is just not a good use of my time and I would be better served trying to find a summer job in some other sector. I’m scheduled to graduate in spring 2026, so this is my last chance at an internship. I know I need to apply to hundreds of positions (I did maybe 80 last time), but if I have to tailor my resume for each one and write a cover letter…even with AI assistance, that just doesn’t seem like the best use of my time, and I could spend it either finding employment elsewhere (always wanted to be a park ranger, for instance) or working on actual projects.

So what’s the move here? Should I spend hundreds of hours more on applications that almost certainly will go nowhere, or forget about an internship and just focus on finishing my doctorate?

For reference, I’m looking for both research and engineering/ops internships. My field of research is 3D reconstruction applied to medical imaging.