👀 Disney Product Management Internship: Application to Offer – iykyk

5 Disney Internships, LinkedIn Top Voice, and WayUp’s Top Intern 2023

Hi there 👋 — Who are you and what’s your background?

Hi! My name is Morgan Young. I'm a rising senior at the University of Nevada, Reno, studying Computer Science and Engineering with minors in Math and Entrepreneurship. I’m currently in my fifth internship at Disney. Specifically, I’ve done two IT Service Management internships, two Associate Product Manager internships, and my most recent internship is as a Product Management and Analytics Intern. I’m also a LinkedIn content creator, which led to me becoming a LinkedIn top voice for the next generation of 2023. Most recently, I also received the title of WayUp’s Top Intern of 2023.

A Huge Program With a Variety of Roles Across All Disciplines and Lots of Intern Activities

For those who are unfamiliar, how is the program structured and run?

The Disney intern program is very different from a lot of other internship programs. First of all, it’s a huge program with over 1,200 last year and I believe it’s the same number this year. It also spans across so many different fields of study, from biology to film to engineering. So if you’re studying life sciences, you can apply for an internship to take care of the animals in Disney Parks or if you’re interested in film-making, you can work on writing, staging, lighting, or creative animation.

In terms of recruiting, every business unit, for example Disney Parks Experiences, Disney Streaming, ESPN, and ABC, has their allotted amount of interns as well as their own recruiting process. Tech roles at Disney do follow the typical tech recruiting cycle, while other positions might have different timelines. Although each business unit is separate, the entire internship program still hosts activities for all of the interns every single week. The events are more location-based, so a lot of Burbank and Glendale interns, for example, do a lot of stuff together.

Make The Most of Your Internship

Is there anything the program landing page doesn't tell us about the program?

Disney internships are like “a choose your own adventure.” You have a job title, you know the person you directly report to, you have responsibilities, but you’re allowed to color outside the lines. What I mean by that is that, you don’t just have to do only what you’re given or what your job description outlines. You can do so much more than just that and sometimes they will encourage that actively. Your Disney internship is really what you make of it.

Lots of Meetings Everyday

What does your day-to-day as a Disney PM Intern look like?

Being a Product Manager means very different things across the Walt Disney Company, depending on where you work. For me, my particular role in enterprise technology is an internal-facing one, which means that I help manage design, engineering, marketing, and analytics of all of our enterprise software. So, that includes stuff that we purchase from third party vendors as well as proprietary stuff.

I think that one of the things that I love about my job is that it never looks the same. Like no day ever looks the same as the next, but my one constant thing is meetings. I usually have a minimum of three to four meetings and up to eight on my worst days. Other than that, I do some product design, software engineering, product analytics, and a little bit of marketing work on a day-to-day basis.

The best part of my job is definitely being able to listen to people’s problems and solving them to make their lives easier.

The Number of Interviews and Its Technicality Vary from Role to Role

What was the recruitment and interview process like?

The recruiting process depends on the business unit, but I’ll talk about my experience. I had two interviews, one phone screen with a recruiter and then one with a hiring manager. I only interviewed with one person because that was the only person who would decide on whether or not I got hired. Even though I only had one interview after my phone screen, I have friends who had up to three subsequent interview rounds. So, how many people you interview with after the phone screener really depends on how many people have a stake and influence in your particular hiring process. Whether or not you have a technical interview also depends on the role and business unit you’re applying for. I know a couple of Software Engineer Interns who didn’t have technical interviews at all, but I also know some that did and the same goes for Product Management.

On average, the entire process takes around two to two and a half months, and you can find all of Disney’s internships on the Disney Careers website page.

Make Sure Your Resume Is as Close to Perfect as Possible

What do you think made you stand out as an applicant and is there a recruitment strategy that nobody is doing right now, but should be?

Here’s my hot take on this, don’t rely on referrals and networking so much when you’re early in your career. After you’ve had your first internship, that’s a totally different story, but during my freshman year, I just applied to as many jobs as I could.

I applied to 150 internships, to be exact, during freshman year and I went through more than 19 interviews to get three offers and one of which was Disney. My biggest thing was that I got my resume really, really good so that I could catch people’s eyes and I knew that I also needed to get it in front of the right people’s eyes. So, really make sure that your resume is polished and optimized so that when the right people do see it, it’ll catch their attention. Also try to add as many metrics as possible and have at least one really big thing, I call it a brag stat, that’ll compel people to want to interview you.

Salary Expectations

What is the average starting salary for program participants and what does the salary progression look like once you’ve graduated from the program?

Totally depends on the job title, business area, and internship location. I know for Imagineering, you can typically expect a range anywhere between $20-$30 for undergrads. For Marvel, Lucasfilm, and Pixar, it’s on the lower end, between $15-$25 dollars. For Studios, Corporate, and DPEP, it’s typically between $25-$40. For anything graduate (MBA, MS, MEng, etc), it’s typically between $40-$50

Future Plans

What’s your next play after graduating from this program? Has this program impacted your 5-10 year career plan?

My Disney internships have definitely affected my career plan. When I started college, I thought that I was gonna be a Software Engineer, but after freshman year, I realized that I’m not the best at programming. I’m definitely good enough to get by, but it’s not really what I love. I wanted something that was more people facing and a little bit more creative. So, when I found product through Disney, I realized that it was really my space because I really love being involved in building things and creating solutions for consumers. That’s definitely something that I realized throughout my time at Disney.

With that being said, as far as my five to ten year career plan goes, I have no idea where I’ll be. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become more self-aware and I can acknowledge that I don’t really have it all figured out and I don’t know everything yet. I will never know everything. In the past three years, I’ve done a lot of exploring with product, venture capital, consulting, and that’s opened me up to a whole new world of job possibilities. So, I really have no idea what my next play is, but all I can tell you is that I want to be building really really amazing things in technology.

Value Your Soft Skills

Do you have any advice for people who want to pursue Product Management or a career in tech?

Do not under-emphasize or under-appreciate the value of soft skills because that’s something that’s almost like a unicorn quality in tech. A lot of people that are very technical and have technical education do not necessarily have soft skills. When I say soft skills, I mean the ability to public speak, communicate with higher-ups, and work well with others. I recently got this piece of advice from the President of Walt Disney World: you have to play well with others and be a team player. If people don’t want to work with you because you’re unable to work with all different types of people, that’s going to be a possible career stopper as people won’t want to work with you.