ByteDance has countless early opportunities, not just for undergrads and masters students, but for those currently pursuing their PhDs. An internship at ByteDance serves as a competitive opportunity to expand your knowledge and extend your research and passion. We spoke to Sandeep and Yang about their internships at ByteDance and what lessons they took back to their graduate studies.

Tell us about yourself! What does a typical day at ByteDance look like for you?

Sandeep: I love to acquire knowledge and I am a very curious person. As part of my graduate studies, I concentrate on the human visual system. I have always been fascinated by the ability to see the world around us and interact with it. As a Mobile Multimedia Research intern, I am surrounded by gadgets such as VR headsets, different kinds of display screens, and more, which I love. I have been able to implement spatial video algorithms that will enable viewers to view videos in 3D using VR headsets and it's a novel experience. I have also worked towards quality assessment of such videos to make the best of the resources available to provide the best viewing experience.

Yang: In my PhD studies, I focus on multimodal large language models. My passion lies in the intersection of AI and human-computer interaction, particularly in developing technology that enhances daily life. I chose an internship at ByteDance because of the company's innovative approach to content creation and AI. My typical day involves handling model training data and developing large language models (LLMs) for content moderation. I prepare and process datasets, train and fine-tune LLMs, and perform ablation studies and validations to improve performance. Debugging and optimizing these models is a key part of my work, ensuring they are ready for deployment.

What do you like the most about working for ByteDance?

Sandeep: The team is filled with highly talented people. They've been very supportive and helped me throughout different stages of the project. We have a willingness to achieve the best, and never settle. The research coming out of ByteDance is incredible and is very promising for a PhD student like me. Mentors understood the work, its requirements, and helped me plan out the smallest details as well. Their deep knowledge and willingness to share helped me grow significantly.

Yang: The strong sense of teamwork and collaboration. Working in this supportive environment, where team members help each other and mentors patiently guide us, has significantly enhanced my skills and knowledge. I've learned to identify and analyze problems effectively. I have developed the ability to create detailed, actionable plans to achieve specific goals while maintaining high rigor throughout the process.

What is the biggest highlight of your internship?

Sandeep: By far the coolest project I have worked on is the spatial video project. Imagine being able to relive memories in 3D. There has always been a craze about watching movies in 3D. Now we can enable that for everyone and people can share and view events from their personal lives in 3D. With such technology, who knows what the future holds? Maybe someday people will be able to interact with their videos as well.

Yang: The most exciting project I have worked on is developing a comment moderation model that significantly reduces the workload for human moderators. This LLM can automatically review and filter user comments, ensuring compliance with community guidelines and maintaining a positive online environment. I'm particularly proud of this project because it leverages advanced AI techniques to solve a real-world problem, enhancing efficiency and accuracy. The model's ability to handle a high volume of comments with precision has improved the moderation process and allowed human moderators to focus on more complex tasks. Seeing the model go live and effectively manage content moderation has been incredibly rewarding and demonstrates the practical impact of my work.

What are some things you wish more people knew about life at ByteDance?

Sandeep: Some people hear that the work culture here is very exhausting, but that is entirely opposite of what I observed. I was never pushed to overwork, and was still able to achieve the required targets. It was a very smooth ride, and everyone was willing to help. I was also provided with multiple avenues to showcase my work, such as the PhD Research Intern Expo and in larger meetings with other teams.

Yang: People sometimes think ByteDance is all about content creation on social media channels. In reality, there are diverse and exciting opportunities across various technical and non-technical fields. The work here involves cutting-edge technology, innovative problem-solving, and many other impactful projects.

Any advice for a PhD candidate interested in interning at ByteDance?

Sandeep: If you find a role suitable for your experience, then you should definitely go for it. ByteDance provides the best opportunities in terms of work culture and also helps bond with the team.

Yang: Embrace learning and be open to new skills and technologies. Ask questions and understand the broader picture to contribute effectively and achieve your goals.

At ByteDance, inspiration is infinite – there are countless ways to turn your passions and ideas into reality. If you 're interested in all the ways a career at ByteDance inspires creativity and enriches life, take the first step today!

Applications for PhD candidates interested in internships are open now.

BytePlus, a ByteDance company, empowers businesses with advanced technologies, including machine learning, video, infrastructure, data, public cloud suites, and more. These products have been adopted by companies all over the world to enhance user experiences. And, with hiring on the rise, they're just getting started.

Siddharth Somasundaran, Charlie Sung, and Tracy Yang, who all lead BytePlus teams in Asia and Europe, share what excites them about the future of BytePlus, the goals of leadership to help enterprises grow with the support of our products, and what success within the company looks like to them.

"The kind of technology we bring to market is cutting edge," says Somasundaran, based in Singapore. "It's advanced, with quality and functionality that's been tried and tested."

BytePlus stands out because of a willingness to learn from our customers and take actions on these learnings swiftly. This translates to continuous improvement of our products and services that are used by customers and partners today.

In 2021, the team launched Personalization, AR, and Data Intelligence services. In the three years since, a wide range of other products launched to innovate customer experiences and improve business success for clients. Sung, also of Singapore, says that value-add to our customers’ business by applying these technologies globally is the most exciting part of working at BytePlus.

"Working with some of the best R&D engineers, solution architects and other intelligent minds in the world to make the impossible possible is one the most rewarding journey I’ve found at BytePlus," he says. "Being an engineer myself, I'm very passionate about the technology solutions that we’re coming up with for different industries. So, I can tell you first-hand that the strides BytePlus has made are very notable, and not something typically experienced in any other kind of company."

"When I think of what makes BytePlus unique, it's that there's a working culture where the best idea wins," says Yang, who is based out of London. "Whomever we bring to the table, whomever drives the results, they get recognized, they get rewarded, and they have very good opportunities to take on more responsibilities and to grow their scope."

Teammates also highlight the opportunities for growth; both for the company and its employees. "In any B2B business, there has to be a long-term vision, because building a foundational relationship with businesses takes time," Somasundaran says. "We have a great opportunity to secure engagements in Asia and Europe, as well as the Americas and Australia. Speaking specifically about the future of today's prominent tech, we have developed capabilities in the cloud space to be a formidable player alongside Google, Amazon, and Microsoft going forward."

There are many paths to reaching that goal," adds Yang. "Going forward, we will further expand to many more verticals, including not only digital native verticals such as eCommerce, content, media, gaming but also the types of verticals that require digital transformation." This will involve expanding BytePlus' scope in improving workplaces' ways of working by using digital tools to develop new business models. She also cites her favorite ByteStyle, or company value, Always Day 1, as an inspiration in her work expanding BytePlus and its power to assist businesses around the world. "We approach every goal with fresh eyes, trying to understand our products better, how to improve them, and how best to reach the right audiences."

Interested in pursuing a career with BytePlus? Make sure to be curious, collaborative, and resilient. "One has to be inquisitive enough to learn, deep dive into topics and go into the depth of things to understand what, how, why," Somasundaran says. "One should be prepared to approach challenges as a team, and stay agile when plans morph."

Whether a client needs a recommendation model for their website, or over 70,000 visual effect options for their streaming, BytePlus has the technology, and the plan to grow. Explore open positions today.

Across ByteDance, we never stop aiming for the highest. We believe that great ideas can come from anywhere – be it your first day as an intern on the PICO virtual reality team, or your third year managing a design team for the Lemon8 social platform, and anywhere in between. The most vital part of making an impact here is having the courage to think outside the box.

"Our values, more than any other place I've worked, are more than just words on a website," says Mark Dembitz, who works across multiple disciplines on Lark, ByteDance's all-in-one collaboration tool. "We take every opportunity to reinforce them. We really do aim for the highest, and hold ourselves accountable to those ambitious goals through performance reviews and town halls."

As a former competitive athlete in fencing, Dembitz was drawn to ByteDance due to the company's commitment to "Be Courageous and Aim for The Highest", a prominent "ByteStyle", or company value, he quoted.

"The secret to innovation at ByteDance is that it is a culture that supports risktaking and iteration: everyone is encouraged to come up with ideas and try them out. If they work, we double down. If they don't, we move on and don't focus on failure, but celebrate the fact that we tested and tried something really new."

Being able to work fast and innovate is essential, so Dembitz is proud of his team for creating the tools that make Lark intuitive for chatting, scheduling meetings, tracking tasks, and so much more. He believes these successes are only possible through our values. "Being candid and clear is critical," he says. "It's only by working together and respectfully challenging each other to do more that we achieve greatness. We're not here to do something average – we want to create the exceptional!"

ByteDance teams achieve best-in-industry results by listening to our users to evaluate features and catch issues across products. High levels of communication and collaboration across teams allow us to meet the needs of the industry. Again pulling examples from Lark, Dembitz explains that the product's bi-weekly releases are "always packed with new features and fixes, some small, some big. It's what has helped us iterate this product and in a few short years, create the absolute best collaboration tool that exists."

If you're interested in a career at Lark or one of ByteDance's other innovative products, don't hesitate to apply! There are limitless opportunities to do great work and enrich the lives of thousands of users. Explore open positions today.