My Autodesk Internship Experience

When I joined Autodesk as an Experience Design Intern, I was still a master's student at the University of Toronto, studying UX design and trying to understand what design looks like outside school projects, assignments, and portfolio case studies.

Autodesk was my first big tech and product company experience. Honestly, I was very excited, but also nervous. It felt surreal that I was getting a co-op at a company like Autodesk. At the same time, I had that pressure in my head: what if I am not able to perform? What if I cannot keep up? What if this goes wrong?

I did not enter the internship knowing exactly what I was going to work on. The only thing I knew was that I would be part of the Accounts team, working around how admins manage access to Autodesk products for their employees. That itself sounded simple from the outside, but once I started understanding the space, I realized how deep and complex it actually was.

The Accounts experience was not one small product area. Different people owned different parts of the experience. There were many layers, many workflows, and many decisions behind what users eventually see on the screen. For me, one of the biggest challenges at the beginning was just understanding who owned what, how things connected, and how to build a mental model of the whole system.

That was also my first real lesson: UX in a company is not just about making screens look good. It is about understanding systems, people, ownership, constraints, and the reason behind every decision.

One of the biggest learning curves for me was simplifying complexity. I was working in a space where the problem was not straightforward, and I had to speak with different stakeholders one by one to understand their areas. That process was challenging, but it also gave me a very good chance to understand the wider Accounts ecosystem.

A huge part of this learning came from my mentor, Renata Lewis.

Renata was honestly one of the best mentors I could have asked for. She had this ability to simplify complex things in a way that made everything clearer. At the start, I struggled with that a lot. I could understand parts of the problem, but connecting everything and turning it into clear design thinking was hard. Renata guided me through that process. She gave me perspectives I would not have thought of on my own, and many of our conversations changed the way I looked at design.

I can genuinely say that I learned a lot from her. Not just about tools or process, but about how to think like a designer in a complex product environment.

Another thing that stood out to me was how supportive everyone was. I had this fear that because it was a large company, people would be too busy or hard to approach. But the reality was very different. Everyone was genuinely helpful. People were just one Slack message away. If I had a question, someone was ready to help me understand the context, point me to the right person, or explain how something worked.

That support made a big difference. It made the environment feel less intimidating and more open.

At the same time, it was also interesting to see that everyone was learning something new. AI was becoming a big topic across teams, and people were still figuring out how it could fit into real product work. I had a chance to share what I knew about AI with people around me, and what I appreciated most was that they were open to learning. That kind of openness says a lot about a team and a company. Growth happens when people are not only experts in their own areas, but also curious enough to learn from others.

One of the most surreal moments of my internship was meeting Andrew Anagnost, the CEO of Autodesk.

He was in the office for Andrew on Air, where he was announcing the quarter results. Getting to meet him in person and hear him speak was already a big moment, but what stayed with me was how involved he was with interns and early-career people. He asked us how we felt about AI, whether we were working on real projects, and how we were thinking about the future. For me, that was a very memorable moment. When the CEO of a company is directly asking interns what they think, it shows a lot about the culture.

The internship was not only about work. It was also about the people I met.

There were around 15 of us interns, and honestly, everyone was extremely good at what they did. It was one of those experiences where you get humbled in a good way. You realize that there are so many talented people around you, and everyone brings something different to the table. Being around them pushed me to think better and learn faster.

We also had a lot of fun together. We used to go for lunches and dinners, and every Wednesday we had team lunches in the office. Those days were special because we got to sit together, work together, and actually build friendships beyond just being co-interns. Those small moments made the internship feel much more meaningful.

Another special part of the internship was getting the chance to do a "Day in My Life" Instagram story on Autodesk's page.

For me, that was a very fun and memorable experience. It gave me a chance to show what a day as an intern looked like from my perspective — coming into the office, working with the team, being around other interns, and experiencing the culture from the inside.

It was a small thing in one way, but it felt big to me because it made me realize that I was actually part of the company's story, even as an intern. Moments like that made the experience feel more personal and real.

Towards the end of the co-op, Autodesk also took us to the Canadian National Exhibition. That was such a great way to close the internship. After all the work, learning, meetings, feedback, and presentations, it was nice to just enjoy time together with the intern group and the team.

Looking back, my Autodesk internship taught me much more than I expected.

It taught me that design is not only about visuals. It is about simplifying complexity. It is about asking better questions. It is about speaking to people, understanding systems, and slowly building clarity where things are messy.

It also taught me that growth does not happen alone. A good team, a good mentor, and a supportive environment can completely change how much you learn. I entered the internship with excitement, nervousness, and a lot of self-doubt. But I came out with a much clearer understanding of what real product design feels like inside a large company.

Most importantly, this experience helped me understand what kind of designer I want to become.

I am grateful to my manager, mentor, team members, and all the interns who made this experience so meaningful. Autodesk gave me the space to learn, ask questions, make sense of complexity, and grow with support around me.

For a student stepping into their first big product company experience, that meant a lot.