Some more random pointers:
Figuring out what you truly want/don't want:
- Own experience doing them
- Talking to other people who've done them (off the record verbally, company reps are less honest at career fairs, etc. when they're officially representing the company)
- Online forums
Getting internships/interviews:
- Hustle and talk to people as much as possible.
- Pile on as many relevant things to the job on your resume as possible. Here you can embellish your responsibilities/experiences a bit, PROVIDED YOU CAN TALK COMPETENTLY ABOUT THEM IF CHALLENGED. You can always teach yourself new things and tack them onto old experiences if there's a reasonable element of truth in case of verification. And of course execute/learn commensurately if you get a job doing something similar.
- I will admit every single professional job I've had (internship, full time, contract) was through either a formal school internship portal or knowing somebody at the company.
Before the interview:
- Contact anyone you know who currently is or has worked at the company and pick their brain about the details of the company/position, what they ask on the interview, and what kind of people they look for
- Read up online/books on the job/company/business/products to know what you're getting into and get ideas for questions
- For software competency, getting ahold of books and cracked versions and teaching yourself clears the hurdle for internship level fairly well
For interviews specifically:
- Prepare a sales pitch for yourself that tells them your story in terms of all job relevant things you've done. Tailor the level of detail of each item to how relevant it is to the particular position/company. For things not directly related, try to extract transferable things to say about them. Rehearse this a few times (I've found 3-4 times to be the sweet spot for sounding way the hell smoother than winging it without spending excessive time doing this).
- After the initial few pleasantries at the interview, deliver your sales pitch at the first reasonable chance. This is often easier for the interviewers than the semi-awkward stepping through your resume and asking you odd questions that often follows otherwise, tends to answer a lot of questions they'd have anyways, and shows that you're keen and motivated.
- Answer questions well that you are confident about, if you sincerely don't know or knowledge is vague/rusty, mention what you do know and how you'd go about solving that problem. Often times admitting you don't know something on the spot but giving the feeling that you'd know what resources to seek out to get something done is good enough.
- Have questions prepared that show off you've done a bit of research/know a few things about the company. Don't hesitate to mention the name of others at the company you've spoken to about this (just make sure you don't say anything sensitive or that the person isn't a pariah there), often people are more comfortable hiring people that already know and are on good terms with people there.
- Ask for on the spot honest feedback and recommendations at the end of the interview; if you flub one you might be able to get some pointers on how to pass it the next time.