Did a summer internship at Robinhood last year and just accepted the return offer this spring, so maybe I can shed some light on how this actually works.
First: the conversion process is not automatic. I'd heard people say "just do good work and you'll get the return offer" but that's only half of it. My manager submitted feedback via an internal review form around week 10, and there was apparently a calibration call with other intern managers before offers went out. Two of the six interns on my team did not get return offers. One did excellent technical work but had friction with teammates. The other one's project just didn't land well scope-wise, which honestly felt like a mentorship failure on the team's part.
What they actually evaluated: Project completion and scope delivered (not just code written) Cross-team communication, especially async in Slack Whether your intern project touched production or stayed in a dev sandbox One informal mid-point check-in that counts more than you'd expect
The return offer came through about 6 weeks after the internship ended. Salary for L3 SWE in NYC for 2026 starts came in at $155k base, $30k sign-on over 2 years, RSU grant I don't want to share the exact number on but it was reasonable for a new grad SWE. Not FAANG-level but not embarrassing.
One thing that surprised me: they gave me until December to decide even though my offer letter came in September. That window is real, not a pressure tactic. My recruiter was clear that I could use the time to interview elsewhere and decide.
If you're doing an internship at Robinhood this summer and worried about conversion, a few honest things: get your project into a real environment if at all possible, make friends outside your immediate team (the calibration committee apparently hears from more than just your direct manager), and don't ghost your mid-point review. That mid-point is where they flag people who are at risk.
Happy to answer specific questions about the intern experience or the timeline.