You should definitely count any part-time tech work or summer internships towards total industry experience. Companies may not count it at first, but it will en

You should definitely count any part-time tech work or summer internships towards total industry experience. Companies may not count it at first, but it will end up giving you leg up. It may not seem like much, but compared to the people who got a degree without working in the industry, I guarantee you know way more and would be more useful to a company. In my case, I got hired at an "entry" level position for a huge company along with other "new college grads" types, many with masters degrees but no experience. I was promoted within a year to the mid-tier position while my less experienced cohorts spent 2-3 years getting there. From mid-tier, it becomes more about what you actually know and what you've done rather than "years since graduated from college", so getting to senior level with only 3-4 years "full time" experience is not impossible if you play your cards right (and really do get good experience during college).