As a Junior at Berkeley who's had some internship experience, let me add me two cents worth.
Definitely start looking for an internship during your freshman year. Chances are almost nobody will call you back, you won't get many interviews, and the ones you do get you won't be able to answer anything, but all you need is just to get one person to agree and it'll make your resume look infinitely better for the following years.
Startups are definitely a good option for an internship. What I see a lot of the time, especially here at Cal, is that nobody wants to work anywhere besides Google, Apple, Microsoft or Facebook. People don't bother with any company that doesn't have a huge name and since many of these students don't have any prior work experience before applying to these tech giants, they get rejected. I think that's a huge mistake. I learned more from my summer working at a startup than a years worth of schooling (and it's not bad learning while being paid).
One last note, GPA doesn't seem to matter as much as work experience. While it can never hurt to have a good GPA, I've been on dozens of interviews and not once have I been asked for my GPA.
Chiming in as a sophomore from a liberal arts college: you don't even have to be from a top tech school like Berkeley to get an internship your freshman year. BigCos are unlikely to call you back, but you do have a shot at startups. And once you've got some work experience under your belt you'll have a better shot at the BigCos (and anywhere else, really).
Quick plug: Mozilla is another place which cares more about what you can do rather than what stage of schooling you are at. They're hiring and they have an excellent program.
Speaking from a big company point of view, it has a lot to do with the individual candidate, obviously. Someone could be a freshman, but if they are constantly working on projects and have a decent portfolio (doesn't necessary apply to just programming) to review, it is much easier to bring them in.
Personally, when looking at junior hires, personal projects can have a lot more weight than minor job experience. The vast majority of candidates with very little job experience also do not have a lot, if any, personal projects. Anyone who has built anything stands out.
I also went to a school nobody has heard of, but haven't really had issues getting job offers straight out of school (or for that matter, an internship while a high school student). Of course, as you've said, once you have some industry experience under your belt, it ceases to matter altogether.
By the way, awesome handle! I'd refer you for an interview based on that alone.
Definitely start looking for an internship during your freshman year. Chances are almost nobody will call you back, you won't get many interviews, and the ones you do get you won't be able to answer anything, but all you need is just to get one person to agree and it'll make your resume look infinitely better for the following years.
Startups are definitely a good option for an internship. What I see a lot of the time, especially here at Cal, is that nobody wants to work anywhere besides Google, Apple, Microsoft or Facebook. People don't bother with any company that doesn't have a huge name and since many of these students don't have any prior work experience before applying to these tech giants, they get rejected. I think that's a huge mistake. I learned more from my summer working at a startup than a years worth of schooling (and it's not bad learning while being paid).
One last note, GPA doesn't seem to matter as much as work experience. While it can never hurt to have a good GPA, I've been on dozens of interviews and not once have I been asked for my GPA.