Should I include an internship on my CV if the startup later became an adult-services website?
Hello,
I’m looking for some advice because this is a pretty unusual situation.
I did a 1-year backend software engineering internship at a startup that was originally a social networking company. During my internship, my work was normal backend software engineer work for the social network. I wasn’t involved in anything adult-related.
The issue is that after my internship, the company completely changed direction. The same brand and website now look like an adult/prostitution-related platform, and the old social network version is gone.
So if a recruiter searches the company now, they’ll see something very different from what I actually worked on. I don’t really have public proof of the old product anymore, although I still have some old design/Figma material from that period.
I’m considering asking the CEO if I can get access to the old source code or permission to self-host a safe version of the project for my portfolio.
Would it still be okay to include this internship on my CV? Should I use the company name, or describe it more generally as an “early-stage social networking startup”?
Thanks for any advice!