Intern in need of advice
just started a Software Engineer internship at a large financial company. I’m already ramping up on a few different projects and responsibilities with 3 seperate teams, which is keeping me pretty busy as a new hire.
My direct manager is leading a separate side project that he is a few months behind on and wanted me to join. I initially said I could do it, but after getting a better sense of my workload I had to go back and tell him I couldn’t take it on after all. He said he was totally fine with it, but I still walked away feeling like I disappointed him , especially since it’s his own project and I’d already said yes.
I told him I’d be happy to contribute when things settle down, and he seemed genuinely okay with it. But as someone early in my career I can’t help second-guessing myself.
Did I handle this right? Is walking something back like that as an intern ever okay, or does it always look bad?