Is it possible to break into HFT/Market making without a summer internship in the space?

Hi yall, 

Long story short, I followed the crowd and wanted to do IBD until I realized that HFT was really what I wanted. I had very little time to prepare and eventually didn't filter through despite getting super days at a couple of firms. This summer I'm working as a trade ops intern at a megafund (I thought this would allow me to at least know the market microstructure). However, I want to shoot for quant trading one more time. Have you seen people break in without interning in the space? Do you have any suggestions you have on how to prepare? (especially what types of problems I would need to practice on Leetcode, what books I need to read etc.) 

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