IT students who look beyond the classroom to understand company dynamics and technologies will fare well as interns. Those who have already had internship experience advise that the more you push for work and knowledge, the better your chance of finding your dream job, both as an intern and as a full-time employee.
"I learned to break out of my engineering shell by asking for more projects, asking more questions and showing my group that I can run a meeting just as well as the next person," says Mozhdeh Rastegar-Panah, a business process analyst at Sun Microsystems (Santa Clara, CA).
Even a part-time job, as long as you interact with many different people, will help, says Asif Hossain, who interned at the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (Rochester, MN). "Look for a research project where you can work with professors and get a flavor of real-life problems," he says. "Solving something in real life is different from solving a school problem."
Many intern and co-op programs provide mentors to help each student learn to navigate in a corporate setting. "All of this at one time could have been overwhelming. My mentor went through the same process and would relate his internship experience to mine," Hossain reports.
These interns say they learned a lot about both IT and the corporate world. Many also opened the door to their future careers.
American Family Insurance needs a range of skills
American Family Insurance (Madison, WI) generally hires as many as twenty IT interns annually. The work interns do there varies from year to year, depending on the needs of the company.
Assignments run from applications development to tech support, says staffing specialist Scott Wilde. Typically, "we have a variety of opportunities, each one focusing on a different phase of IT." Interns, he notes, may be involved in technologies from mainframe to the latest Web development languages and tools.
Viswa Chivukula: challenges at American Family Insurance
Viswa Chivukula's internship experience at American Family Insurance was so positive that he "definitely" wants to land an IT job in the insurance industry. Chivukula, a native of Hyderabad, India, has been working in the company's IS Money Assets division.
"The insurance industry involves many different aspects. My work in IT improves my knowledge of the industry, and I can be helpful to a company in many different areas," Chivukula says.
He hopes to find a job in the programming arena. "I like more interactive stuff where I do programming or get to see results," he says.
Chivukula found his three-month internship through a job fair at Northern Illinois University (Dekalb, IL). He will receive his masters in computer science from NIU in August 2005. He got his BSCS from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (Hyderabad, India) in 2003 and came to the United States that same year.
Chivukula says the programming he did at the insurance company was challenging, and very different from what he had done in the classroom. "You get to interact with technology in a real environment," he says.
One of his projects was an analysis of the operating costs of the company. "I ran some changes so the company could see how they would affect its final expenses," he explains.
Chivukula's mentor, David Mullen, an applications technology engineering specialist, helped him understand American Family's systems. The company also encouraged Chivukula to present his ideas on the proprietary software that the company is currently designing.
Fannie Mae recruits to reflect diversity
Diversity has always been a top priority in Fannie Mae's recruiting strategy, says Mary Tennyson, associate recruiter on the company's campus recruiting team. "As a company, we strive to represent the face of America."
Fannie Mae (Washington, DC), a private, shareholder-owned company, works with lenders to provide financial products and services that make it possible for low-, moderate- and middle-income families to buy homes. It is the nation's largest source of financing for home mortgages.
To ensure that the company is targeting and attracting top diverse candidates, its campus recruiting team works with historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic-serving institutions across the country. It also works with various organizations like the Inroads minority intern program and the intern program of the Virginia High-Tech Partnership (www.vhtp.org ).
The Fannie Mae eBusiness and Enterprise and Systems Operation divisions sponsor technical internships, targeting majors that include CS, IS, MIS, decision information systems and more. In the summer of 2004 more than thirty interns participated.
"The purpose of these internship programs is to develop and foster strong relationships with talented individuals early in their professional careers, with the intent of matching them with full-time opportunities in the future," Tennyson says.
Internships can begin as early as mid-May, and conclude in August. Certain programs also have the flexibility to continue on a part-time basis into the fall semester.
Official on-campus internship recruiting begins in early March, but the campus recruiting team accepts applications and referrals all year.
While they're at the company, interns can participate in training courses and social and networking events. Each one is assigned a Fannie Mae buddy/mentor.
Martin Boyd appreciates Fannie Mae's diverse workforce
Martin Boyd found his internship at Fannie Mae through the Virginia High-Tech Partnership job and internship fair, which links five Virginia HBCUs to the high-tech sector. The participating schools are Norfolk State University, Hampton University, Virginia State University (Petersburg, VA), St. Paul's College (Lawrenceville, VA) and Virginia Union University (Richmond, VA). About thirty-five companies participated in the 2004 fair.
Boyd grew up in Virginia and has always been interested in electronics. He did an internship at Fannie Mae in 2002 and another after graduating from Norfolk State in May 2004. His degree is in computer science, with a concentration in engineering.
During his three-month 2004 internship, he worked with Fannie Mae's data server management infrastructure team, which provides installation and support for many of the database tools that Fannie Mae uses to analyze its own products, services and financial-related data. One of those tools is Sybase.
Boyd reviewed the Sybase installations on each of Fannie Mae's 1,300 Unix machines. He ensured that all of the directories that contain important libraries and functions were present and consistent with company standards.
"The objective of my project was to make sure that all Unix hosts that use Sybase Open Client are correctly configured," Boyd says. "I had to make sure certain directories exist and that their owner/group permissions are correct. If the directory does not exist, certain library files may not be available when a user tries to run a job on that machine."
Working with his mentor, Chris Spathelf, Boyd wrote a Unix shell script to check each machine, based on test conditions that the two of them developed. Spathelf is a database administrator with more than fifteen years of IT experience.
Boyd notes that the diverse workforce at the company underscores Fannie Mae's commitment to serve minority homeowners. He appreciated that.
At the end of his internship, Boyd was ready to start his hunt for a full-time software or computer engineering job. He found one as a DB analyst at GTSI (Chantilly, VA), an IT solutions provider to federal, state and local governments and private systems integrators. "The experience I got at Fannie Mae helped me find this position. I'm using many of the skills here," he says.
Mayo needs CS and MIS majors
At the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (Rochester, MN), a research-oriented medical complex, most internships are for the spring and summer, but some go throughout the year. Mayo recruits fifteen to twenty students annually. Students must be juniors or seniors in a bachelors program or have completed the first year of a masters program. They cannot have graduated, nor can they graduate during the internship.
Majors most in demand are computer science and MIS. Each student is assigned to a specific work unit for the entire internship. The experience is hands-on and varies depending on the department where the intern is working.
Mayo's Asif Hossain learned what employers want
Asif Hossain enjoyed working in a team environment and learning about new technologies during his internship at Mayo. He plans on finding a similar position with similar duties after he graduates with a degree in computer science from Winona State University (Winona, MN) in December 2004.
"I was lucky to work on cutting-edge technology," Hossain says. "Most of the people I work with keep up to date and are not afraid to explore. They encourage interns to take a look at new technologies. That's one of the greatest things about this experience, that I can use my knowledge and skills from school."
Hossain, a citizen of Bangladesh, wants eventually to return to his country to establish his own business. But first he wants to find a job in the United States where he can develop good business skills. "My ultimate goal is to learn all there is to learn before setting up my own business," he says. "And I would prefer to work for some years before I start grad school."
This is his fifth year in the United States. He started college at Wichita (KS) State University in 2000 and transferred to Winona because it offered more of the classes he wanted.
Hossain found the yearlong internship with Mayo's Health Care Policy and Research group through his college advisor. He started working there in January 2004 and will finish in December.
Mayo's satellite organizations collect and ship patient data to headquarters using Web applications developed by Hossain's team. He works in J2EE, which is based on Java, and also uses Microsoft ASP.net.
"When I'm at school, I just learn the basic technologies and theories. But here, the most up-to-date technologies are being used," he says.
The team environment, he says, has taught him to "take responsibility for my work and be professional." His mentor, Mike Lim, has been a great help, Hossain adds.
He's also learned some lessons about communication. "We're dealing with nontechnical people to get requirements. When you're talking to nontechnical staff, they don't know what you're talking about unless you make it nontechnical," Hossain says.
Hossain says he believes his Mayo experience will help his hunt for a permanent job. "Now I know what an employer would look for. You have to be professional and be prepared for any kind of challenge and work in a team environment."
Yuheng Zhao: "real work" at Mayo
Yuheng Zhao started her IT internship at Mayo in June 2003, just a few months before she finished her masters. The job market was tight, and she hoped that her experience would eventually lead to employment.
Her gamble paid off. Zhao got a full-time job with Mayo Information Services in March 2004, one week after her nine-month internship ended. "For my current position, Mayo wanted someone with Mayo Clinic experience. During my internship, the application I used was everywhere in the hospital, so I know how the whole system works," Zhao says.
Zhao, a native of Beijing, China, came to the United States in 1997 and received her masters in management information systems from Dakota State University (Madison, SD) in August 2003. She received her undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from Beijing Polytechnic University in 1994.
She found information about the Mayo internship online. She decided to apply because the job description was close to what she had studied in school. During the internship, she supported an application used by Mayo's chronic disease management programs. "We took the data and helped the organization evaluate and analyze it. Our tool helps determine how to prevent disease," Zhao says.
She was delighted that Mayo gave her real work to do. "We had three interns in our department, and every one was working on a different project," Zhao says. "It's helpful to use what you learn in school and at the same time develop your own technical skills."
Zhao's mentor was the group's leader, Marie Adams. Zhao received training her first week on the processes, systems and structure of Mayo Clinic and its units. Adams gave her small projects in the beginning to help her get an overview. "She would tell me how to analyze and solve problems," Zhao says.
Today, Zhao's job involves coding programs for an electronic patient chart system. The system documents each patient's information throughout the hospital stay, tracking the patient's condition from the operating room to the intensive care unit to recovery.
Zhao and her team members rotate once every six weeks to be on call for physicians and nurses in case they run into problems using their applications. She also works with a group that gets feedback from medical staff on how the applications are working for them.
She says she is glad that she got the internship experience before settling into her full-time job. "An internship is really helpful, most especially in the IT area," she says.
Interns find a good fit at Michelin NA
Internships at Michelin North America (Greenville, SC) involve a variety of projects. Internships connect the company with "students who we think would make great employees," explains spokesperson Christian Flathman.
Michelin hosts twenty to thirty domestic interns and co-ops per year and ten to twenty international interns who are referred by Michelin's international recruitment offices. Majors in demand are computer science and information science.
Interns may work during the summers after their freshman, sophomore or junior years. If students are local, they might be asked to come back for part-time work during the school year. Generally, though, most students are focused on finishing their academic requirements, Flathman says. "The structure of a Michelin co-op reflects the student's decision to pursue both a degree and employment at the same time," he says.
Michelin currently offers paid and unpaid internships and paid co-ops. In cases where the student does not have housing in the local area, some assistance may be provided.
The company works closely with universities to identify students who would be a good future fit with the company. Michelin has working relationships with several HBCUs as well as with minority and women's student organizations on the campuses where the company recruits proactively.
Every intern is assigned an employee mentor.
Mark Remi's Michelin internship complements his studies
Mark Remi has learned how his role as an IT professional fits into a complex corporation during his internship at Michelin. "Michelin has given me some insight on what IT solutions have worked previously and what solutions companies are going to implement in the near future," Remi says. "This real-life experience gave me a good overall picture."
Remi's father is an electrical engineer at Michelin, and suggested that he apply for a summer internship there. "Michelin is a well-known company and offers a lot of different opportunities, both in the U.S. and abroad. And I thought it would be a good fit," Remi says.
The company is also close to Clemson University (Clemson, SC), where Remi is pursuing an MS in computer architecture. He received his BS in computer engineering from Clemson in May 2003 and expects to receive his masters in May 2005.
During his internship in the summer of 2004, Remi researched advanced technologies that the company can use to improve its productivity, the way it communicates with its customers and how it manages its business processes in general. His mentor and manager was Dan Gossett, manager of Michelin's advanced technology group.
Remi hasn't decided what kind of job he wants, but he says the internship has helped him focus his interests and has shaped his expectations for a career after school.
"I am definitely learning a lot about the way corporations operate and the role I can play. What I worked on as an intern has brought my classroom work into perspective," he says.
Nationwide internships are real-life experiences
Internships at Nationwide Mutual Insurance (Columbus, OH) are matched to students' academic backgrounds and career goals, and IT students should expect real-life experiences, says Mark Anthony Meador, senior corporate recruiter.
"We encourage our managers to arrange assignments that include team interaction and exposure to executive management. Interns are also assigned corporate mentors to assist with their development phase," Meador says.
Nationwide hosts about 160 interns yearly corporate-wide, ranging from high school students to those on the graduate level. Most internships are offered during the summer and last ten to twelve weeks. The company also offers occasional part-time internships for students during the fall. In some cases, Nationwide provides the intern with a laptop to continue work from college during the school year.
IT intern candidates should be MIS, CIS or computer engineering majors. The undergraduate program targets juniors and seniors who have a minimum 3.0 GPA, involvement in student activities and some previous work or internship experience. The graduate program is for students who have completed the first year of an accredited graduate program. They must have at least three years of work experience and a GPA of 3.2 or more.
Nationwide accepts applications throughout the year, but its most active recruitment phase starts in September and runs until March. It has developed a number of unique partnerships with national organizations to ensure a diverse candidate pool, Meador says: the National Council of La Raza, National Urban League, NAACP, National Black MBA Association and National Society of Hispanic MBAs.
Nationwide is part of several programs designed for students of diverse ethnic backgrounds, including Inroads and the Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF), which awards scholarships and internships to students in the United States and Puerto Rico. Meador says Nationwide began its partnership with HSF during the summer of 2000, offering eight internships in its field offices to Hispanic students. The eight-week paid internship assignments also include a $5,000 scholarship.
Another source of interns is the Tom Joyner Nationwide Internship Program. Joyner, a syndicated radio host, works with Nationwide to target HBCU students for internships and scholarships in IT, finance and accounting. Nationwide selects twenty students from selected HBCUs for a ten-week paid internship program. Roundtrip airfare and furnished housing are included.
For students who do not have other funding for housing, Nationwide offers a one-time stipend to those who live more than fifty miles from their home cities.
Nationwide's Ernest B. Mensah designed Internet software apps
Ernest B. Mensah was an IT intern at Nationwide Services Co in the summer of 2004. With his mentor, Gordon Roth, he discussed his goals beyond the internship, including academics and professional development. "The mentoring experience has been fruitful," Mensah says.
Mensah found the internship at Nationwide through the Tom Joyner program. He's scheduled to graduate in May 2006 with a degree in MIS from Claflin University (Orangeburg, SC).
He found the corporate environment at Nationwide rich with a variety of values, attitudes and opportunities for people of diverse ethnic backgrounds. Mensah's manager, who is the chairman of the company's diversity council, allowed interns to sit in and observe council discussions. "At Nationwide, they not only consider the normal spectrum of diversity, but also the technical and professional disciplines and thinking styles of people," Mensah says.
During his internship, Mensah worked on new and existing software applications for the Internet. "I used program-solving skills and tools like Macromedia Flash. I had no prior knowledge of the Macromedia tool, so it was challenging at first," he says.
A native of Ghana, Mensah sees IT as a key to advancement in developing nations. He hopes to use the knowledge gained during his internship at Nationwide to improve conditions in developing nations.
He came to the U.S. to study in 2002. "Growing up in a developing nation, I've seen over the years how technology changes the way businesses are conducted. The increasingly global marketplace has ushered in a new paradigm of organization," Mensah says.
"I would like to put my entrepreneurial abilities to use, not with the mission of gaining profit, but empowering peoples and nations."
In the meantime, he plans to find another internship next summer, then look for a job as a process management analyst. Process management "works like project management, where you look at processes, not only from the design perspective, but from the onset of the project until the end," Mensah explains.
Mozhdeh Rastegar-Panah: networking to an internship at Sun
Mozhdeh Rastegar-Panah says her internship led to her current full-time job as a business process analyst at Sun Microsystems (Palo Alto, CA).
Networking got her the internship. One of her friends was an intern at Sun, and he asked around the company for her. "Luckily, his boss's co-worker was actually in need of some extra help. After e-mailing back and forth and several interviews, I finally got the job!" Rastegar-Panah says.
Her two-year internship became full-time employment after she graduated in June 2004 from Santa Clara (CA) University. Her degree is in computer engineering.
Rastegar-Panah's internship was with the product lifecycle (PLC) group, which uses Internet technologies in a secure, real-time environment to increase collaboration among participants involved in a product's design, manufacture, utilization and support.
The group "empowered me to take on as much as I thought I could handle. There was a sense of community resonating within the company," Rastegar-Panah says.
During her internship, Rastegar-Panah participated in Sun's undergraduate intern council, which schedules fun events for all the Bay Area interns. "One of our major achievements was that we convinced Sun to allow interns to volunteer at the annual JavaOne conference in exchange for passes. It was a pavilion filled with cutting-edge technology," Rastegar-Panah says.
Initially, Rastegar-Panah was a technical writer and was put in charge of editing the PLC guidelines manual, based on feedback given to her from a council of PLC "gurus."
"The manual is what people in the company look at when they have questions regarding the PLC process," she explains.
Her role evolved after her boss transferred out of the group, and she was put on new projects. One was Master Black Belt (MBB) selection. "Another intern and I worked with our internal recruiter and VPs and directors within the company to help hire MBBs," Rastegar-Panah says. "MBBs are equivalent to director-level positions at Sun, so it was a pretty big deal. We came up with a new Sun standard process of MBB hiring."
After the hiring project was completed, Rastegar-Panah was asked to become the primary support contact for a PLC tool application, her current job. Employees throughout the company use the application to guide them through the PLC process, she says. Using the tool, they can track schedules, costs, activities and tasks, and requirements, and even find a variety of templates.
"We are actually going to be creating a replacement application in the next year," she says. She is part of a team that is gathering feedback on what users like and dislike in the current application and what they would like in future tools.
Rastegar-Panah is also on a metrics team, which generates monthly reports to make sure each division is inputing the right information in the tool and using the PLC process correctly.
Rastegar-Panah notes that her group at Sun is predominantly women. "For me, it's helpful to look at them and envision myself doing what they're doing now," she says.
She is planning to apply to the Sun Engineering Enrichment and Development program, under which participants receive mentors. "Women are really encouraged to participate in the program," Rastegar-Panah says.
During her internship and beyond, Rastegar-Panah was mentored by her entire workgroup. "My group really has taken me under their wing. When I was in the midst of trying to find a full-time position, I was able to go to them for advice on just about everything. In fact, one of my mentors set me up with a Sun Distinguished Engineer, and I was able to do my senior design project in conjunction with Sun Labs."
Another attraction for Rastegar-Panah: Sun's CEO, Scott McNealy, she says, has a "kick-butt-and-have-fun attitude."
Unisys recruits CS and EE interns
Unisys recruiter Paul Salce likes to stay in touch throughout the school year with students who are interested in internships, because he never knows when an opportunity might come up for them. "In July, I tapped a couple of students that I first spoke to in February, and they were amazed that I contacted them," Salce says.
Each year Unisys (Blue Bell, PA) hosts 150 interns company-wide. Twenty-five to thirty IT interns are slotted for its offices in Mission Viejo, CA, where Salce is located. Salce says Unisys prefers rising seniors, but also accepts sophomores and juniors. Most interns major in computer science; some are computer or electrical engineering majors.
The company offers a one-time relocation reimbursement of $500 to $1,500, depending on how far the student is traveling. Those who are in need of housing are referred to employees who can help them find it.
The company is active in Inroads as well as diverse tech organizations like the Society of Women Engineers (SWE).
Andrew Hall interns in database management at Unisys
Among Salce's many recruits is Andrew Hall. Hall has enjoyed the chance to fix bugs in software code as an intern at Unisys' Mission Viejo, CA location. He has also made a name for himself during his one-year internship, says Salce.
"He came up with a new way of testing after being here just three months. He gave a presentation to experienced engineers and directors. It was neat to see him do that," Salce says.
Hall, who is African American and Hispanic, found the Unisys internship through the Student Achievement Guided by Experience mentoring program offered through the University of California (Irvine, CA). Hall used the program to research Unisys and found a number of IT opportunities there.
Hall will graduate in late 2005 with a degree in information and computer science. Salce says that although there are not as many full-time opportunities at Unisys as he would like, Hall and other interns will get priority consideration when those jobs become available.
Hall works with a proprietary Unisys database system. He started with project testing and practiced doing different things with the software to become familiar with it. From there, he progressed to developing patches to fix bugs in the software code. "Now I'm doing implementation, fixing bugs and starting new projects," he says.
He hopes to land a job in software development and engineering where he can fix code. "I'm working in an older programming language called ALGOL," he says. "In school, they don't teach languages like that. They focus on the newer ones. I had no experience whatsoever with this language. I jumped on board and learned as I went along."
Hall has had two mentors: Don Hart, who has helped him develop his technical skills, and Charles Young, who talked to him daily about the upper management activity at Unisys.
He advises other students to "volunteer for things. You never know where they will lead."
In today's still-competitive job market, it is in IT students' best interests to pursue as many internships as possible, and make as many contacts as they can.
"It's extremely valuable and will help put all the long hours at school into focus," says Michelin's Mark Remi. He adds that being able to understand the business is as critical as being able to communicate ideas and projects. "You must be an effective communicator!"
Ernest Mensah of Nationwide Mutual notes that his corporate experiences have been very different from what he does in class. "Experience is critical to getting specific jobs in a dynamic work environment. An internship allows you to learn more about a company's operations. One of the best benefits for me was the relationships I developed with mentors and potential employers."
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