Exploring A Hi-Tech Career
Internships And Co-Op Experiences Are A Great Way To Join The Technology
Industry.
By Carly Kocurek
Before embarking on a career at a hi-tech company right out of college,
there are ways to test the workplace and see if a particular career
path or company is right for you. Cooperative education programs—or
co-ops—are available at most colleges and universities across
the country. In a co-op program, students work any time of the year,
usually part time, to accommodate class work. Internships usually take
place during the summers and can be part time to full time during that
time period.
Major hi-tech corporations often offer internship opportunities and
some offer co-ops. Texas Instruments (TI), a company with sales operations
in over 25 countries and 35,000 employees, hires almost 400 co-ops and
interns each year in the United States alone, mostly in engineering.
TI also offers internship opportunities in its support organizations
such as information technology (IT), operations, purchasing, facilities,
finance, and human resources (HR), among others.
Texas Instruments—
Real Work On The First Day
“Like many other engineering students, I first heard about Texas
Instruments when I was entering the 11th grade and my pre-calculus teacher
required all the students in the class to have a TI-83 graphing calculator,”
states Eric Williams. “However, I first heard about Texas Instruments,
the employer, at a career fair at Georgia Tech in the beginning of my
freshman year.”
At the career fair, Williams spoke with a TI recruiter who described
the employment opportunities within TI and how he could be considered
for them. Before joining TI, Williams completed two other internship
assignments with other companies but was looking for a more technical
experience where he could be involved with cutting-edge technology.
He found that at TI. Says Williams, “I was placed in the mixed
signal technology development (MSTD) characterization lab, where I was
able to work with the characterization of circuit components still in
development.”
The following summer, Williams returned for a second internship to find
that the project he successfully completed the previous summer had been
continued and was in the last stage of qualification. ”TI's programs
give students the chance to do real work starting on their first day
on the job. Interns do not ‘push paper’ or get assigned
meaningless tasks, a situation that does happen at other companies,”
explains Diana Johnson, diversity staffing manager at TI. “Students
are assigned engineering tasks on the engineering teams, with mentors
to support them. Our engineering interns develop and create technology
that will shape the future.”
According to Johnson, TI's intern and co-op assignments allow students
to:
•Use engineering skills and knowledge to help shape the devices
that power end equipment people use every day
•Put their problemsolving skills to use to make processes flow
better
•Work with engineers on challenging, real-life problems
•Learn from experienced professionals and be mentored by the industry’s
best and brightest.
Johnson adds there are excellent opportunities for TI interns to become
full-time employees at the company. States Johnson, "Our Texas
Instruments co-op/intern program serves as our primary pipeline into
our new college hire efforts. Our goal is to present offers to 100%
of our students who perform well during their co-op/internship. ”TI
averages about 85%-90% offers per year through its student program.
The balance represents students who did not perform well during the
program and were not extended an offer.
TI diversity outreach is extensive. The firm recruits African-American
students in a variety of ways including recruiting at college campuses
around the country; attending national conferences such as NSBE, Black
Engineer of the Year, Women of Color in Technology, Black MBA, Focus
Event at Georgia Tech; through articles, profiles, and advertising in
minority student publications; and participating in minority career
fairs. TI also supports local student chapters on campus, participates
in career panels at schools, performs outreach to the leadership of
minority student organizations, participates in the National Consortium
for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering and Science (GEM)
fellow program; and hosts a TI student leadership conference.
Microsoft—
Valuable Resources
At Microsoft, student internship and co-op opportunities are valuable
resources to the company as it pursues dynamic full-time employees,
says Caroline Bulmer, intern program manager. The company has offices
in over 135 countries or regions and over 78,000 employees worldwide.
The majority of Microsoft’s internships are technical software
development positions although Microsoft also offers intern opportunities
in finance, marketing, IT, human resources, user experience, and MS
research. The company offers a 12-week summer internship program for
students around the world and 30 six-month IT co-op slots in the fall
or spring to students from select groups of schools including Howard
University.
Says Bulmer, “We know that it is important to attract more African
Americans into the IT field. Microsoft and Jenn Watt, one of our diversity
recruiters, is dedicated to hire from many of our Historically Black
Colleges and Universities.” Microsoft also partners closely with
student-focused diversity programs at non-HBCU universities and attends
the NSBE and National Black MBA Association conferences each year.
Compuware Services—
Finding The Talent
Compuware Services has over 7,000 employees worldwide and 80 offices
around the world. Although Compuware does not offer co-ops, it sponsors
a summer intern program with approximately 50 students each year, primarily
in the technology area although there are some non-tech positions in
human resources and marketing as well.
Only high-school graduates can apply, says Tom Costello, senior vice
president of human resources. The program runs from May 16 to August
15. Each intern works a regular day job within the company, then is
assigned a project to complete that includes a technology presentation
at the end of the program. Non-tech interns carry out a community service
project. “We place you in an area of your preference if we can,”
says Costello. “In the past few years of our interns graduating,
we’ve been able to hire many of them—80% have accepted jobs
with Compuware.”
The company's commitment to recruiting from within the African-American
community is well known throughout the Detroit, MI, area where the company’s
headquarters is located. Compuware even built a 16-story building in
the center of downtown Detroit to help restart the city, according to
Costello.
“Getting involved either in later high-school years or through
intern programs in your college years is a great way to get introduced
to the tech business,” states Costello. “You can see what
companies do and see if you have an interest to work there.”
To find qualified candidates, Compuware works with a number of local
chapters of advocacy groups, including Black MBA Association and the
Black Data Processing Association. The company also sponsors high-school
level programs to get younger students excited about technology and
the company including the CASS technical school.
Getting Started
“My advice to other students would be to first research the hi-
tech company and find out the opportunities available and determine
which ones interest you the most,” advises Williams. “Second,
take classes related to your career tech to help you determine if you
are truly interested and make you more marketable to the employer.”
Williams advises you to seek out the company you’re interested
in joining through career fairs, company Websites, and any personal
contacts you might have with the company. Williams emphasizes that once
contact has been made, it’s up to you to express your passion
to the employer and the student and employer will determine if there
is a match.
To prepare for a TI internship, Johnson says students should major in
an engineering or computer science area. “Specific classwork to
focus in includes DSP and analog and semiconductor technology. Students
will want to focus not only on great academic coursework, but also hand-on
problemsolving both in class projects and in internships.” Other
key skills Johnson lists include leadership, teamwork, and communication
as well as high GPAs.
To obtain a co-op or intern job at TI, apply early because the company
starts hiring in the third quarter of each year for the following year.
Apply online <careers.ti.com>
and then search on the student section as early as possible and stop
by career events at school or at a national event and talk to TI managers
in person.
Bulmer encourages students to “just go for it.” Says Bulmer,
“I have heard from a few of our interns in the past that they
didn’t think they ever had a chance to work for Microsoft and
nearly didn’t apply. Prior to submitting your résumé,
double check to make sure that you’ve included awards you’ve
received, personal projects you’re working on, and affiliations
with relevant organizations. Challenge yourself. Push yourself to enroll
in the classes where you will learn the most and be pushed to learn
new and more advanced topics. Explore the field outside of the classroom
by engaging in personal projects where you can take the concepts that
you learn in the classroom and expand them. Often, the best learning
comes from working on a project that you are passionate about and where
you run into walls now and again and have to problemsolve your way out
with minimal guidance.”
Bulmer also recommends that you find a mentor in your field of interest.
All of Microsoft’s positions can be viewed at www.microsoft.com/college.
Compuware co-op and internship opportunities are listed on its Website
at <www.compuware.com>.
Send a cover letter and résumé early as they accumulate
quickly in the fall and interviews take place over the holiday break
in December. Acceptance letters go out in January and must be confirmed
by February 1.
Johnson concludes, “The technology field offers a great career
because of the opportunities to shape the future of everything we touch
on a daily basis—communications, the Internet, entertainment,
transportation, and medical applications. There are so many paths a
student can take on the technology road, and all of them are exciting
and will shape how we live.”
