Over the years posting here at Anandtech, I have occassionally gotten questions about internships and cooperative positions within the industry. It's been a tough time in the industry to look for these positions in the last two years, but it's looking like it might be getting easier in the coming year. Cooperatives are typically longer term assignments (3-6 months typically), internships are typically shorter (3 months typically). I'll use the term internship from here on to discuss both of them.
I decided to start a thread on this subject because I thought it might be of interest to Anandtech'ers, might be a place for people to share their experiences with internships and to get questions answered.
In my opinion, the easiest way to get a job in the industry coming out of college is if you successfully completed an internship while you were attending university. In addition, after graduation you can go into job-hunting and interviews with (hopefully) a job offer from the company that you interned with which reduces a lot of the stress. Most importantly, if one is studying engineering, one ideally would like to get job doing engineering over the summer rather than, say, working at a fast-food restaurant. You gain on the job experience, you build career relationships, you generally get paid better and have better benefits, and you can make sure that you are studying the right profession..
So how does one get an internship? Most major universities have recruitment fairs where employers show up to offer positions and discuss their company. Speaking with one of these reps about internship opportunities is a good way to start. Career centers at universities are another valuable resource for finding opportunities. Alternatively, with the larger companies you can just submit a resume to them and hope for the best. I personally got my internship (and my job) by submitting a resume through the company webpage rather than through a career center or a recruitment fair, but probably the more effective way is to meet with a representative of the the employer.
Most companies have minimum grade-point requirements and will require that you are a full-time student at an accreditted institution. Intel has a minimum GPA requirement of 3.0 out of a 4.0 grading system. If your GPA is less than this, it's not a waste of time applying, but you will almost certainly be asked about the reason behind the lower GPA, and you may be asked to provide a transcript of grades in specific courses relevant to the job.
The biggest part of an internship that I would like to mention is to encourage interested students simply to apply. Some students do not realize how early you should to apply for them, miss the deadline and then give up on getting one when they find out they missed the deadline. Intel is currently reviewing resumes for next summer's internships right now. So if one were interested in applying for an internship at Intel for next summer, now is the time to submit a resume and apply - although there are usually openings in some groups within Intel year-round. Other companies start on the process earlier or later, and some routinely review resumes year-round. The point is that there is no real deadline at most of the major companies, including Intel, there is merely a best time to apply... and that best time is now at most of the larger companies.
For resumes, I would recommend mentioning relevant skills in detail, and also relevant projects. If you have experience in Java, make sure you mention the word "Java" and not "Extensive programming experience in portable object-oriented programming languages". At the larger companies, groups search through the database looking for keywords to find applicants so it's important to have those keywords in the resume. That said, it is important to mention skills that you actually have more than some familiarity in because I know that I personally craft my interviews around the resume and so if someone mentions that, as an example, they know digital logic design, I will ask a lot of digital logic design questions.
If you are interested in an internship, just make sure to apply. At Intel, there's a webpage here and most other major companies have similar pages. Lastly, for what it's worth, I personally have no say in hiring at Intel aside from occassionally conducting interviews, so please do not submit a resume to me since I can't do anything with it.
I decided to start a thread on this subject because I thought it might be of interest to Anandtech'ers, might be a place for people to share their experiences with internships and to get questions answered.
In my opinion, the easiest way to get a job in the industry coming out of college is if you successfully completed an internship while you were attending university. In addition, after graduation you can go into job-hunting and interviews with (hopefully) a job offer from the company that you interned with which reduces a lot of the stress. Most importantly, if one is studying engineering, one ideally would like to get job doing engineering over the summer rather than, say, working at a fast-food restaurant. You gain on the job experience, you build career relationships, you generally get paid better and have better benefits, and you can make sure that you are studying the right profession..
So how does one get an internship? Most major universities have recruitment fairs where employers show up to offer positions and discuss their company. Speaking with one of these reps about internship opportunities is a good way to start. Career centers at universities are another valuable resource for finding opportunities. Alternatively, with the larger companies you can just submit a resume to them and hope for the best. I personally got my internship (and my job) by submitting a resume through the company webpage rather than through a career center or a recruitment fair, but probably the more effective way is to meet with a representative of the the employer.
Most companies have minimum grade-point requirements and will require that you are a full-time student at an accreditted institution. Intel has a minimum GPA requirement of 3.0 out of a 4.0 grading system. If your GPA is less than this, it's not a waste of time applying, but you will almost certainly be asked about the reason behind the lower GPA, and you may be asked to provide a transcript of grades in specific courses relevant to the job.
The biggest part of an internship that I would like to mention is to encourage interested students simply to apply. Some students do not realize how early you should to apply for them, miss the deadline and then give up on getting one when they find out they missed the deadline. Intel is currently reviewing resumes for next summer's internships right now. So if one were interested in applying for an internship at Intel for next summer, now is the time to submit a resume and apply - although there are usually openings in some groups within Intel year-round. Other companies start on the process earlier or later, and some routinely review resumes year-round. The point is that there is no real deadline at most of the major companies, including Intel, there is merely a best time to apply... and that best time is now at most of the larger companies.
For resumes, I would recommend mentioning relevant skills in detail, and also relevant projects. If you have experience in Java, make sure you mention the word "Java" and not "Extensive programming experience in portable object-oriented programming languages". At the larger companies, groups search through the database looking for keywords to find applicants so it's important to have those keywords in the resume. That said, it is important to mention skills that you actually have more than some familiarity in because I know that I personally craft my interviews around the resume and so if someone mentions that, as an example, they know digital logic design, I will ask a lot of digital logic design questions.
If you are interested in an internship, just make sure to apply. At Intel, there's a webpage here and most other major companies have similar pages. Lastly, for what it's worth, I personally have no say in hiring at Intel aside from occassionally conducting interviews, so please do not submit a resume to me since I can't do anything with it.