Most interesting tech internships?

[Fox5]

Heya, I was wondering if any companies (say Intel) or organizations (say NASA) have internship programs beyond "Come in and work with us for a few hours." Companies and organizations as big yet as localized as Intel seem like they would give out a lot of internships, and also probably have to have most of their interns come from across the country/world rather than the local area. That would seem like it would give them the opportunity to do something more cohesive with all their interns than the typical lab assistant type thing.

 

[eplebnista]

curiosity bump

 

[Ameesh]

I did internships with Microsoft, Raytheon, NCR, and a few other places. Microsoft has the best internship program I have seen or heard about. I would definitely start with them. If you are working in software, Intel is a terrible place to go, my good friend was there and he said software folks are not valued there.

 

[tfinch2]

Originally posted by: Ameesh
I did internships with Microsoft, Raytheon, NCR, and a few other places. Microsoft has the best internship program I have seen or heard about. I would definitely start with them. If you are working in software, Intel is a terrible place to go, my good friend was there and he said software folks are not valued there.

How long on average were your internships?

 

[Fox5]

Hmm, well my current degree path is....
Majoring in Physics and Computer Science
Minoring in Math and Electrical and Computer Engineering
Concentrations in Honors and Materials Science (probably won't be keeping this one, no time in my schedule)
Specializations in....random computer science stuff, not really important, it comes with the restricted electives you pick for the most part.

And currently doing research on magnetic semiconductors (more of a lab assistant than anything) and image analysis of astronomical data to determine the composition of stellar objects (mostly plug and chug batch work).

Not quite sure what I want to do, but anything tech oriented would be cool (so NASA, Microsoft, Intel, etc would all be options), just wondering if any had some particularly standout internship programs. I know most local internship programs consist of little more than a part time job.

 

[Ameesh]

Originally posted by: tfinch2

Originally posted by: Ameesh
I did internships with Microsoft, Raytheon, NCR, and a few other places. Microsoft has the best internship program I have seen or heard about. I would definitely start with them. If you are working in software, Intel is a terrible place to go, my good friend was there and he said software folks are not valued there.

How long on average were your internships?

microsoft was summer, raytheon and ncr were longer, fulltime in the summer part time in the normal school year

 

[KillerCharlie]

I interned with Boeing... pretty cool. I was treated no differently than a regular engineer and had the same expectations, which was really nice. Having them pay me $16k for my senior year tuition was pretty nice as well. All major aerospace companies (including NASA) have big internships, but some are organized much better than others. NASA doesn't have one big comprehensive program - it goes by site so it's a bit difficult hunting down all their internship opportunities.

I interviewed at NASA Johnson Space Center (for a full-time position) for an astronaut training position and a guidance and control position for the shuttle. Honestly... I was less than impressed. Then I realized I only though it was cool because it was "NASA." Anyway, I guess that's not important.

Yes, they hire from all over the country and not really locally. Some internships are just during the summer, and some are off-and-on throughout the year.

Here's my advice: apply to every possible position you can and speak to as many recruiters as you can. Don't be disappointed if you don't get one after your sophomore year. I applied like mad and didn't get any internship offers. The next year I did the same and got 10 offers.

 

[RichieZ]

i did the regular IBM internship for all 3 summers during college, my friend did IBM Extreme Blue one summer and said it was a great program