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Discussion on: I've Trained Programming Interns For 6+ Years, Ask Me Anything!

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michaeltharrington profile image
Michael Tharrington

Can you talk a bit more about the internship? I'm interested in what kinds of projects interns have worked on and how experienced the students are when you take them on. Also, do you take on folks that aren't part of the universities in your local area?

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codemouse92 profile image
Jason C. McDonald • Edited

Interns have worked on various components of our open source game engine project and its supporting libraries. They've developed data structures that beat C++'s standard library on performance, and created the C++ string class that fully supports both UTF-8 while remaining compatible with std::string. They've laid the groundwork for a programming language, an educational content engine, and a vector animation engine.

Our only prerequisite knowledge for the internship program is working proficiency in at least one programming language. Most come in with a background in Java basics, although we've had a couple of Javascripters, a MATLABer, some Pythonistas, even an Air Force IT. The one thing they have in common is that they're relatively new to the field of programming.

The most amazing part of this for me is watching first- and second-year CS majors come in with minimal knowledge of, say, Java, and become skilled C++ developers as time goes on.

We typically bring on interns from the local area because, although we're remote, I believe in the value of the team being able to meet in person from time-to-time. However, we do have a few completely remote workers. We're also an open source company, so even if someone doesn't join as a formal intern, they can still get some experience by being a regular contributor.

Also, we don't require students to come from the universities. We have good working relationships with the faculty at two of the biggest, which means we can offer college credit to their students for the internship, so most of our interns come from there. However, we've been known to bring on folks from elsewhere.

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jboy_oye profile image
unwanted idiot

can I apply for an internship with your company, but I don't have a CS background, but i build fairly complex web apps with javascript and python.

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codemouse92 profile image
Jason C. McDonald

You're certainly welcome to! You'll find the name/link to my company on my DEV profile. There's a section dedicated to internships, with all the information and instructions you need to apply.