The purpose of the internship is to give you a “dress rehearsal” for a full time job. This will show you:
How to find a job. You will go through exactly the same process looking for an internship as you will looking for a full-time position. You will learn how to find job listings, work connections, create a resume to best represent what is unique about you, conduct an interview, and accept a position. Sure you will not get it right the first time, but hopefully you will when it matters (finding a full-time position).
How to adjust to the workplace. You will get exposed to office politics, working with others, and getting the most of your worker-manager relationship. You will figure out how to work in one place for eight to ten hours a day and how to work on the same project for hundreds of hours. You will learn to cope with being overwhelmed with the things you do not know and learn how to get traction so you can be productive.
What you still need to learn. Your strengths and weaknesses as a data scientist will become very apparent to you as you apply what you learned to a real-world task. Take careful stock of what skills you need to acquire to be successful in the workplace. When you finish the internship and come back to school, make sure you acquire those skills so you can be as effective as possible when you accept a full-time position.
What you want to do with your career. Ideally your internship should be closely aligned with your desired employment upon graduation. This includes the role you play (database developer, analyst, program manager, etc.), the technology you use (R, Python, SQL, Excel, etc.), the industry of the company (e-commerce, games, industrial, productivity, etc.), and the type of company (large/small, formal/informal, start-up/established, etc.). When you are finished with your internship, you should have a much better idea of where you want your career to go. Ultimately, it is up to you what you get out of your internship. While it is typically only a single credit, your internship is perhaps the most important component of your academic experience at BYU-Idaho.
You are ultimately responsible for obtaining your internship. The Academic Discovery Center and the data science faculty have resources and connections to help you with this process, but ultimately it is up to you. You should plan on
Do not get discouraged when you do not get accepted for a job; it is difficult for the employer to find a good fit for their position and it is difficult for you to find a good fit for your skills and interests.
It would be ideal if your internship fit nicely into your off-track semester. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. You should start applying for internships during your sophomore year as you are taking MATH 335 (Data Wrangling and Visualization). If you receive an acceptable offer, take it regardless of the timing. It is much easier to differ a semester than to find an internship that fits nicely into your schedule. Remember, however, that MATH 335 is a prerequisite to the internship.
If your internship job spans two semesters (say February through May), then you can register for credit in either semester. That being said, most students register for the semester in which they spend the most time.
It is common for students to serve more than one internship. If you accept one before you have completed MATH/CS 335, than that is called a summer job and cannot count for internship credit. If you accept one after having completed MATH/CS 335, you have a choice: you could sign up for credit, or you could just work the internship without getting school credit. Remember, the main benefit of an internship is the learning you receive and the experiences you are able to relate on your resume. School credit is a secondary consideration.
The following tips have been passed down by those who went before you.
For a job to count as an internship, it must meet the following requirements:
Once you have found an internship that meets the above requirements, you will need to get your internship approved by our data science program:
All assessed items will be done using I-learn. In an effort to help you get the most out of your internship, the following will be asked of you:
Keep a bi-weekly journal wherein you record details of what you are learning and what you are contributing. Some guidelines:
Your journal will account for an even 50% of your overall grade. Please keep it in a notebook (which you will need to submit in I-learn), create a Word document or create a BLOG (provide the link). You will be graded on the abundant evidence of introspection and the many events that are described in detail.
Near the end of your internship, please create a presentation summarizing your work experience. This should not be a rehashing of your journal (though you may wish to cite events in your journal). Instead, it should address these five questions:
Your final presentation will constitute the remaining 50% of your grade and must be submitted as a presentation (PowerPoint, Prezi, RevealJS). You will be graded on:
You will need to complete the surveys at the end of the semester as well.
As with any other course, the material needs to be submitted before the semester ends. Our internship TAs will keep in contact on due dates.