Bowie State University Pioneers New Tech Internship Program for HBCU Students

by Johannes Helmold

 

Historically Black Bowie State University has developed an innovative internship placement program that connects computing students directly with tech companies and government agencies, bypassing the grueling Silicon Valley vetting process.

As was mentioned in the latest New York Times article, Bowie State University, a historically Black institution in Maryland, has created a unique internship placement program for its computer science students, providing them with direct access to tech companies and government agencies. This bypasses the often harsh and time-consuming Silicon Valley internship application process. The program, established last year, aims to match students with employers seeking interns, while also offering training sessions and workshops on interview skills and emerging technologies like machine learning.

The Bowie State approach contrasts with the impersonal, mass-scale application systems used by many large tech firms, where tens of thousands of candidates submit their résumés to online portals, only to be sorted and ranked by résumé-reading software. Instead, Bowie State invites participating employers to campus, allowing them to directly recruit, mentor, and interview students for internships. This more intimate process avoids high-stress technical tests and has led to placements for 60 Bowie computing students at companies like Deloitte, federal agencies like NASA, and local startups.

The program addresses socioeconomic barriers that may prevent students from securing internships, including a lack of technical work experience or industry connections. It has also created on-campus research internships and facilitated student attendance at major conferences, where they have obtained internships and job offers from renowned companies. Adobe has recently launched its own internship program with Bowie State, focusing on cybersecurity and aiming to prepare more Black and Latino students for tech careers.

Popular Tech Internships

Get ready to level up your computer science skills with these fantastic internship opportunities! Here’s a list of some seriously cool internships for computer science students:

1. Google Summer of Code: Imagine spending your summer break contributing to open-source projects and working with international organizations. Sounds amazing, right?
2. Microsoft Internship Program: Want to intern at a tech giant? Join Microsoft’s team and explore diverse roles, such as software development, program management, and data science.
3. Facebook University: Spend 12 weeks in the summer learning from the best at Facebook. Get hands-on experience in software engineering, data engineering, or product design.
4. Amazon Internship Program: Be part of the company that’s shaping the future of e-commerce and technology. Software development, machine learning, and data science are just a few of the opportunities available.
5. Apple Internship Program: Have a taste of life at the cutting edge of tech. Apple offers internships in software engineering, hardware engineering, and data science.
6. IBM Internship Program: Fancy working with one of the pioneers in the tech industry? IBM offers internships in software development, data science, AI research, and cloud computing.
7. Intel Internship Program: Get ready to geek out at Intel, where you can dive into software engineering, hardware engineering, or data science.
8. NVIDIA Internship Program: Want to work on groundbreaking AI research, software development, or hardware engineering? NVIDIA is the place to be!
9. SpaceX Internship Program: Blast off with SpaceX and explore roles in software development, avionics, and other technical areas.
10. National Security Agency (NSA) Internships: If you’re a US citizen, why not help protect your country? NSA internships offer opportunities in computer science, cybersecurity, and intelligence analysis.
11. Department of Energy (DOE) Internships: Make a difference in computational science, high-performance computing, and data analysis at the DOE.
12. Cisco Internship Program: Network your way to success with Cisco internships in software engineering, data science, and other tech roles.
13. Palantir Internship Program: Be part of the next generation of data-driven decision-making with Palantir’s software engineering, data science, and product management internships.
14. Uber Internship Program: Ride into the future with Uber internships in software engineering, data science, and other technical roles.
15. Airbnb Internship Program: Join the team behind the world’s most popular home-sharing platform. Airbnb offers internships in software engineering, data science, and product management.

Remember that internship availability might vary depending on your location, educational background, and interests. Be sure to check each company’s website for updated information and application details. Happy hunting!

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