Internships in computer science provide students with a valuable opportunity to practice and improve their skills in a professional setting. Internships in information technology range from basic work to complex software engineering internships. Some internships involve assisting professors with theoretical work at universities, while others are based at software companies or other businesses, large or small. Some computer science internships are paid, particularly those at large, successful software companies, whereas others, such as those at smaller companies, may be unpaid or only provide a small cost-of-living stipend. Internships are typically available to undergraduate and graduate college students, but they can also be found among postgraduates and high school students.
Most computer science internships, especially those offered by software development companies or companies that manufacture complex hardware like central processing units and video cards, are designed to provide hands-on experience in the field. Interns in such internships work closely with industry professionals and assist with daily tasks such as programming, testing, and debugging. In some computer science internships, the intern works on a group project, while in others, he is assigned his own project.
Internships in computer science can also be found in academia, where interns can work with professors on theoretical issues in the field. Because computer science is a rapidly growing field in both business and academia, there are plenty of opportunities to work on cutting-edge research in academia. Artificial intelligence, cryptography, and the development of methods to apply computer technology to mathematical problems are all common research topics. The amount of funding available to the professor or his laboratory determines whether or not a student is paid for an academic computer science internship.
Internships in computer science aren’t always with companies that do computation-based work or with college professors who work on computational theory. Because computer science techniques are used in fields as diverse as linguistics, biology, and physics, people with computer science skills are in high demand across the board. For example, a computer science student could work as an intern in a biology lab on a bioinformatics project or with a professor studying computational linguistics. The ability to apply computational techniques to a variety of problems, whether or not they are directly related to the field of computer science, is a highly valued computer science skill.