OIT is hiring Rice graduate students for paid internships this summer. Rice staff members Chris Brown, John Mulligan, and Zheng Fan (left to right) explained the opportunities to students at the Rice Center for Career Development’s Spring Career Fair and Internship Expo on February 1. (Read more about the 2018 summer program.)

OIT’s Graduate Student Internship Program 2019

The Office of Information Technology (OIT) is currently seeking Rice graduate students planning a career in the IT industry for summer 2019 internships.

The OIT’s Graduate Student Internship Program is a paid and intensive internship offering Rice graduate students an
opportunity to work closely with senior systems analysts, software engineers and systems directors at OIT, and receive an inside look at their potential career path and gain valuable hands-on experience as a professional in the IT field. The program is both professionally and academically beneficial.

Internship Goals

• Gain practical and professional experience in the IT field.

• Further develop data science skills and expertise.

• Gain knowledge of technology stacks behind successful web projects and how to choose a technology stack for web application development.

• Explore career opportunities – participants can gain insights into the daily operations inside OIT and hands-on
experience as a professional in the IT field.

• Find Mentors – senior systems analysts, software engineers and systems directors at OIT can help guide participants through the internship program and expose participants to opportunities to which they can aspire.

Eligibility Requirements

• Currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Computer Science or related area of study.

• Must be enrolled in Rice University during time of internship.

• Completed at least one semester at the university to qualify for an internship.

• Able to commit 40 hours per week in the summer.

• Ethics, integrity, and sound professional judgment.

• Strong problem solving skills with the ability to analyze and interpret data.

• Excellent communication and organizational skills.

• Ability to learn new technical skills as needed.

• Other required skills per specific job description.

Online Application Process

Apply online through March 10 via the Rice Job Board:

http://jobs.financialaid.rice.edu

Additional Information

• Interns will participate in training during the first week of the internship. This training program will expose interns to our culture and provide a knowledgebase to draw upon throughout the remainder of the internship and beyond.

• Compensation – Interns receive a competitive salary based on skill level.

Summer 2018

40 hours per week

10 – 12 weeks

Schedule:  8 am – 5 pm

On campus: Cambridge Office Building or Ryon Lab

Internships

• Web Application Developer

• Salesforce CRM Developer

• Systems Support Analyst

• Data-Driven App Developer

•Research Computing Infrastructure Developer

Specific qualifications and more information on roles and responsibilities for each internship are online (http://jobs.financialaid.rice.edu).

About OIT

The Office of Information Technology (OIT) is the university’s central technology provider, supporting research, academic and administrative systems, other core applications and voice, network, and computing infrastructure for the Rice community. OIT is an integral part of Rice committed to supporting the university’s mission through innovative uses of technology and service excellence.

by Zheng Fan, Director of Enterprise Systems

This summer I was lucky to have an opportunity to lead the first OIT sponsored student internship program and to have a role of mentor to several student interns. For me it turned out to be a really great experience – challenging, enjoyable and rewarding. What I valued the most from this experience was the opportunity to be a part of student interns’ success and support for Rice V2C2 goal.

Mentoring was a truly challenging and rewarding experience. I wasn’t alone in this journey. Thanks to the support from Klara, Randy, fellow mentors and colleagues, I was able to step out of my busy day-to-day responsibilities and team up with fellow mentors to work together to make the internship a success. What I enjoyed the most is the opportunity to get to know each of the amazingly talented Rice student interns and help them overcome challenges and succeed in several real-world projects, such as Rice Global Website Development to improve Student/Faculty Pages, OpenScholar Template Design, Status Page Widget Development, Data Analytics for FE&P and so forth. All those real-world work assignments were designed to help interns test drive their careers and gain hands-on experiences as a professional in the IT field.

Another rewarding experience from this internship leadership journey was witnessing how the internship program was able to transform and help prepare the students for career success. Many project tasks required the interns to collaborate with other OIT staff, participate in discussions, share their ideas, and present their prototyped work. While learning new software development skills, the interns improved their soft skills for better problem solving, critical thinking, communication, and presentation. Many of the interns are international students coming from different cultural backgrounds. This internship also provided them an opportunity to be exposed to the daily operations inside OIT and learn about the American workplace culture, values, and expectations.

I am looking forward to 2019 for our next OIT sponsored summer internship program for Rice students!

Five of the 10 summer interns.

From left to right: Yijun He, Eva Ma, Kangkang Li, Weiheng Qiu, and Jialu Xu.

Interns’ Perspective

Yijun He: “I’ve had a fulfilling summer. OIT has provided an amazing project, which closely aligns with the real day-to-day job as a software engineer and helped me to be in touch with not only the technology, but also the industry-like work and life style.”

Eva Ma: :My mentor and the other interns were extremely helpful. They were always willing to discuss with me when I was exploring something new.”

Kangkang Li: “The benefits of the internship program included the valuable chance to experience the professional IT workplace.”

Weiheng Qiu: “When I was stuck in a problem or not sure which design was better, my mentor explained patiently to me and helped me get on the right track. This taught me a lot and gave me a deeper understanding of this project.”

Jialu Xu: “I think the most useful thing I got from this internship is that now I can showcase what I built to employers confidently to demonstrate my ability to grasp many technologies in short period of time.”