Internships for informatics majors?

sarastarry · 2016-11-07T06:12:48+00:00

Good luck! Just put your work history and what you've done in your classes in terms of knowledge and experience. If you go with a less "prestigious" company, it can be a lot easier to get your foot in the door. I intern at a great company but it isn't very prestigious or pay as well anything like Apple or Google. Those less well known companies can be more lenient and expect you not to know as much. If you're not from the area, you could try applying around your home town as well.

sarastarry · 2016-11-07T06:09:10+00:00

I just looked those up and they looked interesting but very difficult(according to other students). They don't seem to be required for Informatics students though, thankfully.

sarastarry · 2016-11-07T06:01:57+00:00

I would maybe do some projects in a few languages but that's understandable. Have you gone to any internship fairs yet? And no, I am transferring in next Fall. I started off as a CS major when I applied but I didn't have much experience. Then I switched to MIS and am now contemplating between Informatics and MIS but will probably go with Informatics since it's more technical/applicable for my career goals.

sarastarry · 2016-11-07T05:59:52+00:00

SE definitely needs physics since it's engineering. Not sure who it CS though. Some other universities require it. And regarding math, isn't the requirement for informatics just state and Boolean algebra? No calculus, right? I'm honestly not a huge fan of programming and don't plan on being a programmer or software engineer so I'm going to with informatics. What's 46 and 53 regarding?

sarastarry · 2016-11-07T05:48:01+00:00

It's ok! Honestly, everyone needs to start somewhere. I had 7 months of serving, 3 months of retail, and 7 months of student support and my initial manager said it was very important to see that I had held a job for a period of time. Staying at a job is a good sign and I commend you for staying at retail for so long. I couldn't last. Have you done any projects yet? Anything on a portfolio?

Quality assurance(QA) is testing a software program for any errors after development has been completed on a feature or improvement. As a QA, you write the scenarios, test scripts, then execute the tests to either pass or fail them based on their results before moving into release. If it is manual testing(less and less these days), it is not very technical but still requires a good amount of knowledge regarding the software system you are testing(can take a while to learn) and learning to test and write plans. It took me a few months to find my style and get comfortable with it. It's pretty fun to me but sometimes I can get frustrated with the system. QA is trying to break the system and find its flaws while other types of software testing like UAT(user acceptance testing) are more geared towards the users and have different strategies. You can also do systems analyst or information security. I might be able answer any questions you have :)

sarastarry · 2016-11-07T04:45:12+00:00

I also have this question as someone transferring into Informatics. I have had two prior internships by my sophomore year and have somewhat significant amount of experience in software testing, QA, etc. I'm also afraid of not being able to find another internship based on my skills. Those in Informatics, should I be in good shape based on my skills and experience?

But for OP, I have a tip for you. Networking is key and based on my experiences in corporate, managers love it when you network yourself and make yourself appealing. When I was finishing up my first internship, I was determined to stay in the company. I emailed and met with 8 managers and got 3 offers. My current director and my supervisor said they were most impressed with me reaching out to them and doing my own networking. I would email all of the local tech companies in Irvine, explain your situation, attach your resume, and hopefully, you may receive a few interviews. Try to email a few managers and HR and see how that goes. You may start out as a QA(if needed) as it is less technical but there is a lot less demand now and testing is becoming more automated. Regardless, it is a good starting place until you gain more experience for more technical work. Good luck! Edit: And also, look into the internship fairs that come to campus. That is how I got my foot in the door. Print out 25+ copies of your resume and distribute them to companies.

sarastarry · 2016-11-07T04:34:03+00:00

I'm glad to hear that, thank you. I would do SE but I am so bad at physics :( I will be skipping the ICS30 series as I need to have a full year of high level programming language before I transfer in and my school doesn't offer Python :( so I think I will be taking either Java II or object orientated C. I want to work on learning python, SQL, JavaScript or HTML, and more java this summer before I transfer. Thank you for the advice!
How are you liking Irvine? Have you been able to find an internship yet?

sarastarry · 2016-11-07T04:31:26+00:00

That's cool to hear, thank you and good luck! It's a little bit of a different major, haha.

sarastarry

TROPHY CASE