Author: 
Scott Bellman, AccessComputing Staff

Image of AccessComputing Interns for Jan 2010 article. There are a lot of great reasons for you to work as an intern while you are in college. You'll gain confidence, develop new skills, and improve your resume. You can improve work habits and learn what jobs you may want (or may want to avoid) after graduation.

Employers want experience! They also want to be able contact your former supervisors and hear about your work as they seek out the best and brightest workers. DO-IT's AccessComputing project has helped more than fifty students land paid internship positions in the last year. Some interns also received college credit for their work.

Interns have worked on computer programming, computing research, and in various workshops and labs. Some specific examples of paid internships completed by AccessComputing interns include

  • Manager of an assistive technology lab.
  • Researcher on iPhone accessibility.
  • Microsoft "College Intern Program" participant.
  • Computing intern at NASA.
  • Computing instructor at a large library.
  • Graphic design intern for Popular Science magazine.
  • Google programmer.
  • Lab instructor for a digital arts project.

Computing students with disabilities nationwide are encouraged to contact DO-IT about paid internships. Opportunities include computing research on college campuses, computing projects for companies, and opportunities to work for government agencies and non-profit organizations. Request more information by sending a message to doit@uw.edu.