Students in the CSE department have a wide variety of options available to them when looking for a job. The resources of the CSE department, the College of Engineering, and the University of Washington are here to help you get where you want to go, so take some time to utilize the services, advice, and connections we provide.

For resources and information on how to obtain an internship, please see our career pages.

Why Get an Internship?

The Department of Computer Science and Engineering encourages all students to complete an internship. There are many reasons why the internship experience is an important one. This list was compiled by Professor Michael Ernst.

1. If you haven't worked in a company, you are ill-prepared to make a decision about a job after graduation. (You are also ill-prepared to make the decision that you do not want to take a job, but instead prefer to go to graduate school, because you don't have information about the corporate world.) The same thing goes for learning about companies of specific size (big company, startup, etc.), particular types of work (programmer, tester, program manager, etc.), and other factors.

2. Working in a company exposes you to a different way of thinking and working. This breadth of experience is likely to stand you in good stead when you approach problems, because you will be able to choose the most effective style rather than applying the same approach in every situation. Each new company or research group adds to your experience, but having at least one internship and at least one long-term UROP is essential.

3. Related to the above point, internships require and provide different skills than research jobs, from interpersonal interactions to specific development tools. A company may be the only or best way to obtain these skills, which you will find valuable in your future career as an engineer.

4. Working on real products with real customers is particularly rewarding for some people; they like to see the concrete impact their jobs have on customers, on coworkers, and on the industry.

5. Knowledge of industry is essential even for people who will eventually find their careers in academia, if you hope that your research will have any impact on practice. You need to know the state of the art, how practitioners act, and what they really need. A superficial knowledge, or just listening to what they say they need, is not sufficient.

6. Internships tend to pay much more than summer academic research jobs.

See Professor Ernst's complete advice on internships.