Digital Signal Corporation (DSC), the company where I work in northern Virginia, has an opening for an 8-week paid summer internship that will focus on implementing some light-duty robots (we aren’t building diesel locomotives …).
We are looking for a student with VEX and/or FIRST construction, programming, integration and testing skills to fill the spot. You will need to be at least between your junior and senior years in high school, or be a college student.
The deadline for submitting applications is roughly “immediately”. It’s tomorrow, Friday, May 2nd.
In a nutshell, DSC makes the world’s “… only precision 3D identity solution capable of recognizing moving individuals at long range.” How cool is that?
I just applied! I’m a senior matriculating to Columbia University for Engineering in the fall. When can we anticipate being contacted about our status regarding the internship?
I just applied! Sounds like a really great internship for the summer, just what I need for my co-op for school! Although I may only be an entering freshman for mechanical engineering, I have taken many college courses while in High School.
I’m learning about this opportunity as I go; and I’m not a part of the recruiting dept. My knowledge of their typical timeline for filling this sort of position is limited, to say the least.
I think the best approach is to let them (the recruiting team) handle questions like that - We don’t want me to get in the middle of the conversation, and start creating confusion.
I have a question before I apply, If I am a graduating High School Senior this year and I live in Delaware, is it possible for the internship to pay for a place for me to stay or partially pay for it? I was just wondering about this because I have heard of some internships where they actually pay for a place for the intern to stay like Disney’s Internships. Besides this, this sounds like a wonderful opportunity.
This will pay a modest salary (and we have free lunches on Fridays).
All expenses are your responsibility. We are on a bus route (some employees use it); and there are many options for living (like a sardine :D) with other students who come to this region during the summer. You would need to investigate the possibilities on your own.
Sounds very interesting!!
But I have some questions, about my situation.
I would like to apply, I’m Mexican, from Team 3158, I’ve been for 3 years in this team. I’m 18 years old.
I’m already studying a career, Mechatronics in Tecnológico de Monterrey Campus Toluca. So, I wonder if I still could apply, I’ve coursed 2 semesters so far.
I’ve been on differents areas, working with FIRST ROBOTICS, mostly, drivers, electronics, scouting databases, media and mechanics.
TECBOT 3158
“Unlimited Success”
2014 Mexico City Regional Regional Chairman’s Award
2013 Phoenix Regional Team Spirit Award sponsored by Chrysler
2012 Arizona Regional Engineering Inspiration Award
2011 Arizona Regional Engineering Inspiration Award
Excellence in Design Award sponsored by Autodesk
2010 Arizona Regional Rookie All Star Award
Team Spirit Award sponsored by Chrysler
2010 FIRST Championship Rookie Inspiration Award
My first reaction is to tell you to apply, and then find out later whether the US Citizenship is required. If you miss the application deadline a “No worries” answer to your question won’t matter because it will be too late.
I will find out (and post the answer here) if US Citizenship is important. Because we are an international company, my guess is that non-US applications will be gladly accepted.
you would need to have (or be 99.9% assured of having) all of the necessary paperwork in place to allow you to work in the USA. For a summer internship position, DSC would not expect to assist with that process and/or any costs.
With that paperwork in place, the person I spoke to believed that hiring a non-USA citizen for this opening would definitely be feasible.
Thank you! for your interest in this opportunity, and sincere congratulations of the depth and breadth of the credentials/qualifications contained in the applications we received.
We expect we will quickly reach a decision, I’ll post a notice here when the process completes.
The person was chosen over a week ago. They were in the process of scheduling an interview for me when suddenly all communication ceased. I emailed the recruiter and she called back informing me of the descision.
Was a really odd experience. It’s closed nonetheless.
It’s Friday (again - Yikes), and I haven’t updated this thread - That means I’m further behind on the progress update I said I would post here.
The process has completed. We selected our top 2-3 candidates, then offered the position to one, then waited a bit for them to accept, then made sure everything would truly work out (all required government and/or DSC paperwork filled out successfully (there is more involved than just saying “Yes”.)), etc.
That took some of the time between my last post and this one, and the rest is simply me staying busy. I apologize for the “me staying busy” part of that time.
This year was unusual, in the sense that I was able to influence our summer hiring plan at the very last minute to shift one position’s focus onto robotics skills. On our end this radically compressed our normal timeline and procedures for filling an opening like this.
Depending on our needs (and a zillion other factors) we might be able to open another intern position next year (and regardless of that, because of our growth we are constantly bringing new full-time employees on-board).
If we do open another intern position emphasizing robotics, I’ll try to get a notification posted here well in advance of the deadline.
If (when) you are a graduate interested in precision 3D long-range identification of moving people, check out the company web site.
I need to walk a fine line here as I fall on my sword a little bit; and as I offer some advice.
DSC definitely works very hard to ensure applicants’ interactions are positive experiences; and our recruiters have processes/procedures they follow that keep things on the right path.
That said, I introduced a good idea (focus one position on VEX/FTC/FRC robotics skills) into those processes at literally the VERY last possible point. Combine that with the very strong response we received from many well-qualified candidates, and things got a little hectic. Sort-of like when a team gets a great idea, a few days or hours before they have to ship or bag their FRC robot, or play their first VRC/FTC match.
Separately, I learned during my recent personal job search (that led me to choose DSC) that your experience pursuing this position isn’t unusual. More than once I had recruiters go silent for a month or so, and then suddenly contact me again. As an applicant it can be unsettling or even frustrating; but it happens constantly because the agile companies doing the hiring are dealing with shifting internal plans.
As an applicant, to deal with this, one thing I learned was to avoid any tendency to submit applications to only one or two possible employers at a time. Initially, I was making that mistake, and when I got a promising response to one, I would almost stop searching for where I would send my next one(s). That was slowing me down greatly.
Let me wrap up by repeating myself a bit. We received many strong applications for this summer’s opening(s). That reinforced my belief that soliciting applications from the VRC/FTC/FRC communities was an excellent way to connect with a talent pool filled with well-qualified, high-achievers. I wish I/we could have said “Yes” to more than one of those candidates.
I’m going to insert one more piece of general purpose advice here.
Because I know what it means to be a strong contributor to a student-robotics team, I was able to translate an short phrase like “FRC drive team captain” or “award-winning VRC notebook” into the sorts of candidate attributes employers look for.
But, not everyone reviewing job applications (the vast majority in fact) knows how to translate those short phrases. In applications, you/we/I need to convey what those mean, both in terms of talents we possess and in terms of accomplishments we achieved.
So, take a look at your resumes, your LinkedIn profiles, and anywhere else you want to make an impression on a potential employer; and make sure that you are telling your story well enough for folks outside this community to know how valuable your can be to them.
