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Join the HPCC Systems team as an intern

 

Every year, HPCC Systems publishes a list of projects which are designed to be completed by students during our summer intern program. These projects cover a wide range of areas from web interfaces, machine learning, JAVA programming, internet of things, compiler related projects and more. To apply, you need to submit a detailed project proposal showing how you plan to complete either one of our suggested projects on our list or submit a proposal outlining a project idea of your own that leverages HPCC Systems in some way.

We do offer places on our intern program in advance of the final deadline date to students who submit an excellent proposal we know we want to accept.

Students can work remotely or in one of our offices. In 2022, all students worked remotely due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Find out how remote working works in this blog and learn about about the contributions our Class of 2022 made to the HPCC Systems Open Source Project.

Am I a good fit for this program?

Typically, students who apply for an HPCC Systems internship intend to or are already studying a STEM related subject, such as computer science, mathematics, statistics, physics, information technology, engineering etc. All these subjects generally involve studying software development including programming skills, which are necessary for students to be able to successfully complete one of our projects. Alternatively, your interest in software development/data science or your software development skills may extend beyond your regular studies.

You must be available to work for the full duration of the 12 week intern program and if you are wanting to work remotely, you need to be a good communicator.

Returning student? Welcome back!

Every year, we are pleased to receive proposals from students who want to intern with us again. Not only is this an indicator of how seriously we take our investment in our student contributors, but it also illustrates the value students place on the experience. Read what they have to say about their HPCC Systems internship for yourself and learn about previously completed intern projects.

If you are a returning student, make sure you provide details of your previous HPCC Systems intern project(s) in your proposal or resume.

How does the application process work?

Application is by the submission of a proposal to complete a specific project. We provide a list of projects across a range of different topic areas, supplying enough information in the project description to help you to make a judgement about whether a project is in an area of interest to you, or whether you have the prerequisite skills required.

We are regularly adding new project ideas to the list, so it’s always worth checking back for updates.

Once you have chosen a project, submit a proposal which scopes out the tasks required to complete the project including a timeline showing what will be completed during each week. Our developers assess each proposal, awarding an internship to students who submit the best proposals according to the number of places we have available. We generally award at least 10 internships to a mixture of high school, undergraduates, masters and PhD students.

You don’t have to choose one of our projects, you can also suggest a project of your own but it must be something that is relevant and of interest to the HPCC Systems open source project and community. For example, one of our returning students in 2021, Christopher Connelly, worked on a project he suggested himself: Ingestion and Analysis of Collegiate Women’s Basketball GPS Data in HPCC Systems and RealBI. He presented about his work at our 2021 Community Day Summit (Watch Recording) and read the Blog Journal he kept while working on his project to document his HPCC Systems internship experience. He also entered a poster into our 2021 Technical Poster Contest (View Poster).

So here’s the proposal application checklist:

  1. Make sure your resume is up to date.
  2. If you are new to HPCC Systems find out more about us using these resources.
  3. Choose a project from our list or get in touch and tell us about your project suggestion.
  4. Contact the project mentor, introduce yourself and talk through your ideas. If you are suggesting your own project, contact us and we will find you a mentor with expertise in your chosen project area.
  5. Check the proposal guidelines and example proposal to make sure you know how to prepare a good quality proposal.
  6. Prepare a draft proposal and send it to the project mentor for review.
  7. Update your draft if necessary and send the final version along with your resume to students@hpccsystems.com by the final deadline date.

What does a proposal look like?

A good quality proposal demonstrates that you are committed to working hard and really want the opportunity to complete an internship with us. Clearly state your ideas and objectives, including example code where relevant.

We don’t necessarily expect you to have all the answers in your proposal, but we do need to see evidence of your ability, genuine interest and you also need to demonstrate your understanding of the project and its potential challenges.

Your proposal must include a timeline showing the tasks you intend to complete each week.

For guidance on what you should include in your proposal see the instructions on our wiki and view an example proposal.

Getting help with your proposal

While you’re working on your proposal, do strike up a conversation with the project mentor who can answer any questions you have that will help you to improve your proposal before submitting your final version. Contact the project mentor using the details provided in the project description or get in touch with students@hpccsystems.com who will put you in contact with someone who can help.

Your teacher or professor is also a good resource for help. They may want to co-mentor you during your internship alongside your HPCC Systems mentor which we find works very well. A number of professors and teachers have contributed to our intern program in this way in previous years.

Mentoring and support

During the internship, our interns work alongside a mentor who is an experienced developer on the HPCC Systems platform team. All interns work in the same way as our developers, using the same tools, checking in code (GitHub) and going through the same code review process.

It’s a really great opportunity to work directly with knowledgeable, experienced software developers and architects while being exposed to what it’s like to work in a real world development environment. In fact, you basically join the HPCC Systems platform development team as a developer for 12 weeks.

The requirement to submit a proposal makes certain that both student and mentor have a good idea of what needs to be achieved during the internship. Supplying a timeline means that when the internship starts, you already know what the first tasks should be. So your finger is right on the pulse from the very beginning.

Now we’re talking research and development here, so sometimes the nature of a project can change based on what is discovered along the way. But this isn’t a problem. Mentors work closely with students and can spot this happening, working with you to revise the plan and helping you to keep moving forward. Obviously, communication is key, so regular contact with your mentor is crucial and weekly status reports and meetings help everyone to stay in the loop.

Work remotely or in a LexisNexis Risk Solutions Group office near you

There are opportunities to work in a LexisNexis Risk Solutions Group office but it’s not necessary to do so. Every year, we have students who work either partly or completely remotely from the development team and their mentor. This is more common and works just as well. We are used to this approach because our own development team is dispersed with people working together across many different time zones. The wonderful thing about supporting remote working is that we can cast the net wide when it comes to taking on interns. We can just as easily accept an intern from Europe or Asia and South America as we can from the USA. We can also be flexible to accommodate the differences in semester timings which vary around the world. Find out how remote working works in this blog.

Get involved in our community during your internship

So you’re already contributing to the sources right? But there are other ways you can get involved in our community during and after your internship, including:

Future opportunities

As an intern with HPCC Systems, you will work with a mentor, contributing to a thriving open source project alongside an experienced development team. But it doesn’t haven’t stop there. There is always the potential of a great future with HPCC Systems waiting for you once you’ve graduated. We have welcomed a number of past interns into the RELX family over the years.

To get reminders and updates, subscribe to our Student Forum or Developer Newsletter and look out for announcements on FaceBook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other social media outlets. Start date is end May, early June with the final day 12 weeks later in mid to late August based on university semester dates.

Find out more…

  1. Take a look at the HPCC Systems developer wiki. Download the latest bare metal version of the software or the source code.
  2. Learn about our Cloud Native Platform and visit our Helm Chart Repository.
  3. New to HPCC Systems? Find out more about us and how HPCC Systems works.
  4. Join our open source community
  5. Read about our expectations of students during the summer internship program.
  6. Find out about our mentors. Read their testimonials.
  7. Really keen to intern with us? Here’s how to stand out from the crowd.
  8. Questions or just want to talk it through? Email students@hpccsystems.com.
  9. Find out about previously completed intern projects.
  10. Ready to submit your final proposal? Send it to students@hpccsystems.com by the final deadline date.
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