About the Program

What is the Tech Core Internship?

The Tech Core Internship is an applied learning experience open to students of all majors, both at the undergrad and graduate level. No prior technical experience necessary -- just hard work and curiosity

The program is non-credit, free of cost, totally online, and requires at least 13 hours a week of commitment in order to succeed.

You’ll work in a team environment. There are no “lessons” and this isn’t a class. You’ll be joining a team of developers, discovering what your passions are, and will start working on delivering a real product. The best way to explain it is: Imagine you’ve just been hired at a new software company. On your first day, you onboard, meet some colleagues and start some training. After a few days, your team lead gives you some work to do. You do that work and discover you’re good at it. Now you have a job.

Work runs from June 7 and runs to August 11. You get to set your own schedule, but you need to maintain an average of 13 hours of work per week. If you can work more, you’ll do better.

You can work from home. You can work from anywhere. International students are welcome too!

Work is very different from straight-up Zoom. Our work environment is entirely synchronous, in fact, it’s exactly like an office except for now it is all online.

What will you learn?

Weeks 1-2: Onboarding -- In the first two weeks, you'll gain fundamental experience in all four pillars: Data Science, Content Creation, Coding and Emerging Tech, and Sales and Marketing. It does NOT matter what skill-level or technological porficiency you have to start out with. You will immediately get slotted into a team, assigned to a project, and start working. Don't stress if you don't know anything, that's what your team is for. If you communicate and ask questions frequently, you will learn much faster than trying to bang your head against wall tyring to solve a problem on your own. Save time and ask a teammate

Weeks 3-10: By week 3, you'll get slotted into a team and dig deeper into that work. By the end of this internship experience, you will gain proficiency in a valuable stack of technologies and will have numerous projects under your belt to list on your portfolio/resume. You will also gain essential business skills, communication skills, and project management skills. If you perform well and earn the respect of your teammates and clients, then you will also gain valuable friends, allies, and references for the future.

Data Science: SQL Server, Excel, Tableau, and D3.js
Coding and Emerging: ASP.NET, MVC, HTML/CSS/JS, SQL Server, VR technologies, C#, Unity, Blender, A-Frame/Three.js, and React Native
Content Creation: Premiere Rush, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator, Dimension, XD, and Canva
Sales and Marketing: Hootsuite, Excel, CRM, and Social Media

Are you a graduate student?

For graduate students: By the conclusion of this program you are expected to take on a leadership role on the team, leading a group of developers on a specific project. This can be a project of your choosing from ones that we have assigned or ones that have been pitched to the group. You will be responsible for the project management, delegation, and reporting back to the client. These positions are not guaranteed to you, you must earn them by being a team player and gaining the respect and trust of your team and showing the same respect in return.

Meet the team!

"Tech Core has been an amazing environment for me to discover what I am truly passionate about. At Tech Core you are encouraged to continuously learn and grow, and you always have teammates ready and eager to help you do just that!"

- Kathryn Steele
Marketing Coordinator

"Tech Core is akin to a Silicon Valley startup right in the heart of the University of Arizona. Working at Tech Core has been an unparalleled technical education that has taught me the ins and outs of software development, agile project management, and emerging technologies."

- Victoria Ogino
Program Coordinator

“Get ready to contribute to some of the most mind blowing tech projects out there. It's easy to forget that I'm working at times. I wish I had joined sooner!”

- Trevor Hoshiwara
Lead Emerging Technologist

"My experience at Tech Core so far has been the perfect blend of creativity, innovation and teamwork which keeps me motivated throughout my work."

- Nafisul Khondaker
Coder

"Working at Tech Core feels like the real thing, and it's never not amazing to work in an environment where your colleagues both have great technical skill, and are great people!"

- Adi Banerjee
Coder

"My teammates are the only thing keeping me sane when I am stumped for days on one problem."

- Shane Chaudhry
Lead Builder

"Working at Tech Core has shown me how much I can learn in such a short amount of time and how fun it is to work with others who share my passion for technology!"

- Joanna Zabasajja
Coder

"Tech Core has provided me with the opportunity to create something special and to grow as a developer in a way I couldn't have imagined. Not only do I get the change to surround myself with learning opportunities, but also a team and an innovative environment who share the same tenacity and look forward to the future of technology by tackling one problem at a time."

- Raphaelle Guinanao
Database Administrator

What you will be doing

Here are some of the amazing projects we have line up for summer 2021! Check out the kinds of work and skills you can expect from your internship experience:

Healthcare AI

Program the cutting-edge Temi robot into a helpful nursing assistant designed to check-in on patients, guide patients and visitors around the hospital, transport equipment, and more!

College of Nursing AR

Work with various AR and image recognition technologies to build AR-based training modules for nursing students and professionals.

XR Anti-Racism Studio

Take a deep dive into mixed reality technologies and help build an immersive experience simulating typical scenarios of racial discrimination and micro-aggressions.

Remembering the CIV

Learn how to use geospatial AR to create an AR learning experience that brings back a forgotten internment camp and maps a 3D rendering of it back onto its actual historical location in Paris.

Grants & Revenues Team

Help Tech Core seek out new clients, establish more relationships across campus, manage client communication.

Social Media Team

Create, curate, and manage content and publishing for all Tech Core’s social media channels.

Student Emergency Funding Dashboard

Design data visualization dashboards based on student emergency funding applications to help the Dean of Students Office identify and improve services to students in financial need.

McGuire External Relations

Design the new website for the McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship designed to reach out to McGuire alumni and highlight McGuire’s New Venture Development program.

Level-Up Online

Curate and edit footage from Level-Up workshops to create commercials and tutorials, as well as help manage the Level-Up website, D2L, and YouTube channel.

Defuse

Learn React Native and build a mobile app designed for legal mediators to manage cases and communicate between parties seeking legal mediation.

Radian

Learn how to build an end-to-end MVC web application that includes a survey building tool, programmatic email notifications, and web-based data dashboards.

Provost's Basic Needs Dashboard

Build interactive, web-based data visualizations to help the Provost's Office identify basic needs (food, housing, financial assistance, etc.) across campus.

What you will learn

Web Development and Emerging Technologies

Build robust web applications with a model-view controller (MVC) architecture powered by on dynamic data structures on the back-end, and dive into to the latest technologies sweeping the industry including VR, AR, and machine learning. Gain experience in Unity, Blender, and A-Frame/Three.js.

Project management and team collaboration

Gain experience developing in a Kanban workflow and learn the ins-and-out of maintaining communication, consistency, and synchronization while working remotely through cloud-based technologies, git version control, and team-based communication platforms.

Data science and visualization

Understand the fundamentals of building and maintaining a strong database structure; and create interesting and informative data visualizations through SQL Server, Excel, and Tableau.

Presentation skills and pitching

Learn how to present in front of an audience and effectively pitch ideas and innovations to a group. This includes learning how to prepare and present you materials in a convincing way and how to take feedback and criticism professionally.

Creative design with Adobe Creative Cloud

Create stunning pieces of media and artwork including video production, prototype design, marketing materials, and 3D art and texturing. Gain invaluable experience and skill using the acclaimed suite of Adobe products including Premiere Pro, After Effects, Photoshop, Dimension, XD, and more.

Reporting to clients and resource management

You will be responsible for maintaining transparent communication with the client/project sponsor regularly. This includes managing their time and resources efficiently, as well as managing their expectations. You will learn how to communicate effectively to prevent over-promising and under-delivering to clients.

Operations, Sales, and Marketing

Learn how to build and manage a CRM with Salesforce, create effective email and social media marketing campaigns through Trellis, and maintain operating budget and manage purchases for the whole team.

Building portfolio and professional profile

By the conclusion of your internship experience, you will have gained numerous new skills, technological proficiencies, and projects to add to your resume or portfolio. Learn how to design a strong resume and build an online portfolio that successfully showcases your work and capabilities.

Meet the Faculty

Ash Black

Executive Director, Tech Core

Program Director, Strategic Designer: Operations and Tech pillars, Owner: Tech Pillar

Mikel Chertudi

Senior Lecturer, Business Communication

Business Communications Specialist, Community Builder, Academic Goals Steward

Gray Hunter

Lecturer in Economics

Co-owner: Data Science Pillar

Michael Mandel

Senior Lecturer, Business Communication

Business Communications Specialist, Community Builder, Academic Goals Steward

John McClintock

Academic Coordinator

Co-owner: Data Science pillar

Victoria Ogino

Program Coordinator, Tech Core

Program Manager, Owner: Creative pillar

Sangeetha Venkataramani

Director, Marketing Minor Program

Owner: Operations pillar

Today's digital economy requires a wide array of professionals, which one are you?

The Coder:

Knows their future is in code and crafting the high tech world led by Google, Amazon, Netflix, and whatever new massively successful tech giant the economy burps out this fall. Excellent team building and collaboration skills with a passion for teaching and learning from other coders as they get that this is the secret to world domination.

Enjoys: Logic, clean and well-commented code, and usually a good laugh. Loves making a machine do work for you and not the other way around. Often, also maintains a creative hobby (musician, fine or performing artist, etc…). Most certainly, new challenges.

Skills you will acquire: C#, MVC, SQL Server, API-Development, Visual Studio, and more.

Possible relevant majors: Computer Science, MIS, Engineering, and quite literally, anything/everything else.

The Creative:

Master of digital artwork, front-end design, user experience, video, copy, storytelling, messaging, and brand development.

Enjoys: Brainstorming, illustration, music, laughter, building culture, pushing the envelope, editing, and storyboarding.

Skills you will acquire: Adobe Photoshop, Premiere, XD, Illustrator, Audition, and more. Whiteboarding, and Project Management.

Possible relevant majors: Marketing & Communications, Fine Arts, English, Humanities, Anthropology.

The Data Scientist:

Enjoys wrestling with big problems that can only be resolved through the command of volumes of data and judicious use of analysis and visualization. Is tech-oriented and will readily tackle new platforms like Tableau and SQL Server.

Enjoys: Solving complex problems in Excel. Math-oriented. Loves coming out on top when faced with a tech issue.

Skills you will acquire: Advanced SQL Server for Web Applications, ETL, and visualization. Tableau. Radical Excel. D3.js.

Possible relevant majors: MBA, MIS, Computer Science.

The Entrepreneur:

Possesses passion and a drive to bring into the world a new business, venture, or solution. Leads project forward with unique skills including extreme listening, validation, public speaking, creative, and the ability to wear any damn hat required.

Enjoys: Teamwork, disruption, and the challenge of being first to market. High emphasis on Corporate Social Responsibility and seeing teammates/corporate mission/startup venture succeed.

Skills you will acquire: Leadership. Strategic thinking, business planning, validation, user experience testing, and finance modeling. Also, Adobe Creative, writing, and public speaking

Possible relevant majors: Entrepreneurship and literally, anything/everything else.

The Social Media Maven:

Lives and breathes social media with emphasis on establish genuine connections with followers while stewarding the company's online reputation and lifeline to new customers and recruits.

Enjoys: Conversation, corporate responsibility, pioneering new tech, marketing/messaging, and metrics.

Skills you will acquire: Hootsuite, photoshop, writing, premiere, public speaking, analytics and whatever new social media tech 2021 throws at us.

Possible relevant majors: Marketing & Communications, MIS, Entrepreneurship.

The Technologist:

Lives for the future of technology which by the way, is already here. Comfortable exploring immersive technologies and pioneering new modes of technologically mediated reality for education, virtual community, industry, and research.

Enjoys: Geeking and Gaming. Test driving new technology and willing to study tirelessly to keep ahead of the curve.

Skills you will acquire: Unity. Sophistication with Oculus Quest, HTC Vive, and 3D modeling. Web VR and AR, Volumetric Film, and more.

Possible relevant majors: Computer Science, Engineering, MIS. Fine Arts and Humanities.

The Sales Specialist:

Lives to solve the customer's pain point and drive the company bottom line forward, effortlessly, like a Zen Master.

Enjoys: People, Pressure, and PR.

Skills you will acquire: Professional writing, CRMs, Live Video, User Experience, and Negotiation.

Possible relevant majors: Marketing, English, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Business Communications.

Looking for an exciting new internship opportunity this summer? Join Eller Tech Core, the software, database, and emerging tech program in the heart of Eller. We have opened new positions for Data Scientists, Creatives, Sales, Social Media, and more. Work starts June 7, let us know you're in.