ScriptEd Internships

One of the questions I get a lot from people about our K12 Computer Science Education work is “where are the pathways to a job?” and right now there aren’t enough of them. Some of it is that not enough students have the skills that employers want in an employee or an intern. But some of it is that we haven’t built enough of these pathways. We are fixing both of these issues and I am very confident that within a few years we will have thousands of students a year in NYC that have the appropriate skills to get a software engineering job or internship and we will also have built the programs to connect these students with these employers and these jobs.

But in the interim there is ScriptEdScriptEd creates pathways to careers in tech for youth at under-resourced high schools. In 30 schools around the city, students take a year-long class which covers HTML, CSS, and Javascript and is taught by software developers who volunteer their time twice weekly. ScriptEd also offers an Advanced Class for second- and third-year students, hosted at companies around the city.

One of the most unique and impactful components of ScriptEd’s work is their internship program. In the summers, students put their skills to work in paid internships at companies like About.com, Rent the Runway and Thrillist. This year, ScriptEd aims to place over 120 highly qualified interns, giving these students real-life opportunities to launch careers in tech.

This is where you come in: ScriptEd is growing fast and has many qualified students seeking internship opportunities. In order to expand the internship program, they need to find new companies to host student interns. ScriptEd is looking to partner with companies with at least 40 NYC-based employees and at least 3-4 developers on staff. Companies commit to host students for 5 weeks, from July 11th to August 12th, to pay students a stipend, and to provide mentorship as the students work on projects.

Participation in ScriptEd’s internship program is an investment in NYC’s tech community. This is a concrete way for companies to help create a larger, more diverse tech talent pipeline, all while offering students a life-changing opportunity.

In addition to contribution to a long-term solution to the tech talent shortage, there are immediate returns on company investment:

  • Employee Development: 87% of volunteer teachers say they are better at their jobs as a result of volunteering with ScriptEd.

  • Past internship partners report that team members working with interns gain management skills, critical experience learning how to explain technical concepts clearly in plain English, and exposure to diversity.

  • Employee Retention: 91% of ScriptEd’s volunteer teachers feel that they have made a significant and meaningful impact on their students’ lives. Internship partners report that team members enjoy the creative outlet of working on new and interesting projects with the students, and feel pride in sharing their passion for technology with the next generation.

To learn more about ScriptEd internships or sign up to host, contact Kate Holzman at kate@scripted.org. You can also check out their Internship Brochure and Annual Report.

#hacking education

Comments (Archived):

    1. fredwilson

      where do you find these things?

      1. JimHirshfield

        The interwebs

        1. jason wright

          …where?

    2. jason wright

      i’ll raise you…the latest in incubator technology.

    3. kidmercury

      i see your “what if i told you” meme and counter with a “one does not simply” meme

      1. JimHirshfield

        Call you with a “please tell me more” meme

    4. Vasudev Ram

      Coincidentally, I posted this just yesterday, in the context of motivating a couple of my Python programming students:Motto for Python newbies:http://jugad2.blogspot.in/2…Also see the links at the bottom of that post.

      1. Vasudev Ram

        And the picture:

        1. Lawrence Brass

          I am a believer of Gladwell’s 10.000 hours theory, but also think that the quality of those hours specially at the beginning of the process is very important and usually can make a difference.

  1. awaldstein

    This is a big deal Fred. Well done!

  2. Rob Underwood

    Hats off to the wonderful organization that Maurya, Becca, Kate, and the rest of the team at ScriptEd have built. Tremendous.The right response by leaders of tech companies reading this post is to send a note to Kate today saying “How can we help?” Everyone can help and everyone must. This is a great cause. We all benefit by giving these students a chance to get real word experience through which to further develop their skills.In other words, Just Do It.

  3. Sebastien Latapie

    Really cool to see the stats for th employers/employees!

  4. William Mougayar

    It reminds me of a mini version of what the University of Waterloo does in their well known co-op program. The benefits are very simple from both sides:1/ As an employer, you get a pretty good return, because you typically pay less, but some of these kids will deliver work that’s as good as your current developers.2/ For the students, this experience adds-up to their resume, so when they graduate, they already have some work experience, which makes them more employable.Finally, some of them will return for a 2nd term, or will even get hired by these employers later. The internship is like a “try before you buy” on both sides.

    1. JimHirshfield

      Are you an alum of Univ of Waterloo?

      1. William Mougayar

        Not as a graduating student, but as an employer, we’ve hired from their Co-op program about 10-12 times, over the years.

    2. creative group

      William Mougayar:Former Toronto Mayor and Ward Council Member Rob Ford dies from Cancer.http://finance.yahoo.com/ne

      1. William Mougayar

        Yup. And yesterday Andy Grove died. And this morning, 34 dead in Belgium. Sad.

        1. creative group

          William Mougayar:Our first post yesterday we acknowledged Andy Groves death. Revisit post.

  5. Kate_ScriptEd

    Thanks again for your support, Fred!

    1. William Mougayar

      Curious why the 40-employee minimum? And why only 5 weeks?As a reference, the Waterloo co-op program doesn’t have a limit. Many 5-7 employee startups would hire them, and arguably students can learn more, and make more of an impact on smaller teams.On the 5 week thing, it takes about 2 weeks to get someone ramped-up, so you’re only getting 3 weeks worth.Just offering some feedback, based on my experience with the Waterloo co-op program. You may have already thought about these variables.

      1. Kate_ScriptEd

        Good questions: the 40-employee minimum is not a hard and fast rule, but we’ve found that teams of that size and larger are more likely to have the bandwidth to feel comfortable hosting interns. Regarding the 5 week timeframe, it’s mainly related to students’ summer schedules and the length of their vacations. There’s also a week prior to the start of the internships that students spend with us doing a bootcamp to prepare, so in total it’s a 6 week program this year.

      2. Cam MacRae

        It is a pretty odd requirement given they require only 3-4 developers — these are “computer science” internships after all.

  6. Bill Seliger

    Are there any organizations that do work like this in Chicago?

  7. laurie kalmanson

    this is awesome. related: let’s build linkedin for internships — paying only

  8. pointsnfigures

    On a bit of a tangent, I have a friend that started a school in a poor neighborhood. 100% of the graduates get into college. But lots of them were dropping out. The reason was they had no family network to help them navigate little problems that came up when they went away to school. Little problems became huge issues that caused them to drop out-problems like, there wasn’t a book for sale in the bookstore or my govt check is late.When they set up a mentorship network, those issues largely went away.I notice that this is only available in NYC. Too bad. I also think it’s a great idea to limit it to companies that have 40 employees or more, because they will have the bandwidth to mentor.Mentorship is so key.

  9. creative group

    BLOG:Wanted to acknowledge a great contributor to technology who was lost yesterday.Andy Grove former Co-Founder/CEO of Intel and 1996 Time Person of the Year.His book “Only the Paranoid Survive” was a great read. RIP Andy Grove!http://www.cnet.com/news/an

    1. Vasudev Ram

      I have read it. Found it interesting. His story about how they handled the challenge of the Japanese beating them at memory chip production was interesting. IIRC they moved fully into processors. Other good stuff in the book too.

  10. Richard

    Let’s not forget to teach them about people like Andy Grove and the world of research intensive startups and the role that education plays in these areas. The success rate may be no better than soft science startups (uber for x, messaging for y, selling z) but if you want a very defensible start up, have it rooted in engineering and science.

  11. JLM

    .The model of co-op education, particularly in the traditional engineering disciplines like civil engineering, has been around for a long time. It is a very good model.At the end of the day, there is huge merit in training someone for a specific job. From a social engineering perspective, the challenge is simple — Is this going to result in a tax payer being produced?For many more saintly educators, the notion of training to a job will grate on their ear with a notion that the nation should allow unlimited poets. I fall back on the painfully simple and obvious: How many ads were out there today for poets?Like so many things, this is an opportunity to create linkages amongst programs. If one recalls the H-1B discussion from the other day, the premise was that the educational system was not producing enough graduates of a certain type. [A total lie BTW.]The H-1B visa program mandates a college graduate. The foreign worker must have an undergraduate degree.This is a way to tie two ends of the same pipeline together but it requires starting fairly further back in the pipeline. A splash of honesty and a thimbleful of discipline.This is a specific example of how gov’t could facilitate the creation and filling of jobs. Even better if gov’t gets out of the way and let’s the pot boil without its interference.A good way to counter the poorly educated, ill-informed sinners sweeping the country, no?JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

    1. Rohan

      Ha. I am hoping to stay in the country post graduation on an H1-B.Must admit it does hurt a bit to be called a poorly educated, ill-informed sinner. 🙂

      1. JLM

        .I favor that description over being characterized as a “low energy” guy which is, apparently, fatal.OTOH, I have not really cared what anyone else thinks about me for a substantially long time.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…

  12. William Mougayar

    Hmm. Me too. Done it 10 times. You set them up & they learn & the good ones are productive in 1 week. It pays back. Of course , we’ve had a couple of bad ones, and they are a drain or neutral. But you take action. They allow you to let them go if it doesn’t work out.

  13. William Mougayar

    In our case, the co-op program is for both- company and students. It’s not a museum visit or extended field trip. The vast majority work out well 90%+.Maybe for this high school program, it’s more about the kids than the company, but still- if they don’t contribute to real work, how good is that experience?

  14. Erica Wong

    The program is beneficial to not only the students, but also the developer managing the student and the company. For the company, you have an opportunity to develop your employees and retain your employees. It’s the perfect chance to groom junior developers for management roles, improve technical skills by teaching students, and invest employees. Millenials love working at socially minded companies. 🙂 Students get mentors, skills, and experience. Win-win-win!

  15. PhilipSugar

    See my comment below.

  16. Erica Wong

    Full disclosure: I work at ScriptEd as a program manager with our incredibly dedicated volunteers and students! It is definitely a long-term investment in the tech talent pipeline, but companies get to position themselves among other socially-minded companies that value diversity.

  17. William Mougayar

    Yup!

  18. PhilipSugar

    Love the program. Agree with everything you say. Cranky old man alert: Millennials need to figure out who is signing the front of the check and who is signing the back. See my comment below.

  19. PhilipSugar

    You know I am going to strongly take the con. First I believe in at least a three month internship. Second, I believe in paying at least $15/hr. Third, if somebody is not working out, now is the time to find it an have each party assess why.I’ll give you a concrete example. I remember one class where we had three interns. Bob ended up working full time two years later, Ryan ended up taking a job at Morgan Stanley and has done great. Kevin did not work out. He liked spending time at the beach and screwing off more than he liked working with us. He asked us for a letter of recommendation. Jim told him he would have fired him except that I said he only has four more weeks left. It was a giant wake up call. To his credit he came back in and thanked us for the feedback.This is the HUGE problem I have with everybody is successful, everybody is smart, everybody gets a trophy. Find out when the consequences are minimal. Don’t put that internship on your resume. Its much better than explaining why you got fired from a full time job.

  20. William Mougayar

    Obviously, I agree with you, more than you agree with yourself.