Internships and Jobs

This page is designed to help CS students focus on the events, listings, and resources that align with their chosen field. Undergraduates are encouraged to complete at least two internships before graduation—for skill development as well as a competitive edge in the full-time job search. The Engineering Career Center (ECC) is here to help you along the way! Visit us early (and often) to make the most of our resources and our dedicated staff.

The U.S. Digital Corps is is a two‑year fellowship to launch your career at the intersection of technology and public service. The initiative was launched in 2021 and offers seeking early-career technologists with skill sets in software engineering, data science and analytics, product management, design, and cybersecurity to work on high-impact projects across government. Fellows work on improving the customer experience of government, enhancing agency cybersecurity, improving public health, and more. The 2024 cohort will start in August 2024.

The Digital Corps offers in‐person, hybrid, and remote opportunities across the country, and Fellows can convert to a full‐time career position upon successful completion of the two-year program. Washington, D.C.-based Fellows will have a starting total salary above $86,000. Applications for the 2024 cohort have closed.

The mini-profiles below offer a few examples of the thousands of rewarding careers pursued by alumni of UIC’s undergraduate program in computer science.

Software development engineer
Amazon

How did your UIC CS major prepare you for your job? CS technical electives gave me the foundation I needed to solve real-world problems in industry. They improved my critical thinking and problem-solving skills. They also required us to collaborate with a team, which is an important skill in the working world.

What kind of work experience did you get as a student? As an intern at Amazon, I had the chance to work on pricing software that receives 13 billion requests per year.

Favorite CS course: CS 341 Programming Language Design and Implementation. I had the opportunity to learn multiple languages, databases, data modeling, transforming data, and creating visualization apps based on datasets.

Any advice for incoming UIC CS students? Choose a specialization. Become an expert in it and commit to it, whether it’s data science, artificial intelligence, machine learning, cloud computing, or something else. Gain lots of hands-on experience outside classes via your own projects, volunteerism, or internships. Attend tech conferences and join tech communities: student organizations, meetups, or hackathons. Be proactive toward your career and build a personal brand by talking to recruiters, attending career fairs, and consistently updating your portfolio.

Software engineer
Google

The UIC advantage: From professors to teaching assistants to the Engineering Career Center, UIC genuinely wants each student to succeed. Having a great support system was the first step. Second were the soft skills. In addition to technical skills, I learned how to manage time, prioritize between tasks, and collaborate on projects, all of which immensely helped me in the working world.

Is diversity important in computer science? Yes! We all have different ways of viewing the world, and we’re all unique in our own individual ways. By diversifying the tech world, we create more inclusive technologies for our community.

Words of advice for new CS students: Go for it! Computer science is a beautiful major that gives you the knowledge to create tools to help our community. It’s a wonderful balance between innovation and creativity. Technology is everywhere, so even if you don’t end up pursuing a career related to the major, the skills you learn are still very valuable to have. When starting off, start slow: ensure you completely understand the CS basics. This will help you build your toolkit smoothly from there. I believe in you. You got this!

Software Engineer
Discover

What are some of your day-to-day tasks? Writing code, prepping for product installs, and learning about and implementing security tools. I’m a part of the Ninjitsu team at Discover, and I work on the web platform using Java.

What’s great about your job? The culture at Discover was the main factor that made me want to work here in the first place. Everyone is kind, professional, and understanding. Also, I’m learning a lot in a short amount of time, so it’s great for growth.

What was the most valuable student organization you joined, and why? Black Tech Scholars because it brought awareness to the fact that there are people like me who want to help people like me. Now, I have a strong feeling of needing to pay back that effort.

Would you recommend the College of Engineering to new applicants? If so, why? Yes. If you want a challenge to grow and to succeed in life, then UIC is the perfect place for you. There’s so much to learn, so many people to meet, and so many opportunities to come from the experience that it’s a no-brainer to recommend the College of Engineering.

Program Manager
AstrumU

What are some of your day-to-day tasks? I talk with people to solve their problems and keep work moving forward. I sometimes get clarification from one person or need to gather a group to decide how we’ll tackle a problem. I balance priorities between developers, data scientists, product managers, and sales managers in planning workloads. I collaborate with others to define company road maps and goals in a language that crosses technical and non-technical teams. I maintain internal tools that help the engineering team move smoothly.

What was your favorite course? CS 450 Introduction to Networking. It has a lot of fun concepts and leaves you wondering how it all works. The course was tough, but I took it with friends, and we studied and struggled together. After the course, I learned that I don’t want to specialize in networking or work on it day-to-day, but I enjoy discussing concepts and seeing how networking relates to everything in technology.

What was the most valuable student organization you joined, and why? The Association for Computing Machinery. This is where I met friends when I first joined UIC. I found people with similar interests, peers in my classes to study with, and events where I could learn more about the technical field. In my third and fourth years, I was vice president and president, respectively. I learned more about leadership, interfaced with external companies and university staff, and got to welcome students to the organization who reminded me of myself when I joined UIC.

Fun fact about you that few people are aware of: I play Magic the Gathering limited format. I’ve been to Grand Prix in Seattle and Portland and played against the director of Magic R&D in a random matchup.