Internship

The course for internship is CS1903.  Note that this course counts as a free elective and cannot be used as an upper level elective.  The course does count towards your GPA and major GPA.  (Credits 1-3)

Internships allow you to gain experience by working in the field of computer science.  You can work at an internship even if you choose not to take it as a course at UPJ.  You only need to register for the course if you want UPJ credit.  Internships require that the intern must be supervised under a senior level staff experienced in software development.   


- Internship must be directly related to computer science and should involve at least one of the following:
Software requirements
Software design
Software development
Software testing
Software maintenance
Coding


Note that the following does not count for internship for computer science:

  • Information Technology
  • Computer repair, troubleshooting, network installation, operating system installation/upgrading
  • Retail Sales


In order to receive credit, your supervisor should send the Internship Statement and Internship Summary items to the current internship faculty adviser and register for the course CS1903.  ( bilitski@pitt.edu )  

 

Note that internships should be paid positions.  Any unpaid positions MUST comply to US Labor laws and must pass the "Primary Beneficiary Test"  https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/WHD/legacy/files/whdfs71.pdf

 

Internship Statement - Prior to starting internship - Short summary of internship.  Include the company background, nature of business of the company and the type of work the student will perform.     Please be sure to include the contact information of the internship supervisor. The internship credit will be denied if it does not fall within the scope of computer science.  This is due no later than 1 week into the term.

Internship Summary - At end of Internship -  Short summary of completion of internship   addressing
Company work/tasks/objectives completed by the student
Evaluation of the student performance based on technical knowledge, accountability, and completion of tasks.
Any other information supervisor would like to offer
This is due no later than the first day of finals week.
Note that this summary is a direct confidential contact between the supervisor and internship faculty adviser.  The intern's supervisor should NOT provide a copy of this letter to the intern.
The internship faculty adviser will evaluate the student performance based on the documentation received and assign a letter grade.   The student is responsible for communicating to his/her supervisor ensuring that the Internship Statement and Summary are received by the faculty adviser to receive a passing grade.

Assistantship

The course for Assistantship is CS1171.  Note that this course counts as a free elective and cannot be used as an upper level elective.  The course does count towards your GPA and major GPA.  (Credits 1-3)

This course is designed to accommodate students who wish to participate in laboratory consulting, teaching projects, and software systems implementations not associated with any other meaningful computer science-related activities on campus.

Here are the steps to taking Assitantship

  1. Register for the course.
  2. Notify the professor teaching assistantship.  Note that you make be working with various professors.
  3. Schedule weekly times that you and your professor can meet.

Examples of assitantships include

  • Tutoring
  • Lab tutoring
  • Computer Science Lab management
  • Development of tools, scripts, etc. for instructional purposes. 

Directed Study

The course for Directed Study  is CS1904.  Note that this course counts as a free elective and cannot be used as an upper level elective.  The course does count towards your GPA and major GPA.  (Credits 1-3)

The purpose of the Directed Study course is to work either independently or with a professor on a project.

Possible ideas for directed projects

  • Extend a project you did in a course
  • Learn a new technology
  • Conduct basic research
  • Assist a professor in research

     

Here are the steps for completing a directed study

  1. Find a professor to supervise your project.  It can be any UPJ computer science professor.  (It does not have to be the professor listed in the course schedule).
  2. Establish a project.
  3. Establish milestones.
  4. Complete the miles and project
  5. Professor will assign a grade according your project and milestones.

Hints

  1. Stay in contact with your professor.
  2. Work with your professor to establish challenging but achievable milestones.
  3. Notify your professor of any roadblocks