Information Technology Internships and Vacation Programs

IT Internships and Vacation Programs

For those seeking to set themselves up for a successful career in the burgeoning IT industry, an internship or vacation program is the perfect preparation – enabling a student to apply and develop their skills in a practical workplace setting. Because information technology has become so crucial to all aspects of modern commerce, there are a wide variety of opportunities available to IT students, particularly in the financial services and banking industries (since digital technology enables almost all of their business transactions), but also within major services, FMCG, transport, hospitality, non-profit, manufacturing, energy and mining companies. Even government departments seek out IT students for vacation programs.

Vacation Programs

While both vacation programs and internships are similar in that they involve work at a real-life organisation, vacation programs are more highly advanced, structured and desirable. Vacation work for an IT intern may take place across various functions of an organisation, often depending on the stream or specialisation chosen by the student at application. For example, Suncorp Bank’s IT vacation program gives the student the opportunity to work in areas such as business intelligence, software and systems engineering and business analysis; while Boeing offers its IT interns work in app development, network design, information protection and systems architecture. Unlike “ordinary” internships, which often involve very little “real” work and instead involve lots of coffee runs and photocopying, vacation programs are designed specifically to give the intern a useful, challenging and relevant experience with real responsibilities. They also often involve lots of social activities, team building and sometimes even travel. This is because vacation programs are essentially recruitment strategies for the organisation – giving them a chance to both “sell” themselves to the best and brightest new talent in the job market, and to test students in workplace situations and company culture to ensure they would be a good fit. Assuming good performance, at the conclusion of the vacation program, most students will receive an offer to become part of the graduate program the following year.

Although some organisations operate on a “rolling recruitment” basis and offer work throughout the winter vacation, the most common type of vacation program is the summer vacation program, which typically runs for up to twelve weeks from late November to early March. The organisations offering these programs invite applications from students in their penultimate year. Applications begin to open in June-July and close a month or so afterwards. It is important for an applicant to check the dates so as not to miss out.

For more information on the differences between internships and vacation programs, and for tips on how to successfully apply to these programs, check out our general internships and vacation programs guide.

More information about graduate programs in information technology can be found here.