Last week, we welcomed 40 college students to Microsoft New England for their summer internships in our Foundry Program. Entering our third summer in Cambridge, we are thrilled to have this year’s class join us. These 40 interns hail primarily from local universities – MIT, Harvard, Wellesley, Tufts, Brown, Brandeis, WPI and Dartmouth – but also come from further afield. Students from UC Berkeley (the other Berklee), Georgia Tech, Princeton, Waterloo and others have travelled to our fair city to join us for the summer.
In addition to the Foundry program here in Cambridge, this summer Microsoft launched another in Vancouver Canada. Based on the program that we created here at NERD in 2012, the Vancouver Foundry extends our approach to another coast and country.
The Foundry isn’t your average summer internship; Foundry interns build and ship real apps for Microsoft’s most important platforms. Starting with a simple idea, Foundry teams work together to define and build their app, going from that initial idea to a shipping app by the end of their 12-week internship. Search for “foundry” in the Windows or Windows Phone store to see apps from previous Foundry sessions. We’re excited to see what new app the interns dream up this summer!
This summer, Foundry interns will be building Universal apps, the technology that Microsoft announced earlier this year that enables developers to build a single app that targets both Windows and Windows Phone (and Xbox One in the future). The interns will also be working closely with teams across Microsoft, including Office, Visual Studio, and Azure.
The students will work in teams of five with coaching from Microsoft engineers. The Foundry uses an agile development process, iterating weekly to give interns the chance to get feedback and adjust quickly, as well as lots of opportunities to practice costing and presenting. The students will also fly to our Redmond campus in July to engage in Microsoft’s Intern Week. In Redmond, students will exchange long hours of developing and designing for a surprise signature event, talks and activities with Microsoft leaders, and insight into how Microsoft employees can have an impact at scale.
The Foundry is part of our commitment to give more students STEM opportunities in Boston. We hope the program will only grow in size and inclusiveness each year, so that many more students can pursue their passions for software, design and change-the-world technology.