IT Intern

The IT Intern program (The Program) is a program designed for current and soon to be college graduates to gain a well-rounded introduction and experience in Information Technology.  The Program will focus on one or more of the following disciplines: Application Development, Systems Engineering, and Business Analysis.   

The Program is paid internship consisting of one semester (12 to 16 weeks) focused in a discipline above or several semesters in rotation across the disciplines outlined above.  The intern will be assigned a mentor for each discipline that they work on.  The mentor will provide guidance, coaching, and training on the respective discipline.  The Program includes both training and project work.  The Intern must receive positive reviews in order to continue in the program.   

The IT Intern position is recognized as part-time employment at Assurant for the duration of the program. In order to progress beyond Internship, there needs to be a combination of exceptional performance as well as an open position that the intern could be placed into based on the discipline that best meets the skillset of the intern and the needs of the department and overall organization. 

The primary job accountabilities and responsibilities will vary depending on the discipline that the intern is engaged in.  For each discipline, job responsibilities are as follows: 

Application Development 

• Develop applications in various languages and disciplines, which may include the following areas of focus: 

• C#, VB.NET, Java 

• IDE’s – Visual Studio or Eclipse 

• Object Oriented design and development – MVC, Entity Framework 

• Web Development – HTML, CSS, JavaScript and Frameworks 

• Platforms – Windows/IIS, Unix – Unix/Apache/Tomcat 

• Test Driven Development – Nunit, Junit 

• Deployment Tools – NuGet, Ant, TFS-MSBuild 

• XML 

• Information Architecture 

• User Interface Usability and Design 

• Collaborate with business analysts and business users to ensure that development work will meet the needs and expectations of the business. 

• Research, solve for, and engage others as necessary to develop code that will result in the desired business outcome.  The intern must be able to work and think independently in order to produce working code at a reasonable pace. 

• Perform system testing on all code produced to uncover and resolve defects prior to engaging others in evaluating functionality. 

• Work through and resolve production issues for applications supported by the department or functional area. 

• Prepare documentation on work produced to ensure a smooth handoff to other developers as needed.  

Systems Engineering 

Support in-house and vendor applications, which may include the following activities: 

• Operational Support of Enterprise Applications 

• Provide day-to-day support for large scale enterprise applications utilized across the entire organization.  

• Provide analysis, design, testing, debugging, maintenance, and documentation for complex enterprise applications.  This requires expertise across multiple platforms, operating systems and tools.   Understanding of various disciplines and technologies, such as web, directory services, directory synchronization, security, databases, networking, infrastructure and application development is key. 

• Document processes and procedures of implemented changes. 

• Manage and document procedures to maintain the long-term health of applications including monitoring, auditing, disaster recovery and business continuity and security compliance 

• Offer understanding of the configuration and usage of complex enterprise applications.  

• Ensure applications and systems are maintained, secure and current. 

• Drive Successful Delivery of Application Solutions 

• Participate in focused technical teams to successfully support a small set of applications on strategic projects. 

• Ensure successful and timely delivery of vendor-based software solutions, through individual contribution, while working with cross-functional teams and acting as a technical resource. 

• Perform project requests, assignments and deliverables for platform-specific implementations.  This includes installation and maintenance of all applications and web server software, configuration of load balancers, and migration of resource and code changes as needed. 

• Successfully assist in the transition of applications from an implementation phase to ongoing support by driving the completion of appropriate documentation, monitoring configuration and support procedures. 

• Prepare documentation on work produced to ensure a smooth handoff to other system engineers as needed. 

Business Analysis 

Serve as a liaison between business areas and Information Technology on one or more projects.  Activities include: 

• Communicate with business users to understand their needs and document their requirements. 

• Translate business requirements into functional requirements and technical specifications. 

• Present requirements to developers. 

• Write test scripts, test plans and perform application testing as needed. 

• Coordinate testing among several users and keep track of results.  

• Manage defects identified through testing and ensure proper resolution. 

• Outline communication plans and manage the communication process. 

• Facilitate meetings 

• Take and distribute meeting minutes and action items. 

• Research how existing technology is used by business or IT resources and determine how changes or upgrades may impact such resources. 

• Analyze business processes and make recommendations for improvement 

• Assist project team as needed to ensure project success. 

• Work through and resolve production issues for applications supported by the department or functional area. 

• Prepare documentation on work produced to ensure a smooth handoff to other Business Analysts as needed. 

Education 

• Prefers a Bachelor's degree in one of the following areas: 

• Management Information Systems 

• Computer Science 

• Information Technology 

• Will consider candidates with a Bachelor's degree in any other STEM disciplines with a minimum 3.0 GPA and 1+ years of technical skills training. 

• For candidates nearing graduation with a Bachelor’s degree in areas as noted above, completion of the degree helps demonstrate exceptional performance for progression beyond Internship.  

Previous Experience 

• Experience attained through the successful completion of one of the Bachelor’s Degrees outlined above, including but not limited to: 

• Project Work 

• Presentations 

• Team Work 

 Knowledge and Skills 

• Knowledge and Skills attained through the successful completion of one of the Bachelor’s Degrees outlined above, including but not limited to: 

• Presentation Skills 

• Ability to meet deadlines 

• Ability to work under pressure 

• Ability to work in teams to accomplish a common goal 

• Ability to demonstrate logical thinking