GitHub has launched a new internship programme across parts of the APAC, Latin America, and Africa regions to help students get experience by working with companies across the globe.
The GitHub Octernships programme was launched on 6 March with the aim of helping students build real-world software development experience and access to mentorship from partnered companies in tandem.
Students will be paid for the work they complete during their internship - GitHub partners must contribute a minimum stipend of $500 (£416) per month per student.
In return, students will get hands-on experience with projects impacting the industry, bolstering their CVs, and the opportunity to develop their software development skills. They’ll also be able to learn from other professional developers and industry experts, while they work.
The programme is fully remote so interns can work with companies around the world, as long as time zones align, and each project lasts between one and six months. GitHub is currently looking for open source and development projects for students to work on.
GitHub Octernships builds on a pilot programme that was launched in 2021, then called GitHub Externships, which took place in India. 62 students participated, working on projects like devising a custom blockchain consensus algorithm and creating a parser to process OpenAPI requests more rapidly.
“We have had a great experience working with the GitHub Octernships pilot programme,” said Eldad Flux, CEO at Appwrite. "The intern we selected from the previous year became an Appwrite employee and has consistently exceeded our expectations.
“The programme’s emphasis on real-world projects and evaluation of interns based on their efforts and quality of work allows us to confidently choose the best fit for our team. Overall, we highly recommend this programme to other tech companies looking to find top talent with interns.”
Octernships are being offered to students in 10 countries. These are: India, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand, Mexico, Nigeria, and Colombia.
GitHub is aiming to expand the programme to other regions, but hasn’t provided a timeline yet. IT Pro has asked the platform how many students it's planning to sign up.
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Students will only be able to apply if they’re verified on GitHub’s Global Campus and are an active contributor on the GitHub platform.
They need to be at least 18 years old and enrolled in an institution with work eligibility in one of the ten countries where the programme is available.
Companies can become a GitHub Octernship partner and access the programme’s students to take part in their projects. Once they’re a partner, they can share a problem statement or assignment which students can work on and deliver through GitHub Classroom.
Partners will then review the projects and schedule interviews to see which intern they want to sign-up to the project.
