Computer Scientist Trainee
My experience
Overview
Parsed irregular .txt files containing airport data using regex. After getting the data in a clean, workable format, I then used python to automate mapping to an ArcGIS project.
A lot of CS majors don't consider public sector as an employer. They really ought to, as I've found I'm more valued in public sector positions than private on average. The benefits, coworkers, and higher than stereotyped salary are quite competitive! Further, my internship would have been busier, but it could take upwards of half an hour to run my mapping automation at times, due to the sheer mass of data. If I could go back in time, I'd probably try to see if data structures could be implemented in some form or fashion, or at least have spent extra time optimizing the program and cutting extraneous data.
Pros
Rarely matched scale in size of data operated on, Government benefits, Highly appreciated despite being an intern, Easy interview process, Meaningful work, Diverse set of tools exercised and learned
Cons
Remote work could feel a bit isolating at times, Did not get much opportunity to interact with coworkers outside of weekly meetings, HR was quite delayed in the hiring process
Impact of work
Time spent working
How did working remote affect your experience?
Worked quite nicely. They shipped me a laptop and all necessary equipment, while it also saved me paying for housing and relocating for a pretty short internship over my fall break.
Interview advice
How did you find the job / apply?
Interview Rounds
Interview type
Interview questions
Questions on previous work experience, Questions on what kind of projects I would be interested in, Long term goals (federal government has employees shift around a lot ; a computer scientist in the FAA could easily shift to state department, defense, Veteran's affairs, etc. and it is not looked down upon)
Advice on how to prepare
Apply on USAJobs, some federal experience helps even if it isn't technical, and I would also apply to a lot else at the same time, as their HR process is pretty delayed (I was told I'd intern in Summer 2021, but ended up interning in Winter 2021 instead because of how delayed they were)
More questions? Send the reviewer a message!