There is a related document on the general hiring process. Even though that is primarily oriented towards industry hires, it is strongly recommended reading as most of the basic principles apply equally to interns - especially in regards to the desirable characteristics we look for in good hires. The recommended reading list in that document is an excellent resource for people who are new to hiring in general.
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We are proud of our Internship Program at Tidepool. To hire interns, we use the same process we use for hiring others at Tidepool, so we aim to have a diverse intern group and when we interview interns, we look for the same types of attributes we look for in all Tidepoolers.
Mentorship
Each intern is paired with an employee mentor who will guide, assign, supervise and evaluate guides them, assigns work to them, and supervises and evaluates their work throughout their internship. Think of the intern as a less experienced extension of yourself - and this may not be for everyone. This means This results in a real time commitment on the part of the mentor, and thus emphasis is on candidates that self-organize and self-motivate (see the hiring document). Realistically each employee can only work with so we expect each employee to work with only one intern at a time, so this also enforces . This results in an inherent upper limit on how many interns we can employ.
The mentor is critical in ensuring that the intern has a good experience and favorable impression of the company organization and our mission. Ultimately, we hope that successful interns will return back to Tidepool either as next season’s interns, later on in their academic journey (if they are summer interns), or by becoming apprentices or future full-time employees. Regardless of the outcome, hopefully they also advocate on our behalf to other candidates and the diabetes community at large.
Projects
Before hiring an intern, we think about what projects they might reasonably accomplish within a relatively short period of time (more on that below)during their internship. Some characteristics of good projects are:
Feasible with the intern’s current skills and limited ramp-up time (typically a few weeks)
Important, but not critical
Produces:
The project(s) must produce real results that help move us forward
Not It should not be just busywork
Doesn’t We shouldn’t bet the company’s our future on timely successful completion
Isolated enough
Don’t expect of the project
Stand-alone enough:
For example, we shouldn’t expect a new intern to know or learn all of our infrastructure or technology stack
Consider PHI and PII ramifications
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to be able to complete their project
Some engineering examples include:
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Visual design production
Competitive analysis
Market analysis
Marketing automation and integrated campaigns planning
In prior years Tidepool has also asked interns present an informal brown bag / birds-of-feather presentation of their work at the conclusion of their internship. Some even blog about their experience. No matter how it is delivered, this gives the interns yet another valuable opportunity to stretch their skills, in addition to helping leave us with nicely packaged results.
Timeframe
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planning integrated campaigns
Timeframe
Internships are often timed to match student holidays. Even within the U.S., the timing varies a fair bit, but typically for summer interns, it is between beginning of early June and end of August, so about 3 months. Keep this in mind when thinking about what types of projects would be feasible.That said, early September.
Since Tidepool is geographically distributed and remote-friendly, so we are not limited to U.S. based university students nor only or even northern hemisphere notions of summer. In addition
Last, many universities (e.g. RPI in NY, UWaterloo in Canada, University of Auckland in NZ) have formal requirements for practical industry experience (co-op programs), so we may see interest throughout the year.
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We offer paid internships, with pay between US$20 to US$40 per hour depending on the level of experience and years working for Tidepool. Interns report their hours every pay period to Sarah Morris (our accountant). They can make a copy of this template..
Equipment
We can provide a laptop for the interns if needed, though ideally, they use their own laptop after securing it for HIPAA compliance. If Tidepool purchases a laptop, after the internship ends it will get re-used (e.g. upgrade someone’s old laptop, replace a broken one) or designated as a temporary loaner.
We do not offer lodging or travel reimbursements. Interns work remotely, same as everyone else.
To prepare an offer for a new intern, please complete the fields in this Google Form. Follow up with Manny if you haven’t heard back within 2 business days.
Legal Limitations
Generally, we are limited to employing legal adults (minimum 18 years in most jurisdictions, 16 in some states like California) as interns, working no more than 40 hours per week. Occasionally, younger candidates such as high school/secondary school students (16-17-year-olds) may express interest in internship opportunities as well. Please contact Manny our VP of People to discuss exceptions. Depending on state regulations, interns who are minors (under 18 years of age) may require a work permit.
Meal Breaks and Rest Breaks
Under California wage and hour law, interns (non-exempt employees), must take a thirty (30) minute lunch or meal break when working more than five (5) hours in a day. This un-paid break must be taken within the first 5 hours of the workday. So, for example, if an intern starts work at 9 AM a 30-minute meal break must be taken no later than 2 PM. This can be waived if the intern is working no more than 6-hours in a day as long as there is mutual consent with the direct supervisor. If an intern is working more than 10 hours during a day the intern is entitled to a second 30-minute meal break that must be taken no later than the end of the 10th hour of work.
On-duty meal breaks are possible only in certain limited circumstances. To have an on-duty meal break, the following conditions must be met:
a. The nature of the work prevents an employee from being relieved of the duty
b. Must be agreed to in writing by employee and supervisor
c. Must be paid
d. Can be revoked at any time in writing by the employee
All Interns are permitted uninterrupted rest breaks when daily work time is at least 3.5 hours. A rest break should be in the middle of each four-hour work period. Typically a rest-break will fall on either side of a thirty-minute meal break. A ten-minute rest break is a paid period. Breaks longer than ten minutes will not be unpaid.
Other states have different meal-break regulations. Please consult with the VP of People and Finance to find out what state-specific regulations may be in practice for your internship.
Just as with regular employees, interns are subject to HIPAA requirements. In lieu of thatNevertheless, it may be best to isolate their work so that it does not touch any PHI data.
Intern Impact
Some notable past Tidepool Interns and their projects
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In prior years, Tidepool has also asked interns to do an informal brown bag / birds-of-feather presentation of their work at the conclusion of their internship. Some even blog about their experience. No matter how it is delivered, this gives the interns yet another valuable opportunity to stretch their skills, in addition to helping leave us with nicely packaged results. Here is a list of some past Tidepool Intern Alumni and their projects:
Maya Friedman shared a collaboration with Amanda Jo Fisher (Deactivated) and Former user (Deleted) about menstruation and diabetes (data). Maya came back to a full-time position on the Product/UX team at Tidepool.
Tejasvi Desai shared an overview of her work and what she learned as a Product Manager Intern. She was mentored by Kelly Watson and Amanda Jo Fisher (Deactivated).
Eden Grown-Haeberli made improvements to our marketing website , as well as documenting and documented the entire process in her first summer (as a high school student). In her second summer, she wrote additional tools that launched the Tidepool Big Data Donation program. She was mentored by Lennart Goedhart (Deactivated), and got degrees in Computer Science and Biomedical Engineering from Stanford. She’s now working at Included Health.
Anna Quinlan wrote PyLoopKit, a Python port of the Loop algorithm, and developed it into a great tool for simulating and visualizing different scenarios after graduating from high school. She was mentored in parts by Ed Nykaza (Deactivated), Pete Schwamb, and Lennart Goedhart (Deactivated), and is now a student at Stanford.
Michael Pangburn is a Loop iOS developer, mentored by Pete, and is a student at Cal Poly SLO. He interned with Apple Summer 2019, and returned to Tidepool Fall 2019-Summer 2020. In August 2020, he joined Apple full time.
Courtenay Huffman did front end Front-End work in React, mentored by Clint Beacock. We found Courtenay through the JDRF internship program.
Karina Goot wrote dfaker, a test data generator, mentored by Jana. She went on to be a site reliability engineer Site Reliability Engineer at Google, and is now at Lyft.
In his first summer, Ethan Look wrote the first version of Tidepool Mobile for iOS (formerly known as Blip Notes, without really having a mentor, which wasn't great…) during his first summer internship. In his next summer, he wrote command line data tools that later turned into the TBDDP, mentored by Brandon Arbiter. He 's now at Google.Michael Pangburn is a Loop iOS developer, being mentored by Pete, and is a student at Cal Poly SLO. He's interned with Apple Summer 2019, and is now back with Tidepool Fall 2019-Spring 2020, then is returning full time to Apple.went on to work at Google/X and is now at Viam.
Nancy Kao, a design intern, produced this awesome video. She was mentored by Sara Krugman.
After graduating from high school, Anna Quinlan wrote PyLoopKit, a Python port of the Loop algorithm, and developed it into a great tool for simulating and visualizing different scenarios. She was mentored in parts by Ed, Pete, and Lennart, and is now a student at Stanford.
JP Reilly, a student at Stanford, prototyped the web UI for prescription flow. He was mentored by Thacher Hussain (Deactivated) and Kelly .
Back to: Tidepool Employee Handbook
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Noah Brauner, a software engineering intern, created the Favorite Foods feature for Loop under the mentorship of Pete Schwamb in the summer of 2023. He came back to Tidepool in the summer of 2024 to build on that feature by providing users with insights on their favorite foods.
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