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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 guides them, assigns work to them, and supervises and evaluates their work throughout their internship. This results in a real time commitment on the part of the mentor, so we expect each employee to work with only one intern at a time. 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 organization and our mission. Ultimately, we hope that successful interns will return to Tidepool either 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 during their internship. Some characteristics of good projects are:

  • Feasible with the intern’s current skills and ramp-up time (typically a few weeks)

  • Important, but not critical:

    • The project(s) must produce real results that help move us forward

    • It should not be just busywork

    • We shouldn’t bet our future on timely successful completion 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 to be able to complete their project

Some engineering examples include:

  • Tools, scripts, task automation (new or extending existing ones)

  • Small relatively independent modules, libraries, frameworks, toolkits, services

  • Data collection (e.g. sample data from medical devices with different settings)

  • Data analysis

Some non-engineering examples include:

  • Visual design production

  • Competitive analysis 

  • Market analysis 

  • Marketing automation and 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 early June and early September.

Since Tidepool is geographically distributed and remote-friendly, we are not limited to U.S. university students only or even northern hemisphere notions of summer.

Last, many universities have formal requirements for practical industry experience (co-op programs), so we may see interest throughout the year.

Compensation and Equipment

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.

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 or designated as a temporary loaner.

We do not offer lodging or travel reimbursements. Interns work remotely, same as everyone else.

Legal Limitations

Generally, we are limited to employing legal adults (minimum 18 years in most jurisdictions, 16 in 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 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. Nevertheless, it may be best to isolate their work so that it does not touch any PHI data.

Intern Impact

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:

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The content of the Tidepool Employee Handbook is licensed under a Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication.