The “Internship Linking Service” (ILS) for FIRST Robotics Teams in the greater Atlanta Area aims to provide high school students with the opportunity to experience careers in engineering while still in high school. What is unique about ILS is that the pool of students already have experience in industry related technologies. This service provides a focused cohort of students from which companies can search from who have experience building, programming, presenting, and collaborating.

There are a large number of high school students around Atlanta with FIRST FRC experience who would welcome a summer internship in a science or technology field but have difficulty finding such opportunities.

Likewise, there are many organizations interested in sponsoring one or more summer interns that do not have an easy and effective way to find the candidates. Our mission is to provide the missing link and to expand this service to other regions throughout the FIRST community.

As a student who has participated in FIRST, you have experience that companies are interested in nurturing. High school students like you with FIRST FRC experience would welcome a summer internship in a science or technology field but may have had difficulty finding such opportunities. Likewise, there are many corporations interested in sponsoring one or more summer interns that do not have an easy and effective way to find the candidates. Our mission is to provide the missing link and to expand this service to other regions throughout the FIRST community.

To sign-up, enter all information into the database and designate a coach or mentor who will verify your information. Parents will also be contacted to verify the information. The corporation seeking to sponsor a summer intern can then select the students they prefer to consider for their intern candidates. From there on, it is up to the team member and the corporation to coordinate future communications. If a student is selected for an internship, they must agree to complete a survey and summary of their experience.

For students who have been involved with FIRST Robotics, Companies are seeking to employ students who have had experience with Programming, building, Business, and CAD. When a student signs up in the database, no information is released to companies until you and the Robotics coach confirm and verify the information. Once both the parent and coach confirm the information, and you give the consent, companies are able to search the database of students and then e-mail if they would like to contact the student. Companies can only access the database once they have completed a background check and after they have been thoroughly researched and verified by the WiredCats mentors and Business Team.

There are a large number of high school students with FIRST Robotics experience who would welcome a summer internship in a science or technology field but have difficulty finding such opportunities. Students who have participated in FIRST have had the unique opportunity to not only design and build, but they also have experience with CAD: Software - Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk 3DsMax, Solidworks, wiring the robot, WebSite design, Programming in C++ or Lab View. In addition, team members are Team Strategists, organize Outreach and Fundraising activities, coordinate Public Relations with the community and maintain the Finances of the team. FRC team members also have developed strong Business experience. Many students even have their OSHA certifications. In other words, these are the future engineers that you may employ at your company. If the corporation selects a student, the student’s supervisor must complete a survey on the students performance.