Wikimedia Foundation Software Engineer Intern Program

The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that operates Wikipedia, a website accessed by over 1.8 billion unique devices every month. It is the only non-profit in the top 50 websites, supported by a community of millions of individual donors around the world. The foundation is looking for graduates, non-graduates, or those seeking a career change who are interested in developing software engineering skills through an immersive “learn on the job” internship program. The application deadline is November 07, 2022.

About Wikimedia Foundation Software Engineer Intern Program

As an intern, you will be embedded into an engineering team within the Product and Technology departments and assigned a primary project with clear deliverables. Alongside your manager and dedicated mentor, you will learn the inner workings of our open source code that helps to create “a world in which everyone can freely share in the sum of all knowledge”.  You will work with software that serves over half a billion page views per day through Wikipedia (and other Wikimedia projects).

The outcome of your work will impact how all people everywhere discover, share, and contribute to free knowledge. Additionally, you will have the opportunity to learn about various departments at the Foundation and connect with the wider volunteer movement and community.

Applicants who identify from a group that is underrepresented in the global conversation of technology advancement are encouraged to apply. Also, the foundation welcomes applicants from communities where access to free knowledge and Wikimedia projects are just emerging.

Wikimedia Foundation Software Engineer Intern Program Details

Successful candidates must be able to commit to a four month, 40hr/week internship which will fall between late February to early June 2023. We will provide laptops and necessary software installed for the duration of the program. This role is 100% remote, and there may be potential opportunities to participate in in-person events to meet other fellow interns and teams.

Below are the available internship opportunities:

• Site Reliability Engineering Team: The SRE Infrastructure Foundations team builds the pillars of our bare-metal infrastructure and global network, the platform, configuration management and automation tools our other SRE and development teams can rely upon.
• Research Science Team: Wikimedia Research is a team of scientists and engineers using data to understand and empower millions of readers and contributors who interact with Wikipedia and its sister projects on a daily basis.
• Growth Team: The Growth Team works to help people become Wikipedia editors by introducing learning and editing workflows that are a fit for people on all types of devices, especially those in emerging communities around the world.
• Design Systems Team & Web Team: This team is responsible for building and maintaining a design system platform for wikis that provides shared services of tools and guidelines for building user interfaces in an efficient, scalable, and equitable way.
• Community Tech Team: Community Tech is the Wikimedia Foundation team running the Community Wishlist Survey. It builds and improves curation and moderation tools for experienced users, supports bot operators, and more.
• Security Team: The Wikimedia Security team is a multidisciplinary group of security experts with specializations in fields such as privacy, application security, and threat management.
• Performance Team: The Performance Team is responsible for creating value for readers and editors by making it possible to retrieve and render content at the speed of thought, from anywhere in the world, on the broadest range of devices and connection profiles.

Eligibility Requirements for the Wikimedia Foundation Software Engineer Intern Program

You must meet the requirements below to be eligible for the intern program

• Basic experience with at least one back end or front end programming language (e.g PHP, Javascript) OR an interest in cybersecurity and/or privacy
• Basic experience with databases
• Ability to work independently and be resourceful in solving problems
• Basic experience with at least one scripting language
• Ability to stay accountable to deliverable requirements deadlines
• Effective and inclusive communication skills with diverse cultural and language communities.
• Willingness to learn, a positive attitude, and empathy
• A sense of curiosity and and hunger to learn
• The ability to flourish in a highly transparent and collaborative environment
• A desire to make meaningful contributions to knowledge equity, free culture, and open access to global education

How to Apply

For more details about the program and to submit your application, visit the intern program page.

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