Melbourne IT graduate internship program Tin Alley has introduced a new winter program that places 10 interns in brand new companies, the significant difference to its summer program being that these interns aren’t paid.
The original Tin Alley internship program paired students to five paid internships in rapidly growing startups and will run again later in the year.
The new program for Melbourne University IT students will still follow the same rigorous selection process to partner developers, UX enthusiasts and data science students seeking entrepreneurial experience with the companies in the upcoming third intake of the Melbourne University Accelerator Program (MAP).
The students will spend one or two days a week for 10 weeks in the program.
Internship program coordinator Miguel Wood told StartupSmart the new program is unpaid so as not to eat into limited capital, with MAP startups that the interns work with receiving $20,000 in seed funding. He says students will be paid in hands-on experience and support.
Wood says they wanted to create a clearer pathway for students interested in entrepreneurial careers.
“We think we’ll get different applicants, who are newer to startups with this program,” Woods says. “This is to help people explore startups and the first step in the pathway.”
Five startups were selected for the summer program, including 99designs and Eventarc. Tweaky – now called Elto – had to pull out due to scheduling issues.
All four students completed their internships. Daniel William interned at 99designs during the program and was hired after it finished.
Applications for the winter Tin Alley program close on July 16. Shortlisted candidates will be interviewed on July 22 with the internships beginning on July 28.
Rose is the current head of growth at Rampersand Ventures. She was formerly a reporter at StartupSmart.
