Software Engineer Intern

 

Looking for 2 interns to join our team at the DSE!
 

What? 

An opportunity for you to build out your software engineering skills and contribute towards environmental protection by building an app with an Indigenous tribe and our team of environmental data scientists!

As part of a collaboration with a partner tribe, the Indigenous Environmental Stewardship group at the DSE has been developing an application to aid in the tribe’s classification of camera trap wildlife images. This data serves to inform decision-making around wildlife protection zones, fire management practices, and other tribal environmental stewardship decisions. In this internship, you will work closely with the app's codebase, developing new features and focusing on understanding, documenting, and refactoring existing code. You will incorporate design principles that emphasize ethical data usage, with particular attention to Indigenous data sovereignty. The project may also involve interleaving a computer vision functionality into the app.

This is a paid position.
 

Why? 

80% of the world’s biodiversity is in the hands of Indigenous communities. Yet, Indigenous communities have limited capacity and bandwidth, as well as financial means and technical support. Technical tools can support and scale Indigenous efforts by facilitating repetitive tasks (such as sorting images), consequent decision-making (through data analysis and visualization), and external recognition of Indigenous sovereignty and stewardship. Our hope is to support this important work.
 

When? 

ASAP. Initially for the fall semester, with a possibility of extension.
 

Responsibilities:

  • Communicate clearly with the DSE team and with our Tribal partner.
  • Understand our existing codebase, ask questions.
  • Build out code documentation.
  • Build out features for the app.
  • Refactor code and keep track of future refactoring needs.
  • Build out CI/CD tests (potentially).
  • Collaborate closely on this with a fellow intern, as well as a senior data scientist intern, a data scientist, a postdoc, a senior program manager on the team, and our tribal collaborators. 
     

Skills you’ll build:

  • Collaborating with an interdisciplinary team, including Indigenous biologists, software engineers, post docs, and other students.
  • Python coding.
  • Code documentation and best practices.
  • Git, Github and collaboration.
  • Software design.
  • Ethical design.
  • App deployment.
  • Wildlife monitoring data analysis.
  • Understanding and possibly implementing computer vision workflows.
     

What we’re looking for:

  • Drive to learn.
  • Strong communication.
  • Collaborative.
  • Independent.
  • Experience with coding, Python preferred.
  • Experience with prioritization.
  • Some experience using git / github preferred—let us know if you have code projects up on github!
  • Have fun!


We’re looking for people with creativity, passion, and teamwork. You're encouraged to apply even if your experience doesn't fully match the job description. We seek diverse perspectives and people who step outside of the box. We are committed as a team to fostering an inclusive, supportive environment for you to learn and grow into your dream career.
 

Application process

To apply, please submit your resume, a cover letter, and if you have code repositories on e.g. GitHub/GitLab/Google Drive, include the link in your resume. Please send materials to Magali de Bruyn at debruyn@berkeley.edu with the following subject line: DSE Intern Application for IES. Let us know if you have any questions.

 

Application support (Berkeley students)

 

The application is on a rolling basis – apply when you can; we will be doing a first review of applications by the 20th of September. Looking forward to reading yours!