You Should Be a PolicyMap Intern

PolicyMap is looking for interns. People who like data, like maps, and aren’t afraid of a little bit of coding. Maybe know a little SQL, maybe worked a bit with Access, maybe excel at Excel. Ever look at a map, and then realize you’ve lost the last half hour of your life? Then consider being a PolicyMap intern.

As soon as they arrive, our interns are part of the data team, discussing new indicators, offering input, processing data, and writing blog posts. They’re given guidance, but also independence to complete projects that interest them, and when they’re done, the data goes online.

As an intern, you learn a lot of fun stuff. We spend a lot of time writing SQL code to process our databases. We have weekly meetings with the whole data team to go over tips for working in SQL. Often these meetings have ice cream. Interns also get to geocode, which is basically spending hours searching maps for specific places. It’s part scavenger hunt, part Lewis and Clark-style exploring (no exaggeration at all). You learn a lot about American geography. And most importantly, with this internship, you learn great organizational and workflow skills that can help you with all sorts of other things in life (it’s been great for my photography hobby).

We asked one of our outgoing interns, Adam, to write a bit about his experience:

“It has been a great experience.  I’ve learned how to harness my query writing skills to submit datasets to my whim, how to geocode points in any corner of this country, and how to present information in a way that is useful to people. There has been an explosion in the amount of data available, but it takes a delicate hand to extract something valuable from it.”

So what does it take to be a PolicyMap intern? We love it when our interns come in with some experience using Excel, Access, SQL, ArcMap, and/or the internet. But some of our best interns didn’t have all these skills when they started, but they had a good working aptitude for technology, and an enthusiasm to learn these different platforms. Also, interns with good writing skills are great contributors to the blog.

Chances are, if you’re a student reading our blog, you’re probably a good candidate to be our intern. Or, if you’re a professor, or know some students that might like working here, pass this on to them. Click here to see the job posting, with information on how to apply.

Also, it’s a really good internship if you like ice cream.