Intel internship gives students a taste of the tech capital

Two recent graduates from RMIT’s School of Media and Communication were selected for the Intel Production Corps (IPC) program in their final year of study in 2016.

The partnership with Intel and universities from Australia (RMIT and UTS), the UK and the US, is open to undergraduate and postgraduate students in relevant disciplines.

Andy McCallum in the Bachelor of Communication (Media) and Jake Emmett in the Bachelor of Arts (Music Industry) spent September to December in paid internships from Intel, which also covered their housing costs.

In the program, students work in teams for the media production division of Intel’s in-house advertising agency, Agency Inside, in roles such as producer and editor, and in areas as diverse as animation/motion/VFX and sound design. 

Yogiraj Graham, Director of Production, Intel Global Production Labs, said the goal of the IPC program is to integrate students into the production workflow, so they can really experience the pace and process of agency life. 

“We of course take time to explain and educate the team, but we also have high expectations of them,” he said. 

“Andy came in with some background in short-form documentary storytelling that I think he was able to leverage very successfully, and, coupled with his optimistic attitude and generally flexible nature, he flourished here. 

“During his time with us, Andy and the rest of our Fall IPC team worked on a couple of projects by themselves, with supervision, but also had a chance to shadow or contribute to a variety of projects that Intel Global Production Labs created.” 

McCallum said he felt incredibly lucky to have worked for such fresh and exciting company in the tech capital of the world, San Francisco. 

“I think more than anything it is important to stress that we were given real projects with real budgets and deadlines to deliver on – we weren't simply given menial tasks,” he said.

“Feeling the team of interns grow and mature into our roles throughout the program was one of the more rewarding aspects of the experience – the confidence and conviction of our production team grew leaps and bounds over the course of three months. 

“We got to experience and play with all sorts of gadgets – VR, drones, depth perception cameras … it was really cool to experience day-to-day life in such a cutting-edge company!”

Emmett, who studied two vocational education music industry programs at RMIT before embarking on his degree, worked under the guidance of Intel’s in-house sound engineer during his internship.

“Someone who’s established and experienced in a field like this is one of the most valuable resources you can have when interning,” he said. 

“Having the ability to bounce ideas and questions off them, then immediately apply that knowledge to a real project was the biggest thing that I took away from the internship.

“It’s why trades and vocational education are so important; they allow you to focus on how a task is done and the most effective way for you to perform it.

“The Certificate IV and Advanced Diploma of Music Industry (Sound Production) at RMIT are both programs that I’ve been through, and working at Intel and in my own professional pursuits, it’s been rare for me to be out of my depth thanks to the training I got in these programs.” 

An Intel representative recently visited RMIT to host an information session for the next intake, which begins midyear and will be extended from three to six months in 2017.