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While Boise is only home to 606,000 people, it is the largest urban area in the state of Idaho and the largest city in the Rocky Mountain states, outside of Colorado. While it has been a relatively unknown quantity as far as places to live in the past go, this is starting to change, as TIME magazine has recently recognized Boise for “getting it right”, as the city's tech scene, thriving culture, and outstanding natural surroundings have made it a place to be in the United States in the 2010's.
Lying on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains, and near many outdoor recreation opportunities as a result, Boise has the makings of a city where one can explore internship possibilities, all while having an active social life on the weekends.
What’s Boise like?
Located on the western slope of the American Rockies and only 41 miles from the border with Oregon, Boise has easy access for those that crave the mountain lifestyle, all while being a short road trip away from awesome destinations in the Pacific Northwest like Seattle, Portland, and the Oregon Coast.
As for the city itself, the downtown core mostly lies on a plain, but within view and easy reach of the foothills of the Rockies to the northeast. The Boise River passes through the city, and is often floated upon by city residents on inner tubes during the peak summer months as a fun way to beat the heat.
Other popular activities include strolling through Ann Morrison Park, which stands out against the arid hills like a jade stone on a beige table, as well as carving up powder at Bogus Basin, which offers night skiing/boarding to those that can only get away from their job to play after the sun has set.
Those who crave sun will find plenty of it in Boise, as this city sits in a semi-arid climate, granting it almost 3,000 hours of sunshine per year. This means that those that experience trouble with winter darkness would do well to move here, as heading outside at lunch will allow you to get a dose of badly needed vitamin D on most days throughout the winter season.
While Boise is well away from major cities elsewhere in the nation, and other established industry centers like Silicon Valley, this city has managed to grow and nurture a tech sector that has begun to make the rest of the nation stand up and take notice.
Started by homegrown company Micron Technology, other companies like Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, Clickbank, and a slew of numerous smaller internet and tech startups have arrived and sprung up in the ensuing years following Micron's success, thereby making Boise a desirable place for those seeking an internship in various high tech fields.
What kinds of internships are available in Boise?
Since Micron is based in Boise, many internships with this leader in the semiconductor industry can be found in positions ranging from systems engineering to business development and data analysis, among others.
If you seek to get involved in a startup, more than 57 companies are in a state of active growth in the Boise area, with more new companies being founded on a regular basis, so get out there and cold call some founders!
Boise isn't just for techies though: those studying in allied health fields will find plenty of internship positions, as St. Luke’s Health System and Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center employ more than 10,000 people between them.
Whether you are looking to become a nurse, a radiological technologist, get involved in pediatric care, or any other health field that assists medical doctors in their jobs, you'll be able to find them in either of Boise's two largest health care providers.
How to find internships in Boise
Getting an internship at a tech company in Boise is much like getting one anywhere else, except for one marvelous exception: with a little hard work, it will likely be easier to get your foot in the door than in a place like Silicon Valley, where competition is very intense, and the cost of living is sky high.
Just the same, you'll still need to put in the hard yards long before the anticipated start of your tech internship in Boise. Around winter break, start working on your coding, making sure the lines you write are clean, coherent and easy for any potential colleagues to understand. Talk to students that are senior to you in your faculty that have worked at companies that you want to work at, and start racking up those crucial referrals.
As for those looking for an intern position at one of Boise's health care facilities, go to one near to where you currently live and volunteer your services to them. Optimally, it will be in a department where you have prior training, but doing any volunteer work in any medical facility will show recruiters that you at least have an idea of how things work in their environment, as opposed to applicants that are completely green in this regard.
With this trump card up your sleeve, you'll have the advantage when applying to and cold calling decision makers at St. Luke’s Health System and/or Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise.
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