Valon Externship Program
About The Position
Valon is offering a three-day, in-person Externship Program in their NYC office for a select group of builders aged 16-21. This program is designed for individuals who are passionate about coding and building, including high school students, college students, gap-year students, and self-taught individuals. Participants will work directly alongside engineers developing Valon's internal AI tooling, utilize the same tools, select a project to focus on, and present their work at the end of the program. This is a hands-on building experience, not a traditional internship or shadowing opportunity. The program aims to provide a real-world building experience with the engineers who created the AI tooling stack. Strong project demos may lead to follow-up conversations with Valon's engineering and recruiting teams.
Requirements
- Demonstrated ability to ship projects, repos, side businesses, research, or experiments, showing the capacity to take an idea from conception to completion.
- Already AI-native, actively using coding agents and modern AI tooling daily.
- Ability to discuss one's work, explaining what was built, what issues were encountered, and lessons learned, without relying on slides.
- Ability to bring original ideas and a list of potential projects to build.
- Age between 16-21 at the time of the program.
- Proof of making things; no specific internship pedigree, CS degree, or coursework required.
Nice To Haves
- Having opinions about which AI tools are effective.
Responsibilities
- Spin up on AI tooling including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, MCP servers, and Valon's internal tooling on Day 1.
- Pick a project such as an agentic workflow, an eval harness, an internal tool, or a developer-experience problem.
- Build alongside engineers who developed Valon's AI tooling stack, pair programming, ask questions, and observe their work methods.
- Demo the completed project to the team on Day 3.
- Engage in follow-up conversations with Valon engineering and recruiting if strong demos are presented.
Benefits
- Paid stipend for the three days.
- Potential for follow-up conversations with Valon engineering and recruiting for strong performers.
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What This Job Offers
Career Level
Entry Level
Education Level
No Education Listed
