Software internships allow you to work on problems that are considerably more advanced than most classroom exercises. If you want to spend your summer writing Python scripts to parse satellite data, work inside an active cybersecurity operations team using tools like Splunk and Azure DevOps, or contribute code to defense software systems in languages like Java, C++, or C#, you should strongly consider an internship. Many programs also involve data analysis, whether that means processing remote-sensing imagery, flagging network anomalies, or building computational models. Collaborative workflows are a consistent part of the experience too, whether you’re using GitHub for version control, participating in Agile sprint cycles, or presenting your technical work to a review panel at the end of the placement.
Why should you choose an internship in Oklahoma?
Oklahoma’s software landscape is largely driven by two industries deeply tied to tech: defense and energy. Tinker Air Force Base in the Oklahoma City metro is home to the 76th Software Engineering Group, one of the larger Air Force software development organizations in the country, responsible for the design and ongoing sustainment of mission-critical military computer systems. On the energy side, major companies including Devon Energy, ONEOK, and Williams Companies are all headquartered in Oklahoma, and each maintains substantial IT and data infrastructure operations that depend on software engineers. The University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University both have established computer science programs, and the state’s CareerTech network, anchored by institutions like Francis Tuttle Technology Center, has built pathways between high school students and local software employers. The Cherokee Nation, which operates one of the largest tribal governments in the country, also runs significant IT operations across health services, government administration, and business operations in northeastern Oklahoma, adding another distinct sector to the state’s technology landscape.
We went through the options available and shortlisted some of the top choices. These internships range across private, government, and educational institutions and offer varying levels of technical depth. If you also want to experience a more hands-on implementation of software, you could also check out this article covering robotics internships.
Key Takeaways
- Oklahoma’s software internships are strongly tied to the state’s defense and energy sectors, with standout opportunities at Tinker Air Force Base, Cherokee Nation IT departments, and energy companies like OG&E through programs like Francis Tuttle’s Computer Science Academy
- Several internships are paid, including Genesys Works (corporate partner rate), Francis Tuttle CSA placements (paid), Federal Pathways at Tinker AFB (federal GS pay scale), Cherokee Nation Summer Career Pathways ($11/hour), CISA Cyber and IT Internship (GS-1 federal pay), and CS@Mines Research Internship ($20/hour)
- Programs range from intensive year-long corporate placements like Genesys Works to short five-week virtual team projects like CS@Mines Computing for the Good, giving you options regardless of how much time you can commit
- Several fully virtual programs, including NASA SEES, ASSIP, CISA, CCI Virginia Tech, and Stanford AIMI, are accessible to Oklahoma students without relocation, significantly expanding the range of software and cybersecurity opportunities available statewide
- For students who want to go beyond a single internship and develop an independent research paper in computer science, AI, cybersecurity, or a related technical field, Horizon’s Research Seminars and Labs offer a longer, mentored path toward formal academic work
12 Software Internships for High School Students in Oklahoma
1. Genesys Works — Tulsa
Location: Tulsa, OK
Stipend: Paid, rate varies by corporate partner
Acceptance rate: Highly competitive
Dates: 8-week summer skills training, followed by year-long placement
Application Deadline: Keep an eye on the program website for details
Eligibility: Rising high school seniors from underserved communities in the Tulsa area
The Genesys Works experience in Tulsa runs in two phases. The summer begins with eight weeks of intensive training in information technology, business operations, and professional development, where you’ll build the foundational skills that employers actually expect from entry-level workers. Once you complete training, you’re matched with a corporate partner and placed in a paid, year-long internship working 20 hours per week during your senior year. Tulsa partners have included the Williams Companies and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma, providing you an opportunity to contribute to real business operations. Throughout the placement year, you will also receive more than 60 hours of coaching and counseling on everything from navigating the workplace to planning your path after high school, giving you both the experience and the guidance to know what to do with it.
2. Francis Tuttle Computer Science Academy — OG&E and OMES Internships
Location: Oklahoma City, OK
Stipend: Paid
Acceptance rate: Highly competitive
Dates: During the academic year, through the Capstone course
Application Deadline: Rolling, CSA enrollment accepted throughout the year
Eligibility: High school sophomores, juniors, and seniors currently enrolled in the Francis Tuttle Computer Science Academy at the Rockwell campus
The Computer Science Academy at Francis Tuttle’s Rockwell campus takes you through a rigorous multi-year curriculum that covers game development, AI, robotics, cybersecurity, and digital electronics. The Capstone course, taken in the final year, provides internship opportunities at OG&E (Oklahoma Gas and Electric) and OMES (the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services). You will step into roles in software development and cybersecurity at organizations that don’t typically extend internship offers to anyone below college-level. You’ll be working on the same problems as junior professionals, alongside engineers and IT security specialists who have spent years in those roles.
3. Tulsa Public Schools Internship Program
Location: Tulsa, OK
Stipend: Varies by employer, some are paid while others are not
Acceptance rate: Selective
Dates: Semester-based, timing set by employer
Application Deadline: Contact your school counselor or internship coordinator directly
Eligibility: High school juniors and seniors aged 16+, on track with credits at a Tulsa Public School
Through Tulsa Public Schools’ internship coordination program, high school juniors and seniors are connected with local employers across Tulsa, including businesses in technology and IT sectors. Your school counselor or internship coordinator connects you to positions that align with your career interest The experience is designed to give you a clear-eyed look at what a career in your field of interest actually looks like day-to-day. You can come out of it with professional references and a sharper sense of where you want to go after graduation.
4. Federal Pathways Internship — Tinker Air Force Base
Location: Tinker AFB, OK
Stipend: Paid according to federal GS pay scale
Acceptance rate: Highly competitive
Dates: Year-round or summer, flexible based on academic schedule
Application Deadline: Rolling, positions posted individually on USAJOBS
Eligibility: Currently enrolled high school students who are U.S. citizens, with minimum 2.0 GPA and at least 16 years old
Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City is home to the 76th Software Engineering Group, one of the largest engineering organizations on the base, responsible for the design, development, integration, and ongoing sustainment of the Air Force’s mission-critical software systems. The federal Pathways Internship Program posts Student Trainee positions in information technology and computer science at Tinker that are open to high school students and come with federal pay. As a student trainee, you’re embedded within a professional defense technology environment, getting exposure to how large-scale software is built and maintained for some of the most demanding operational systems in the country. The assignments rotate through areas that could include IT support, cybersecurity-related tasks, network administration, and software maintenance work. Because Pathways positions are tied to the federal hiring pipeline, these roles also build a record of federal employment that carries forward if you pursue government work after graduation.
5. Cherokee Nation Summer Career Pathways
Location: Various worksites, Tahlequah, OK area
Stipend: $11.00/hour
Acceptance rate: Not publicly disclosed
Dates: 6 weeks from June through July
Application Deadline: Typically in May
Eligibility: Enrolled Cherokee Nation citizens, ages 16–24, residing within the Cherokee Nation reservation
The Cherokee Nation Summer Career Pathways Program places enrolled Cherokee Nation high schoolers in paid worksites across the Cherokee Nation reservation for six weeks each summer. The program’s goal is to match you with employers in a field related to your studies or career interests, which can include placements within Cherokee Nation’s own technology and IT departments. You’ll be working a full-time schedule alongside employees who do the job full-time, building professional habits and practical experience in a real workplace. The program is grounded in the Cherokee Nation’s broader mission of strengthening its own workforce from within, so you’re also contributing to tribal operations in a tangible way.
6. NASA STEM Enhancement in Earth Science (SEES)
Location: Virtual + UT Austin campus, Austin, TX
Stipend: None
Acceptance Rate: Highly selective
Dates: Online modules and project work: May 15 – July 3 | Virtual symposium: July 20 and 21
Application deadline: February 22
Eligibility: Current high school sophomores and juniors who are U.S. citizens and at least 16 years old
SEES starts with a fully virtual learning phase in which you’ll be completing distance-learning modules on topics like remote sensing, satellite data interpretation, and scientific computing, before moving into a collaborative research phase where you’ll work remotely with a project mentor from UT Austin’s Center for Space Research. Throughout the program, you’ll be analyzing actual NASA satellite data and contributing to earth science research projects across areas like evapotranspiration modeling, ice sheet dynamics, and climate systems. Teams present their findings at a Virtual SEES Science Symposium in late July, giving you experience communicating research to an audience that includes NASA scientists. The program also builds Python skills through structured certification tracks.
7. CISA Cyber and IT Internship
Location: Various nationwide
Stipend: Paid at a GS-1 federal pay level
Acceptance rate: Highly competitive
Dates: 10–12 weeks, typically June–August
Application Deadline: Rolling, the positions are posted on USAJOBS
Eligibility: U.S. citizens aged 16+ who are currently enrolled in an accredited high school
Working as a CISA intern is a rare opportunity to contribute to the protection of national infrastructure from cyberattacks. Past interns have built Python scripts to identify malicious IP addresses from log files, helped develop tools to detect and classify phishing emails, worked with Azure DevOps pipelines to support security evaluations, and contributed to automation frameworks used by penetration testers. You’ll be working inside the agency that sits at the center of the federal government’s cybersecurity efforts, collaborating with people whose daily job is to find and fix vulnerabilities before adversaries can exploit them. Beyond project work, you’ll also get access to brownbag sessions with senior leadership, local conferences, and interactions with professionals from other executive agencies, Congress, and industry.
8. George Mason University ASSIP
Location: Virtual options available
Stipend: None
Acceptance rate: Highly selective
Dates: June 18 – August 12
Application Deadline: February 15
Eligibility: High school students aged 15+
ASSIP pairs you one-on-one with a George Mason faculty researcher for eight weeks, with computer science, cybersecurity, and related projects involving user interface design, bias detection in machine learning systems, dark-pattern analysis in technology products, and natural language processing research. You will read relevant literature, contribute to an ongoing research effort, write up your findings, and present at the virtual ASSIP Research Symposium at the end of the summer. Mentors who offer remote formats work with students across time zones, making this accessible from Oklahoma without relocation. Many ASSIP projects have produced work that later appeared at conferences or in academic publications.
9. CS@Mines Computing For the Good
Location: Virtual
Stipend: None
Acceptance rate: Selective
Dates: June 22 — July 28
Application Deadline: April 10
Eligibility: High school students
Computing For the Good is a team-based, fully virtual program where you spend five weeks working on a computer programming project alongside a small group of peers. You’ll be using programming languages and collaborative tools to produce a working product with a real-world application. Weekly guest speakers from industry and academia share how they use computer science in their work, giving you a sense of the career landscape beyond the classroom. The time commitment is flexible enough to work alongside summer plans, at roughly 5 to 10 hours per week. It’s a lower-barrier entry point for students who want software project experience in a team setting, without the intensity of a full-time commitment.
10. CS@Mines Research Internship
Location: Some virtual positions available
Stipend: $20/hour
Acceptance rate: Selective
Dates: Late May through early August
Application Deadline: April 10
Eligibility: High school and community college students
The CS@Mines research internship puts you inside an active faculty research project in computer science, with work spanning areas like artificial intelligence, robotics, and cybersecurity. Unlike the Computing For the Good program, this is a closer approximation of what academic research actually looks like: you’re reading papers, contributing to ongoing research questions, running experiments or analyses, and operating within a real research team. Some positions can be completed remotely depending on the faculty advisor’s project, particularly for computational work that doesn’t require physical lab access. Scholarship funding at $20 per hour is available for qualifying applicants, making this a paid research experience. An undergraduate mentor from the Mines CS department is typically part of the team, giving you a direct connection to someone a few years ahead of you in the same trajectory.
11. CCI Virginia Tech High School Cybersecurity Internship
Location: Virtual placements available
Stipend: $2,650
Acceptance rate: Highly selective
Dates: 7 weeks in the summer
Application Deadline: January 31
Eligibility: Rising high school seniors and rising first-year college students, 17+
This seven-week program starts with a two-week technical bootcamp followed by a five-week cybersecurity internship. Available positions have included software engineering, information security, and product operations, providing a look at the intersection of cybersecurity with other business and technical roles. Virtual placements are available with some host organizations. The program is run through Virginia Tech’s Commonwealth Cyber Initiative in partnership with George Mason University and is designed to expose rising seniors to the realities of the field before they commit to a college direction.
12. Stanford AIMI Research Internship
Location: Virtual
Stipend: None
Acceptance Rate: Highly selective
Dates: June 15–26 OR July 6–17
Application Deadline: February 21
Eligibility: High school students in grades 9–12, aged 14+, who are U.S. residents attending a U.S. high school
This is a strong opportunity if you are interested in how subjects like AI and machine learning intersect with clinical medicine, through projects centered on medical imaging data, electronic health records, and clinical datasets. You’ll be paired with a mentor in Stanford’s AI in Medicine and Imaging center, working with them on their ongoing research. Said research can include training classification models on medical scans, evaluating performance and demographic bias in health AI systems, and writing data processing pipelines in Python. The internship is fully virtual, focused on computational work, and accessible to interested students regardless of physical location.
One more option – Horizon Academic Research Program
If you’re looking for a competitive mentored research program in subjects like data science, machine learning, and computers, consider applying to Horizon’s Research Seminars and Labs! This is a selective virtual research program that allows you to conduct advanced research and develop a research paper on a subject of your choosing. Horizon has worked with 1,000+ high school students so far and offers 600+ research specializations to choose from. You can find the application link here!
Frequently Asked Questions
What software internships are available for high school students in Oklahoma?
Oklahoma students can access local in-person internships through Genesys Works Tulsa, Francis Tuttle’s Computer Science Academy, Tulsa Public Schools, Federal Pathways at Tinker AFB, and the Cherokee Nation Summer Career Pathways program. Virtual internships including NASA SEES, CISA, George Mason ASSIP, CS@Mines, CCI Virginia Tech, and Stanford AIMI are also fully accessible to Oklahoma students from anywhere in the state.
Do I need prior coding experience to apply to these internships?
It depends on the program. Genesys Works and Tulsa Public Schools’ internship program are designed for students building foundational professional and technical skills and don’t require prior coding expertise. More advanced programs like CISA, Stanford AIMI, and CS@Mines Research Internship involve working with Python, machine learning pipelines, and cybersecurity tools, so some prior programming exposure is helpful, though not always a strict requirement.
Are there paid software internships for high school students in Oklahoma?
Yes. Genesys Works pays through its corporate partners, Francis Tuttle’s CSA internships at OG&E and OMES are paid, Federal Pathways at Tinker AFB pays on the federal GS pay scale, Cherokee Nation Summer Career Pathways pays $11 per hour, CISA pays at GS-1 federal level, CS@Mines Research Internship pays $20 per hour for qualifying applicants, and CCI Virginia Tech provides a $2,650 stipend.
Which internships focus specifically on cybersecurity?
CISA’s Cyber and IT Internship places you inside the federal agency responsible for protecting national infrastructure, with past interns building Python scripts for threat detection and working with Azure DevOps pipelines. CCI Virginia Tech’s program starts with a two-week cybersecurity bootcamp before placing you in a five-week internship across software engineering and information security roles. Francis Tuttle’s CSA Capstone also includes cybersecurity-focused placements at OMES.
Are there software internships in Oklahoma specifically for underrepresented or tribal students?
Yes. Genesys Works Tulsa specifically targets rising seniors from underserved communities. The Cherokee Nation Summer Career Pathways Program is exclusively for enrolled Cherokee Nation citizens aged 16 to 24, placing them in tribal government IT and technology departments as part of a broader workforce development mission.
Which virtual software internships are most accessible to Oklahoma students?
NASA SEES, George Mason ASSIP, CS@Mines Computing for the Good, CCI Virginia Tech, and Stanford AIMI are all fully virtual or offer remote formats. ASSIP in particular pairs you one-on-one with a faculty mentor for eight weeks across a range of computer science and cybersecurity research projects, making it one of the more substantive virtual options for students outside major tech hubs.
Is there a way to pursue independent software or AI research beyond a single internship?
Yes. If you want to develop your own research question in computer science, AI, cybersecurity, or a related technical field with one-on-one mentorship, Horizon’s Research Seminars and Labs pairs you with a professor or PhD scholar to produce a 20-page research paper you can submit for academic publication, along with a letter of recommendation. You can find the application here.
When should I apply to software internships for high school students in Oklahoma?
CCI Virginia Tech closes January 31, the earliest deadline on this list. NASA SEES closes February 22 and ASSIP closes February 15. Stanford AIMI closes February 21. CS@Mines programs close April 10, and Cherokee Nation Summer Career Pathways typically closes in May. Federal Pathways at Tinker AFB and CISA post positions on a rolling basis through USAJOBS, so checking regularly throughout the fall and winter gives you the best chance of finding open positions. Francis Tuttle CSA enrollment is accepted throughout the year with competitive Capstone placements filled based on availability.
Image source: George Mason University