GitHub Education and MLH launch remote fellowship for student developers
Remote work is reshaping how teams collaborate, and GitHub Education is adapting its mission of supporting the next generation of developers to fit that new reality. In partnership with Major League Hacking (MLH), the company has announced the MLH Fellowship, Powered by GitHub — a fully remote program that places students into small teams, or “pods,” of 8-10 people to work on open source projects under mentor guidance.
The program runs for 12 weeks and provides participants with a stipend funded through GitHub Sponsors. It currently serves 32 regions, and GitHub Education plans to support 100 fellows in the inaugural summer 2020 cohort. Additional partners include Facebook, DEV, and the Royal Bank of Canada.
Addressing the internship gap
Traditional internships remain a key credential for students entering the job market — a signal to future hiring managers that a candidate has real-world experience. But demand far outstrips supply, and for many aspiring developers, a summer internship at a major tech company is simply not accessible.
The fellowship is designed to change that by offering a remote, project-based alternative that mirrors real-world workflows. MLH CEO Mike Swift emphasized the program’s focus on meaningful, public work:
Enabling students to spend their summer contributing to the software that runs the world is a unique opportunity for them. They’ll work on meaningful projects with their peers under the guidance of some of the world’s most talented engineers. The remote nature of this program will democratize access to internships for countless students worldwide.
A call for wider industry participation
Beyond the founding partners, GitHub is urging other tech companies to join the coalition and help expand the program’s reach. The initiative arrives at a moment when internship programs are being disrupted en masse, and the organizations that step in now have a chance to influence how the next generation learns to collaborate and ship code.
For students, the opportunity is immediate: apply to the fellowship at fellowship.mlh.io and spend the summer building software with a global team.
