A Behind-the-Scenes Look at What It’s Like to Be an Intern in Health Information Services

I really wanted to learn about computer systems and how to code better and get that real-life experience. I knew the HIS program would help me gain great software development experience.

My brother recently started his career in healthcare, so I started to become more interested in that industry. Just by chance, one of my brother’s best friends works for 3M and this internship opened up on his team, so he encouraged me to apply. 

I’m working on completely redesigning and developing internal tools so that the HIS team can create value sets, or groups of health codes taken from other coding systems. My team, made up of a front-end developer, a back-end developer and me, the full-stack developer, all work to map these codes to each other so that other systems can communicate with them because they have different names. 

The whole innovation process here is awesome. My team came up with a patent they are trying to push through because they wanted to, not because 3M asked them to. 3M provides that culture that allows them to innovate, think for themselves and helps them take it to the next level. We weren’t afraid to redesign the tools from how they were in the past. 

Before this internship I had no idea what a value set was or about the need for mapping codes so that insurance companies can communicate with a doctor on what to bill their patient. It’s important work. Also, I’m learning new languages and frameworks, and how the work goes from a need to a final product.

Interested in an internship with 3M? Join 3M’s Talent Community and learn how your skills might be a fit at 3M when an opportunity opens up.