Boundary Crossing and Collaboration: Reconciling the Academia and Industry Gap in Computing Internships through Mentorship
Conference
Arunachalam, N, Lunn, SJ, Narasimhan, G et al. (2026). Boundary Crossing and Collaboration: Reconciling the Academia and Industry Gap in Computing Internships through Mentorship
. 1225-1226. 10.1145/3770761.3777275
Arunachalam, N, Lunn, SJ, Narasimhan, G et al. (2026). Boundary Crossing and Collaboration: Reconciling the Academia and Industry Gap in Computing Internships through Mentorship
. 1225-1226. 10.1145/3770761.3777275
Making the transition from academia to industry can be a rite of passage for college graduates. Internships allow students to gain experience in small doses, and help shape their career goals, actions, and decisions. We sought to explore how employers perceived undergraduate computing students’ performance and experience in a three-week micro-internship. We applied the boundary crossing (BC) framework and analyzed and interpreted n = 49 quotes extracted from semi-structured interviews with three industry mentors using the methodology of framework analysis. We examined the quotes and categorized them into one of four mechanisms of BC: identification, coordination, reflection, and transformation. The greatest number of BC mechanisms reported was that of coordination at the interpersonal level (33%), where the interns interacted with their mentors to navigate the differences in expectations and tasks that they had already identified. 51% of the BC mechanisms were reported to be at the interpersonal level, while six instances of transformation at the institutional level were also observed in the analysis. Our study’s results can help administrators and industry mentors gain insight into how computing students may leverage mentorship to navigate professional dynamics.
