How Break Through Tech Miami bridges the gap between classroom and industry

By Nancy Dahlberg

Randy Encarnacion is working toward a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science at Florida International University. He expects to graduate in the summer of 2025. One thing he won’t have to worry about: Finding a great job in technology.

This month Encarnacion accepted an offer for full-time employment at American Express upon his graduation next year.

FIU computer science student Randy Encarnacion

Certainly, Encarnacion’s hard work and perseverance got him to this milestone, but one organization, Break Through Tech Miami, has been there to help him throughout his journey.

Break Through Tech, developed at Cornell Tech, is on a mission to increase the numbers of women and others who are underrepresented in tech careers. The FIU location, launched in 2022, is embedded in the Knight Foundation School of Computing and Information Sciences at FIU’s College of Engineering and Computing.  

“At the Knight Foundation School of Computing and Information Sciences, about 23% of the students identify as women, and our goal is by December of 2026 we want to grow that to 30%,” said Nimmi Arunachalam, Director of Break Through Tech Miami. “Enrollment is growing at the school, and we have the challenge that the growth of women students has to outpace the growth of men in order for us to catch up and get to the 30% mark,” she explained. But Break Through Tech doesn’t only focus on enrollment: “We also focus on the student experiences while these students are here.”

Break Through Tech Miami becomes a part of the computer science students’ experience before even their first class begins. Through mixers, workshops, and one on ones, the organization figures out ways for students to help one another, both technically and socially.

Break Through Tech is particularly known for their Sprinternships, which in many cases is the students’ first experience working in the industry. They are three-week long paid project-oriented micro-internships with employers. “Students work in teams of five students, and they collectively come together as a micro community of learners, performers, doers, as they engage with this challenge project and deliver a product at the end of the three weeks,” said Arunachalam. “Students get a real world experience of what it’s like to work in a company.”

This helps fill the gap between what students learn in the classroom and what the industry is looking for. To help prepare students for these Sprinternships, Break Through Tech puts together a series of technical workshops and resume-building workshops, and also employs peer mentors.

The Sprinternship experience gives students a valuable resume credential. “It also gives them connections, because it’s all about industry connections and a sense of confidence more than anything else, that ‘hey, if I can do this, and I am cut out to be in this industry,’” said Arunachalam.

Among other duties, Break Through Tech Program Director Barbara Pita leads the effort to help more employers see how Sprinternships can be a pipeline for early talent. Potential employers get to see them work on the job as a group on a problem, checking them out for both the technical and cultural fit. The Sprinternship program has been such a success, Break Through Tech now also offers an industry experience called Data Core to work on data science projects. Both undergraduate and masters level data science students can participate in the paid, part time three-month experience, and like in the Sprinternships, they also deliver a challenge project to the employer, Pita said. Already for its pilot program for Data Core, Break Through Tech has enrolled seven employers and placed about 35 students.

Pita shared more Sprinternship success statistics.

In the summer of 2023, Break Through Tech placed 33 students into 3-week Sprinterships. Of that  group, 16 returned for 10-week summer internships and  nine students got full-time offers. Of the 16 that went through summer internships, many of them got full-time offers but Break Through Tech doesn’t have formal numbers yet. Most of them were women and/or first-generation college students who had not had the opportunity to think of tech as a career option.

For this year’s most recent cohort, Break Through Tech Miami placed 101 students in Sprinternships with 15 employers, with help from the Miami Tech Works team. Miami Tech Works, through its Miami Tech Talent Coalition, aims to build pathways for local students in tech, thanks to funding from the U.S. Economic Development Agency’s Good Jobs Challenge. Larger companies Break Through Tech and Miami Tech Works have worked with together include American Express, Kaseya, Blackstone, UKG and Televisa Univision, but the Sprinternship program is open to employers of all sizes, Pita said.

Randy Encarnacion’s first experience was a Sprinternship and he was invited back for a 10-week paid internship at American Express.

“Working alongside the colleagues and contractors at the Sunrise campus was undeniably the highlight of my internship with Amex. The coffee chat culture of the company emboldened me to schedule formal meetings and casually chat with others at across all levels of seniority and tenure — and through my conversations with them, I learned a tremendous amount and was able to initiate plans for further collaboration between the campus, Break Through Tech, and my university, FIU,” said Encarnacion.

The 10-week internship with Amex also taught him the value of soft skills. “Communication alone is the heart of collaboration, professionalism, and getting recognized for your contributions, so learning when to speak up, how to present myself, follow-up with those who guided me, and show appreciation for everyone who contributed to my success are things I will continue to apply in my personal life as well,” Encarnacion said.

He encourages other students to apply for sprinternships and  internships: “For those who hesitate due to a lack of confidence in their skills or experience, apply anyway! A little confidence goes a long way.”

Neica Sainvilus, a first-generation college student, participated in the same Amex sprinternship as Encarnacion and graduated this summer with a bachelor’s in computer science from FIU.

Through Break Through Tech Miami, she received help with her resume, as well as got connected to Amex. “Break Through Tech keeps us updated on industry trends through workshops and speakers, which is vital for our growth,” Sainvilus said.

FIU alumnus Neica Sainvilus

This month, Sainvilus started a fulltime job at American Express as a software engineer in the Digital Banking department. She said she would highly recommend Break Through Tech to other students.

 “I believe that often all you need is that first internship to get your foot in the door, and Break Through Tech excels at helping students who have the skills but may lack the confidence in interviewing,” said Sainvilus.

Employers in the community will have an opportunity to learn more about Break through Tech at an event Oct. 30. They will have the chance to learn more about Break Through Tech’s Sprinternship program and meet talented students who have gone through it. Find out more about the event and RSVP by Oct. 25 here.

Some of the students in the 2023 cohort who worked with American Express, left to right: Students Neica Sainvilus, Emma Chu, Vanessa Riera, Adesola Adimula, Edymar Urdaneta, Matthew Larrosa and Randy Encarnacion.
The photo at the top of this post shows this year’s cohort of Amex Sprinterns. Photos provided by Break Through Tech

READ MORE IN REFRESH MIAMI:

Nancy Dahlberg