Computer Programming Intern Unpaid Jobs in Chicago, IL

Work Location Type: Hybrid

Req Number 332747

About Grainger:

W.W. Grainger, Inc., is a leading broad line distributor with operations primarily in North America, Japan and the United Kingdom. At Grainger, We Keep the World Working by serving more than 4.5 million customers worldwide with products and solutions delivered through innovative technology and deep customer relationships. Known for its commitment to service and award-winning culture, the Company had 2024 revenue of $17.2 billion across its two business models. In the High-Touch Solutions segment, Grainger offers approximately 2 million maintenances, repair and operating (MRO) products and services, including technical support and inventory management. In the Endless Assortment segment,Zoro.comoffers customers access to more than 14 million products, andMonotaRO.comoffers more than 24 million products. For more information, visitwww.grainger.com. 

Compensation:

This position is hourly, and the starting pay rate is $36/hour

The rate of pay provided above is not a guarantee of compensation. The rate reflects the expected base pay for this role at the time of this posting based on the job grade for this position. 

Grainger reserves the right to amend, modify, or terminate its compensation and benefit programs in its sole discretion at any time, consistent with applicable law.  

The Grainger Technology Group (GTG) internship is a 10-week, paid program based in our downtown Chicago office where interns work across teams such as Product Engineering, Cybersecurity, Applied Machine Learning, User Experience, Digital Experience Analytics, and more to help build the technology that keeps Grainger and its customers moving. As a GTG intern, you will be treated as a member of the team and contribute to meaningful work tied to real customer and business outcomes, not a separate side project. You will gain hands-on exposure to modern technology stacks, digital platforms, AI-enabled workflows, and enterprise systems while learning from experienced team members. Throughout the summer, you will also participate in networking, social, and professional development events and present the work you accomplished to senior leadership.

As a Software Engineer Intern, you will help design, build, test, and deliver software that supports Grainger's customers, team members, suppliers, and internal operations. You'll gain an understanding of the tradeoffs involved in building software that is scalable, reliable, secure, and useful to real users.

This role is ideal for someone who enjoys solving problems, learning new technologies, collaborating with others, and thinking beyond the code to understand what to build and why. You may work across areas such as digital commerce, platforms, automation, data products, internal tools, cloud services, or enterprise systems.

• Contribute to the design, development, testing, and delivery of software that supports customer experiences, internal operations, or enterprise technology platforms.
• Work with your assigned team to build features, improve existing functionality, fix defects, and participate in code reviews with guidance from experienced engineers.
• Gain hands-on experience with modern engineering practices such as Agile delivery, version control, automated testing, CI/CD, observability, and secure-by-design thinking.
• Partner with product managers, designers, engineers, and business stakeholders to understand user needs, business context, and the purpose behind the work.
• Explore appropriate use of AI-enabled tools to prototype, learn, debug, or increase delivery speed while validating outputs and understanding tradeoffs.
• Communicate progress clearly, document technical work, ask thoughtful questions, and collaborate in ways that help the broader team move efficiently.
• Build new learning foundations by working across unfamiliar code, tools, systems, and business contexts with curiosity and ownership.
• Present your work, impact, and key learnings to technology leaders at the end of the internship.
  

• Expected graduation with a bachelor's degree between December 2027 and June 2028.
• Pursuing a degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Software Engineering, Information Systems, a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Experience with at least one programming language and the ability to explain how you approach learning new languages, frameworks, or tools.
• Evidence of curiosity and self-directed learning such as previous internships, class or personal projects, GitHub contributions, hackathons, open-source work, technical clubs, work experience, or other hands-on experimentation.
• Interest in product-minded engineering: understanding user or customer needs, framing problems, comparing options, and building practical solutions.
• Thoughtful AI tool literacy, including the ability to describe how you use technical tools, compare tradeoffs, and validate generated output rather than simply relying on it.
• Strong collaboration, communication, adaptability, and ownership in environments where priorities and technology continue to evolve.
• Cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher.
• Does not require sponsorship.

 We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or expression, protected veteran status or any other protected characteristic under federal, state, or local law. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.

We are also committed to fostering an inclusive, accessible work environment that includes both providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities during the application and hiring process as well as throughout the course of one's employment, should you need a reasonable accommodation during the application and selection process, including, but not limited to use of our website, any part of the application, interview or hiring process, please advise us so that we can provide appropriate assistance.