Interns

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Interns

Steve Jones - SSC Editor

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June 5, 2012 at 3:53 am

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Comments posted to this topic are about the item Interns

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patrickmcginnis59 SSCertifiable Points: 6483 More actions · Answer 1

I remember one student who upon using visual studio said that painting buttons and textboxes were interesting but the typing in the code windows, not so much.

IceDread SSCertifiable Points: 5050 More actions · Answer 2

Interns, maybe it's good. I've heard of interns staying several years. Maybe the return of investment for the company is short. However, in the IT industry, it's my understanding that people change jobs each 2-4+ year. It can be a short period of years before you change employer and thus is it worth it with interns? Or perhaps there is a deeper problem in the industry as a whole and in our field of work as employees we look after ourselves more than others and can change because we have a better market?

SqlOnMyMind SSCertifiable Points: 5062 More actions · Answer 3

<quote>interning is a great idea and it gives you the chance to groom someone for your company. It's a chance for students to learn, do real work, and you to find out who fits and doesn't fit in your organization.</quote>

I agree 100%! I think it's a win-win situation. Not only does the organization gets a good look at a prospective long-term employee, but the student may discover new career opportunities they might not have even known about - as Steve did.

We have great success with interns here. I have seen only one intern that did not work out as well as I would have liked - that's because she left to go to Microsoft!

j.a.c SSCrazy Points: 2283 More actions · Answer 4

We used to hire 4 interns each summer. Some of our best developers were drawn from this intern pool to come back as full time employees.

Sadly those days are gone. We now hire contractors instead.:(

TravisDBA SSCoach Points: 15780 More actions · Answer 5

Most people today can't afford to work without pay, but if your situation (living at home,etc.) allows it, then I say go for it.:-D

"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"

Lynn Pettis SSC Guru Points: 442467 More actions · Answer 6

TravisDBA (6/8/2012)
Most people today can't afford to work without pay, but if your situation (living at home,etc.) allows it, then I say go for it.:-D

Depending on the company and/or industry, some internships are paid.

TL SSC-Addicted Points: 469 More actions · Answer 7

While unpaind interns may be the norm in other fields, I don't know that I've ever seen an unpaid IT internship. Ours are paid pretty close to the hourly wage our entry level positions get.

My company takes on 5-10 IT interns every year for a six month commitment. While some of them don't work out, those that do have essentially gone through a six month trial period. If we do have entry level positions available at the end of that time then we have candidates who are known values.

Lynn Pettis SSC Guru Points: 442467 More actions · Answer 8

Talking with students at ERAU, their internships are also paid.

SqlOnMyMind SSCertifiable Points: 5062 More actions · Answer 9

I would guess that the unpaid intern scenario got a foothold a few years ago, when college grads just could not get a job when they graduated, and their choice was bus tables at minimum wage or work for free in their field and at least gain some experience and networking. Taking advantage of a person like that is pretty sleazy in my book.

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004363 More actions · Answer 10

Carla Wilson-484785 (6/8/2012)
I would guess that the unpaid intern scenario got a foothold a few years ago, when college grads just could not get a job when they graduated, and their choice was bus tables at minimum wage or work for free in their field and at least gain some experience and networking. Taking advantage of a person like that is pretty sleazy in my book.

Yes and no. As with all else, I have to say "It Depends". Consider how much time, money, and effort a company will spend bringing someone up to speed so that they actually can be useful. That person gains some very valuable experience which the person right out of school and then.... they leave to go somewhere else because the now have "experience". That's an aweful lot of lost learning for the company that took the intern in.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

marlon.seton SSCrazy Points: 2623 More actions · Answer 11

Carla Wilson-484785 (6/8/2012)
I would guess that the unpaid intern scenario got a foothold a few years ago, when college grads just could not get a job when they graduated, and their choice was bus tables at minimum wage or work for free in their field and at least gain some experience and networking. Taking advantage of a person like that is pretty sleazy in my book.

There's too much of that in the UK (some of the worse offenders are allegedly in the top tiers of our government), but the interns are getting organised and starting to fight back, taking employers to court for minimum wage if the intern was working rather than being trained.

P Jones SSChampion Points: 12361 More actions · Answer 12

My son is an unpaid intern in Sweden as his sandwich year of university (BSc multimedia and animation). Thank goodness for ERASMUS (European students abroad scheme) and UK student loans as I couldn't afford to fund it!