Qualifications for Summer Internships? 134
DMBeiler asks: "I'm a first year computer-science student, with a lot of computing background. I learned C++ in the curriculum here, but am also familiar with Perl, PHP, and know my way around Linux. I consider myself adept enough to pick up a working knowledge of a language fairly quickly. As an underclassman, with little formal training, do any jobs/internships exist for me, say, over the summer? What do I need to bring to the table to be considered for even a menial position, these days?"
Who do you know? (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Who do you know? (Score:1)
Re:Who do you know? (Score:2)
I now have a job at a corporation, and that's cool.
We had an "intern" come to our office for 2 weeks. It was unpaid, and almost unofficial. She was put in contact with my boss because she is going to school where my boss is an alumni network. It was not much more than a "bring your student to work" day, but for her, it was a great experience. We got her meetings with a variety of people across campus so she could get a feel for the different business functions. We also gave her some wor
Re:Who do you know? (Score:2)
Re:Who do you know? (Score:2)
Re:Who do you know? (Score:2)
Internships vs. working for yourself (Score:2)
That's easy! (Score:1, Informative)
2. Solid communication skills
3. A great all-natural rack (and we ain't talkin' servers) and some tight, low-cut clothes
4. A "team-first" attitude!
With that, I'm sure you'll find a great position...
Re:That's easy! (Score:2)
Re:That's easy! (Score:1)
A sandwich ?
Bring unique skills (Score:1)
Skip the internship thing... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Skip the internship thing... (Score:2, Informative)
As far as q
Re:Skip the internship thing... (Score:2)
Darn.. THEN WHO DOES?
I want to put my skills to use, interviewers always look at me funny when I mention my 20 years of
Re:Skip the internship thing... (Score:2)
Yeah they do.
In reality, they are hiring interns as a 3-month interview process
Summer internship. 3-month interview process. Yep, that's about what I'd expect from the average middle manager.
Re:Skip the internship thing... (Score:2)
Tried to get a regular job at Microsoft last summer. Had five managers told me that they were interested in my resume and would set up an interview soon. Three months later, no interview with anyone from Microsoft but got a job with IBM on the first interview. Go figure.
Re:Skip the internship thing... (Score:3, Insightful)
While I agree with the parent that real work experience counts for a lot, what the parent doesn't mention is the fact that in todays business world, unless you are EXTREMELY lucky, have the right connections, or are just that good your resume will get tossed out the second they see you don't have any actual
Re:Skip the internship thing... (Score:2)
This isn't quite true for engineering. You get paid far less than a full time worker, yes. But you generally get paid very well for a college job, more than pretty much any other summer job you could get (short of having great connections to a plum job). Generall
Re:Skip the internship thing... (Score:2)
Re:Skip the internship thing... (Score:2)
It doesn't seem like a crappy deal, it IS a crappy deal. Asking people to work for free is flat out wrong. End of story.
Re:Skip the internship thing... (Score:1)
I was there last summer (Score:2)
If all else fails, check job listing at school, you might be lucky enough to land a student worker position where you can do something besides reinstall windows on other students' machines
Then again, if all else fails, nothing says you can't take some of those wicked hard math classes o
Getting your foot in the door (Score:1)
When I Was In College (Score:2)
A year of C++ from most schools leaves you in a position of being able to solve homework problems and do basic exercises, but it's a long way from being able to make m
Re:When I Was In College (Score:2)
Re:When I Was In College (Score:2)
Re:When I Was In College (Score:2)
Start networking (Score:1)
Re:Start networking (Score:2)
Once you get to be an upperclassman, join HNK (Eta Kappa Nu) if they are on your campus
Yes. (Score:1)
Back in the old days... (Score:2)
Nowadays, it seems that internships which used to be the proving grounds of new minds and places to get that critical initial real-world experience have joined the rest of the technical entry-level jobs: requiring 8 years of experience with references. And your father knowing a guy in HR.
So, for the next two or thre
Re:Back in the old days... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Back in the old days... (Score:2)
Likewise, if you're touting your awesome GTK mediaplayer on your resume, and googling you comes up with you begging for help on GTK, media, and playing comes up over the span of most of your project's life, thats not good either.
So remember kids, always do your begging and Flamewars by way of a pseudonym. That way, your 'real' persona remains unsullied by such inconveniences. As a bonus, this will help you later in life when you get recruited by CTU and have to save the world while maintaining cover as a
From an Apple intern (Score:3, Insightful)
What I want to see is you telling me why I should hire you -- why should I push this resumé to the hiring manager with a "we've got to hire this kid." What makes you different? We all know you want to work for us -- you wouldn't have been in line giving me your resumé otherwise. If you give me the impression that you're not full-out gung-ho for the position, I'm not even going to consider you.
I want to see things like what you do in your free time: do you have a life? But I don't want to see someone who only does extracurricular activities. Do you surf and play in a band, say, but also work on some really neat [EE/CS] projects at the same time? Can you balance school/fun/hobbies? Do you have personal drive and a spark of intelligence? If you're bright and driven, we can teach you anything you need to know. That's far more important than simply knowing many things. Tell me something cool you've done. Impress me. Make me want to see you come work for us.
Even more interesting is being in the college at which you're recruiting: you can see everyone taking the same classes you've taken, doing the same projects and trying to pass it off as if it's unique. Hey, kid: I did that last quarter. In fact, you were in my section and goofed off half the time; or perhaps you're the guy who took the easy route on that project while I busted my ass doing it the hard way. I don't think so.
Don't be disappointed if you don't get anything your first year: Many do not. Don't, however, waste your time. Do -something- related to your major and expected career. Make up some project for yourself and do it, and do it well. Work for free for a company as long as it's giving yourself some valuable experience. In other words, do -anything- to differentiate yourself in a positive light and make me remember you. I went through 60 resumés in 6 hours at one career fair, and I can't remember 2/3 of the people I talked to. The only ones I remember are those who made an impression.
Good luck! I'll be at Google and http://www.pasemi.com/ [pasemi.com] this summer/fall (have to see more of the world before I graduate and pick a permanent career). Once you have experience in one job, the next come much, much easier.
What I look for (Score:2)
1) Work ethic and dependability. Someone who takes pride in his or her work.
2) A genuine interest and love of computer science and programming (typically evidenced by non-school computer interests & programming projects that you have taken on). I don't hire people who are just interested in completing their school's
National Lab summer internships (Score:2)
I work at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab. From what I have seen, the summer internship program at The Lab is excellent. There are internships in variety of areas, including computer science, materials science and physics. In many cases there are interesting projects to work on and there is an opportunity to present your work at the end of the internship period. The daughter of a friend was an intern at The Lab last summer in materials science. They gave her access to the microfabrication facility
Re:National Lab summer internships (Score:2)
With that said, consider applying (next year) to some of the following:
Los Alamos National Labs (LANL
National Lab summer internships and clearances (Score:2)
At least at Lawrence Livermore (LLNL) summer interns do not need and are not given security clearances. My understanding is that they do a basic background check, which includes criminal record. My friend's daughter applied in December and was accepted a few months later.
Glad to know (Score:1)
Expect to be very geographically limited, unless you have a super-spectacular resume you can fire at people. I'm looking for out of state internships (currently in Arkansas) and after a year in Japan I'm trying to find one in or near a large city.
I applied online to Apple, however I doubt I'll hear anything from them (after all, I'm not fro
Re:Glad to know (Score:1)
As important as the actual work is, I still suggest first visiting a work location if possible.
Next locate an AM/FM radio (if you don't have a rental car). Then make sure the site has
less than 10 country-western stations but more than two.
You get a decent balance between urban/rural and North/South ... you avoid hellholes ...
and it's at least as accurate as Places [amazon.com]
Apple Internship program (Score:2)
http://www.apple.com/jobs/intern/index.html [apple.com]
I also asume you went looking for the campuses that Apple would be visiting to see if one was close enough for you to take a road trip and show up in person, to demonstrate that you were earnest about an Apple internship? Showing up at an even at a college or university that you don't personally atte
Grades count more then you know.... (Score:1)
Professors in industry (Score:2)
Getting an internship after freshman year could be tough. I got one based on my connections and work from high school, but if you're starting now it may be too late. (I already hired my interns for this summer.) As other posters said, maybe start working on some personal projects that will make your resume stand out in l
Re:Professors in industry (Score:2)
Stupid freshman-level calculus and english and poli.sci and history classes. *shakes fist*
What I did (Score:2)
As other people in this thread have said, it's also worthwhile to have outside projects.
Los Alamos (Score:1)
Sounds sufficient (Score:2)
1) Enough technical knowledge to actually do the job.
2) Enough technical knowledge to know when to say "I don't know".
3) One or two projects (either for school or independent, or both) that show the ability to do something interesting, complete it, and talk about what you did.
4) A resume that focuses more on your projects (what you've done) then your class (what's been done to you).
If you ha
Volunteer in a research lab at your uni (Score:1)
I did this and it lead to [paid!] employment in a research-y position for the remaining summers of my undergrad and through my masters. This led directly to my first Real Job - and look at me now!
I think, workwise, it wa
A job (Score:2)
1. Five years of experience.
2. A perfect employment history with no gaps of more than a weekend.
3. Willingness to work 80 hour weeks perpetually
4. WIllingness to work without benefits, overtime or vacation.
5. Being a team player, which means "agree even when the team is wrong"
6. Work for half pay.
7. Work those 80 hour weeks as a temp
8. Perfect credit
9. No family (too many non-company obligations)
10. Permarenter (so
A more practical answer... (Score:1)
Lastly, some companies receive non-prof
Re:A more practical answer... (Score:2)
Having real IT experience by the time i graduated hel
How about a co-op? (Score:2)
Attiudite stands out (Score:2)
How to stand out from a crowd of resumes? Be interesting to a ge
Private spaceflight internships (Score:2)
* SpaceX: [spacex.com] Orbital rockets which are drastically cheaper than the competition, with plans for building manned orbita
Where do you want to go? (Score:2)
If you want to pursue the "software life"
Qualities for an intern (Score:2)
1. Flexiblity, so you can bend over backwards to kiss your boss's ass.
2. Energy, so you can run errands for everyone else in the office.
3. Kneepads, to worship management properly.
4. Tough skin, so you can handle being a slave.
Seriously, most companies see interns as slave labor with decent pay or benefits. Either look for a job or talk to people who interned at companies you're looking at so you know what you'
Re:Qualities for an intern (Score:2)
My experiences (Score:1)
I personally am a second year CS student at the University of Utah, and my experience finding internships was incredibly positive. I managed to get an internship with a very successful software company in the midwest after my first interview. I also suspect that I would've had internship offers from two other smaller, local companies had I not already accepted this one.
The best advice that I can give, and what worked for me, is to get your resume out early and often (it's already a little late for a lo
From a former intern and current supervisor (Score:2)
You absolutely cannot be afraid to do things that are hard; doing things that are h
Judging by our last intern (Score:2)
He also had the most amazing ability to completely awkward-up any conversation
Answer (Score:2)
Jobsearching skills.
And I'm really not kidding. Jobhunting skills weigh more than fixing-a-computer-through-knoppix-remastering skills. They do NOT teach you that in college (thank God).
Nonprofit work (Score:2)
What the super large companies look for (Score:2)
That being said, yo
Re:What the super large companies look for (Score:2)
Re:What the super large companies look for (Score:2)
Open Source (Score:1)
Go west. (Score:1)
Essentially, there are three things you can do:
1. Spend the summer jobless and contribute to as many open source projects as possible. Treat it like a full time job, spend 8 hours a day coding/reading code. If you have enough discipline(I don't) you can get a lot done an
Go go go (Score:2)
Here are some notes from a recent career fair. (Score:2)
Think about what you offer to an employer.
Where in the market sector do you want a job?
What makes you useful? You have to be a net contributor. Technology skills are a given; you need t
Los Alamos (Score:1)
I started there the summer after my freshman year, and I loved every moment of it. There's a reason why this summer is going to be my fourth one there.
Here's what worked for me (Score:2)
PEOPLE GET PEOPLE JOBS. Make connections. Network -- the social variety. And when all else fails, be ready to do a lot of legwork just like you were hunting for ordinary jobs -- lots of resumes, lots of time investment, and probably only a few interviews. So really, network network network. It's how the business world works. Remember, hiring you is a business decisi
Networking (Score:1)
Again this shows the value of Networking, cause that is where the Opportunities are hidden.
When i leave my current Job
Lots of Opportunities (Score:1)
If you're feeling social, you could always go around to the small businesses in the area and offer your services to develop a small piece of software for them in exchange for their gratitude and a little college credit.
Then there are always the big guys: NASA, the national labs, large hospitals, etc. They always seem to b
Re:Who do you know? (Score:1, Informative)
If you're plain lucky, you might be able to find somet
Re:If interns I've recently worked with (Score:2)
Re:If interns I've recently worked with (Score:1)
Re:If interns I've recently worked with (Score:2)
Re:If interns I've recently worked with (Score:1)
The discussion they had was actually fairly encouraging, to the extent that it could be in light of my extreme skepticism. Nonetheless, the entire panel thought that jobs would start to come back over the next few years. I'll believe it when I see it.
Re:If interns I've recently worked with (Score:1)
wrote, "If interns I've recently worked with are any indicator -
a birth certificate and passport from India seem to be prerequisites."
and it was modded to: (Score:0, Flamebait)
THIS is one moment that I wish one could BUY mod points, because I'd
do so in an instant! And I'd change that
from Flamebait
to Insightful
SWIT
Re:Internship? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Internship? (Score:2)
Minimum 10 years experience in Windows 2000 and a valid tractor-trailer license. $9.00/hour. Apply within. We are a drug-free workplace.
Hey, I got 2 out of 3...
Re:Bah! (Score:1, Insightful)
My company has passed up plenty of people who have applied that had Master's Degrees in Computer Science and little to no experience in the field. They usually either scoff at an entry level position, or insist that the entry level salary be raised to something not entry level anymore.
Hired someone entry level once who only have a Bachelors in Comp Sci. Within a year he was making what all those Masters Degree fellows wanted because he proved hims
Re:Bah! (Score:2)
Thanks for helping make education worthless.
They usually either scoff at an entry level position
They should. They have a Master's Degree.
or insist that the entry level salary be raised to something not entry level anymore
They should. They have a Master's Degree.
Re:Bah! (Score:2)
Re:Bah! (Score:2)
Oh yes it is. "My company passed up plenty of Master's Degrees" = education worthless.
Either we reward people for making the sacrifice to get a degree or there won't be any degrees. Simple choice. We're choosing, as a society, to devalue education on purpose.
Re:Bah! (Score:2)
Ah, society is to blame again! Damn their eyes! "Devalue" assumes something had value to begin with. There's a difference between *making* something worthless and *recognizing* th
Re:Bah! (Score:2)
In IT, talk is cheap. You can have all the educational background in the world, but if you aren't up on the technology some company is using, you're worthless to them. So why should they hire you? Because you're smart? Who cares -- ot
Re:Bah! (Score:2)
Everyone comes running when they hear "education is important." They come running to shout "degrees suck! Nobody cares about your worthless degree!"
Moreover, a graduate degree in no way *entitles* them to anything (anybody with an entitlement, "the world owes me a living" mentality is a loser in my book).
Fine. Then let's stop horseshitting everyone about how much we value education. Fair en
Re:Bah! (Score:2)
I genuinely believe that as a society, would be better-off if we stopped bullshitting people about how much we value education. Many of the jobs we have which request a certain amount of education do not actually need it.
That's also true.
I never said that, nor is that my opinion. Try thinking not only in blac
Union Cards (Score:2)
However, from personal experience, I will say that he was right on the money. Getting a degree or an advanced degree is al well and good, but it will only impact the rate at which you are able to advance in your career in certain limited environments that are not very representative. I.e. you will get better promotio
Re:Union Cards (Score:2)
Yep. Otherwise we should stop bullshitting people about how important education is.
Importance of education: long vs. short term (Score:2)
Education is important as a long term investment. Credentials are less important, except under certain restricted conditions (some of which are highly desirable to some people, subch as the ability to get a research position doing your own research isntead of someone else's).
Just because someone has a set of credentials does not make them educated; conversely, not having the credentials doesn't make you uneducated.
One of t
Re:Importance of education: long vs. short term (Score:2)
Maybe they just wanted a job to pay the bills.
Career vs. day job (Score:2)
I had a long reply about what would have to be true convince me to hire someone for a job for which they demonstrated no passion.
But you know what? If someone just wants a job to pay the bills, and no passion for the work, and is just in it to be a 9-5 chair-warmer... I think they can go find another employer. Maybe a civil service job would suit them.
Then, when they finally snap because they wake up one day, chronically depressed that they've been working a
Re:Bah! (Score:2)
Well good for you.
is getting a M.S. degree (which is well and good)
No it isn't. What's the fucking point? Stop the bullshit. M.S. degree don't mean shit and nobody gives a fuck how much education someone has. Just say it.
It is very simple folks. If you have no real world experience you deserve nothing more than an entry level position.
So drop those books and take that temp job. Nobody cares about your degree.
Re:Slashdot's looking for interns (Score:1)
Re:Slashdot's looking for interns (Score:1)
Re:Slashdot's looking for interns (Score:2)
seconded (Score:2)
Re:I HAVE AN OPENING FOR YOU !! (Score:1)