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A brief guide to Tech Internships for CS students

alexeymk.com

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Re: A brief guide to Tech Internships for CS students

#61

Post by wisty »

scott_s wrote: post #52
UnFleshedOne wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the purpose of this law? (I would normally expect opposite -- that it is illegal for you to hire them if you can't afford it.)

Perhaps you misunderstood me, so let me state it another way: you must pay people who work for you, even if their title is "intern." To do otherwise circumvents the minimum wage laws.

There's often exceptions for interns. I don't know about the US though.

It's a common dodge in Australia to put people on as "trainees". I think it can be illegal if they aren't really being trained, and there's lots of other rules (like it must be an educational course requirement).

Re: A brief guide to Tech Internships for CS students

#62

Post by xxpor »

AlexeyMK wrote: post #56
Shengster wrote: post #51

Either the article is completely wrong about GPA or I must be an outlier. I barely had a 3.0 in college and got multiple internships at "Major" companies.

Very interesting - which companies/school, if I may ask? I think if you've done extraordinary things outside classes (great internships, awesome research, major open source contributions or own projects), you don't need a great GPA to stand out. But for most students graduating today, that's not the case.

Same here. I currently have a 3.2, but before last semester, it was a 3.1 (I'm done with 6 of 8 semesters). I had a internship with Amazon this summer, and they invited me back for this winter/summer (8 month coop). Before that, I was at Philips medical. I know a classmate that also has a 3.0/3.1 and had an internship with Google this summer.

I don't go to a extremely highly ranked school either.

Just reread the article, and I'm going to call nonsense on the GPA part again. From my exp, if you have a >3.0 you're good to go, as long as you know your technical stuff. The only co I have ever had a problem with is NVIDIA, which explicitly required >3.5.

Re: A brief guide to Tech Internships for CS students

#63

Post by 108 »

jff wrote: post #3

I didn't see this on there, so let me add: There is no reason, in the year 2012, for a CS or engineering student to take an unpaid internship. Depending where you go, you can expect over $20/hour as a student intern--if you're doing work of real value, you deserve to be paid!

Hear..Hear...Maybe HN should do a list of US companies that indulge in illegal stuff like unpaid internships. For starters, http://www.8thlight.com/apprenticeship is one such company where a friend interns for free -- The Ruby switch (from Php) was so great that she is doing an unpaid internship there.

Re: A brief guide to Tech Internships for CS students

#64

Post by jurre »

Does anyone know anything more about interning at US companies as a foreigner that's not studying there? I know you can apply for the J1 visa, but I'm not sure how hard it is for companies to take on interns on such a visa. I'm from the Netherlands by the way.

Re: A brief guide to Tech Internships for CS students

#65

Post by jhuckestein »

I'm surprised that none of the first few comments I read thought engineering internships might NOT be such a good idea.

I tell every engineering student I meet not to get an internship, which is why I always have a hard time hiring internships. Instead, I recommend creating projects of your own, if it's not in IT, it might be in the community, the student body or some other organization. Try to improve or create something on your own. As a CS student it's likely you'll find a job after college and you'll quickly learn all the things mentioned in the article and comments (including discovering what you don't like).

During your college breaks you're free to be completely self-directed. Depending on your career choice it'll take a long time (if ever) until you get that opportunity again!

I think I might b

Re: A brief guide to Tech Internships for CS students

#66

Post by AlexeyMK »

jurre wrote: post #64

Does anyone know anything more about interning at US companies as a foreigner that's not studying there? I know you can apply for the J1 visa, but I'm not sure how hard it is for companies to take on interns on such a visa. I'm from the Netherlands by the way.

https://twitter.com/#!/startuplife_in are a great resource for Finland, at least -- and I imagine the rules are about the same. Linda & co are great.

Re: A brief guide to Tech Internships for CS students

#67

Post by bstx »

jurre wrote: post #64

Does anyone know anything more about interning at US companies as a foreigner that's not studying there? I know you can apply for the J1 visa, but I'm not sure how hard it is for companies to take on interns on such a visa. I'm from the Netherlands by the way.

Companies, at least those with an official internship program, will take care of your J1 visa. Don't worry about that.

Re: A brief guide to Tech Internships for CS students

#68

Post by scott_s »

wisty wrote: post #61
scott_s wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps you misunderstood me, so let me state it another way: you must pay people who work for you, even if their title is "intern." To do otherwise circumvents the minimum wage laws.

There's often exceptions for interns. I don't know about the US though. It's a common dodge in Australia to put people on as "trainees". I think it can be illegal if they aren't really being trained, and there's lots of other rules (like it must be an educational course requirement).

There is no exception in the US. The only way a company can have an unpaid intern in the US is if that intern does no productive work for the company - that is, they don't profit from the intern's labor.

My understanding is that it's actually rare for tech companies to violate this law. But I have heard that it is common in the publishing industry. See: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2412255

Re: A brief guide to Tech Internships for CS students

#69

Post by Gayle »

jff wrote: post #3

I didn't see this on there, so let me add: There is no reason, in the year 2012, for a CS or engineering student to take an unpaid internship. Depending where you go, you can expect over $20/hour as a student intern--if you're doing work of real value, you deserve to be paid!

If you're finishing your junior year, then yes, that's true. But if you've only done one year of college, then you might have trouble finding a paid internship. Your best bet might be an unpaid internship at a start-up.

Re: A brief guide to Tech Internships for CS students

#70

Post by wisty »

scott_s wrote: post #68
wisty wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's often exceptions for interns. I don't know about the US though. It's a common dodge in Australia to put people on as "trainees". I think it can be illegal if they aren't really being trained, and there's lots of other rules (like it must be an educational course requirement).

There is no exception in the US. The only way a company can have an unpaid intern in the US is if that intern does no productive work for the company - that is, they don't profit from the intern's labor. My understanding is that it's actually rare for tech companies to violate this law. But I have heard that it is common in the publishing industry. See: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2412255

That is an exception - US interns just can't be "productive". FTA: "50 percent of graduating students had held internships". Face it, most of them will be doing unpaid clerical work. It will be "educational", in that they will gain valuable office skills, but it won't really be legal.
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