<p>DD is in her second year as a CE/CS major at USC. She wants to find something in her field this summer. Last summer, she worked at USC in one of their robotics labs, which she enjoyed and learned a lot. We live in Denver and she's looking for something here. She found a job posting on Craigslist for a summer job debugging software for a small start-up-like company. They have offered her a position as an Independent Contractor at $1400/month. This works out to a bit over $8/hr if she works full time.</p>
<p>She is trying to figure out if this would be a worthwhile experience for her. She obviously has not had much luck in snagging an internship with the larger companies in the area, but I hope she keeps trying.</p>
<p>Does anyone have any insight as to whether or not taking this position is a good thing for her in the long run? She can make more money keeping her current robotics lab job and staying in L.A. but our family would love for her to come home this summer. She is in an apartment so that rent is a sunk cost.</p>
<p>It sounds like she wants to focus on robotics, based on her past work in the lab. Southern California has many defense contractor and other companies that may be working on similar projects. She should look into that.</p>
<p>8/hr sounds far too low to me. Right now, talented software developers are particularly in demand and should not be working for that kind of pay. She should look into a internship type situation where she receives competitive pay and works directly under the guidance of a mentor. Have her make sure that her summer position isn’t just a chance for the company to bring in cheap student labor.</p>
<p>Interns studying CE/CS can easily make 20~40k over the summer. $8/hour is really stingy. There are many companies around the country in need of CS interns that could be beneficial in landing a job after graduation.</p>
<p>Maybe I’m just really out of things, but 20-40K over the summer sounds like a really top of the line internship, certainly not the norm or something that’s easily done. 20K working full time over three months is about $42/hour which seems like a lot to pay a sophomore college intern. I tried looking up what rates for interns and I found an article that lists some of the companies with the highest paid interns. The #1 internship on their list was $6536/month, which would make just under 20K for three months, and that’s the highest one on their list. $8/hour is rather low though.</p>
<p>I could just be completely oblivious but I don’t know if it’s realistic to expect to make 20-40K over the summer at an internship, even for a CE/CS major.</p>
<p>OP – In terms of just what’s the better opportunity, working at the robotics lab seems like a better opportunity, unless this job is really wants to do, is related to her future career, or would give her good contacts for the area that she plans to find a job in after college. It doesn’t really sounds like a good enough opportunity to trump the robotics lab, although I would highly recommend that she keep looking and applying to see what’s out there.</p>
<p>But if it’s about wanting her home for the summer, only you and your family can decide what’s a good enough opportunity to stay away from home for and keep paying rent in LA. In the long run, it probably won’t make or break her either way, so it’s really up to you guys.</p>
<p>“Independent contractor” meaning no benefits (including stock-based incentives), and she has to pay her own payroll taxes?</p>
<p><a href=“Data Science Intern Salaries in Denver, CO | SimplyHired”>http://www.simplyhired.com/salaries-k-summer-intern-computer-science-l-denver-co-jobs.html</a> suggests that the pay levels should be much higher than that. Even assuming that the pay level will be lower for someone between second and third year (as opposed to between third and fourth year), the offered pay level seems to be on the very low end. Indeed, $8 per hour is barely higher than the minimum wage that presumably gets paid to unskilled labor, and someone who has completed the second year of a CS major should have some in-demand CS skills to be worth a lot more than that.</p>
<p>Thanks for everyone’s input. She is pretty disappointed in that offer, which is about what she made as a lifeguard in high school. I did send her some new internship postings in our area that might give her a few more choices.</p>
<p>I was concerned about the Independent Contractor status. Would that mean that she has no protection from sexual harassment or other things like that since she’s not an employee (the mom in me never really stops worrying)?</p>
<p>She loved the job at the Robotics lab but is still testing waters to see what she really wants to do. Keeping that job would be just fine to her except for not being able to come home for the summer again.</p>
<p>@WAPAcker, I saw the money article. It seems to be quite competitive in some areas. But not in Denver…</p>
<p>DD’s roommate will be interning at Oracle for $25/hr this summer. Her parents work there and they were able to help her get that position. It’s tough to not be able to provide those opportunities for DD but she will be stronger in the long run, not having the same sort of “advantages”.</p>
<p>But some companies try to have people work as “independent contractors” to avoid payroll taxes and benefit costs; not all of them get caught by the IRS. A true independent contractor would be paid a higher pay rate than an employee, because that higher pay rate goes toward the independent contractor buying his/her own benefits and paying the additional payroll taxes (schedule C and SE on the IRS form 1040). A true independent contractor may be working for several customers simultaneously.</p>
<p>It isn’t always about the money, but about what you want to be doing. She might get a lot of practical experience out of the debugging job, but the position seems borderline illegal, and certainly miserly. I know it is hard on the parents, my kid did research at college every summer too, but it is excellent for the resume.</p>
<p>I should have mentioned that the research experience and building on previous year work is extremely valuable if she want to go to graduate school. Research cannot be equated to a entry level job like that. Research and projects are also good experiences for future employers, but it is critical for grad school applications and will make all the difference.</p>
<p>She would definitely be covered by sexual harassment, etc., provisions even as an independent contractor. Those laws apply to everyone and anyone at the worksite - employees, contractors, vendors, etc. The independent contractor is just related to the pay regulations as @ucbalumnus has posted. </p>
<p>Small companies and start-ups will pay less. The trade-off for a start-up is usually getting some stock options, which usually would not be included for an independent contractor. But this sounds a bit low to me, unless it is providing experience she is really interested in. </p>
<p>During my internship (14 weeks) I made about $17,000+housing, which you could say is not to far from $20,000. This and more are not uncommon. $40,000 definitely doesn’t sound normal though.</p>
<p>At the companies that pay the most, it is typical for undergrads to get 6k per mo, grad students to get 8k, ply students to get 10k. All with housing and relocation. People with special skills and talents can get offered more. You can see this reported elsewhere online as well. However, I think it is more typical for Jr’s to secure those jobs rather than sophomores, but it can definitely happen.</p>