<p>I was wondering if research is a bad idea for someone who does NOT plan to go to graduate school for CS as opposed to taking an internship. I ask this because the area of the country I'm from the opportunities are limited for CS students and therefore it is actually really competitive to get an internship within my CS department. Also, due to the limited employment opportunities in my area, I don't have much interest in the type of work that is being done around here.</p>
<p>Therefore, I was wondering if it would be a better idea to do research with a professor in something that interests me and is related to the type of work that I want to do when I graduate in December? I'm still seeking internship opportunities but with five weeks remaining in the semester it's starting to look slim.</p>
<p>From my college experience, I did feel that if you did research as an undergrad, that would set you up better for grad school and worse for company internships and jobs out of undergrad. I did the research route in undergrad, and when it came time for graduation, I found that I wasn’t getting as many hits as I liked from employers in industry. I did get accepted to some top schools for graduate school however (MIT and Stanford among them), and my resume/experience was comparatively in the upper end of my peers. My field was MechE, not CS, so there may be a difference there, and others may have different experiences. After I did finish grad school, however, getting a job in industry was pretty easy!</p>
<p>Research isn’t as good as internship experience if you don’t want to go for graduate school. However, if you don’t have opportunities for an internship, then research is definitely better than sitting around over the summer. If you did research during the school year and an internship for the summer, that would make you look great.</p>
<p>Get involved in research regardless, I think it’s the one area of engineering where research can be a replacement for internships without damaging your employability. But consider at least one small internship or co-op, even if you hate it, just so you have some real-world work experience under your belt.</p>
<p>But saying “I did research in <cool, sophisticated=”" thing=""> for two Summers and got published" definitely sounds better than “I did test scripting and debugging for Bland Co. for two Summers and made money.”</cool,></p>