My college freshman (CS major) was offered an unpaid 4 weeks winter externship in SV. Since she did not take any formal CS classes yet and have absolutely no experience in the field except summer research her senior year of HS , we did not expect her to get paid. Specifically because of the short duration of the externship. But this externship does not provide for housing. This might be a problem in SV. Another aspect to consider is that they will have her working on a front load, not on AI software since she does not have any experience. Do you think this will be a good learning experience for the price we have to pay for housing? Her other options would be doing UROP or take winter semester fun classes.
It sounds like you’re paying money to give a company a month worth of free labor.
@NeoDymium True. But not much is available for inexperienced freshmen for just one month.
Have her check into into more. To legally be unpaid. usuall internship work needs to be either done for a non-profit and/or earning class credit
This is definitely legal @colorado_mom She got it through her university website with this school alumni. This is externship and they are most of the time unpaid. Her school asks alumni to give students externship and internship opportunities.
Really, I don’t see the point. Not getting paid (and more than that, it costs money), not doing anything that sounds particularly career-building, and that’s often coupled with a proportionate amount of respect.
Just wait until next year, when getting paid internships starts to become a real feasible possibility.
I don’t think she will be more professionally prepared next year. She is taking all GE glasses this year. This is not optional. It is a school requirement. She is applying for summer internships, but again not having any professional experience will hold her back.
We tend to stress about internships (you’ve probably seen a thread I started on the subject). The reality is, for good students, they’re nice, not not the end of the world if a student doesn’t get one, especially first year. A graduating ME at my son’s school is going to work for Apple and was offered a position at Tesla. He didn’t do any internships. She’ll do well no matter what. I personally wouldn’t council a student to work for free. Good luck.
Nothing wrong with just relaxing over winter break…only four weeks and then she’ll be back at the grind again.
Thank you everyone. I don’t have problem with free part of it, it is the housing expenses that is a stretch for us. She has 6 weeks winter break. Knowing my DD, she cannot handle more than a week or two of nonproductive activities. I would be perfectly fine with her to relax at home for 6 weeks, but it will make her miserable. She was selected among other excellent students at her school to get this externship. She is proud she was selected. The externships varied from unpaid to the one paying 1500-2000 per week. To get to those high paying externships you have to start somewhere. I remember how difficult it was for me to get my first job. It was much easier after that.
Consider research work or club participation as a means to acquire experience. It seems trite but a lot of what you learn there is closely related to what you learn on-the-job. Internships give you experience working in a corporate setting, but their downside is that you can’t work for four years in a row on internships like you can with clubs or research work.
Usually, if you keep busy and have some reasonable involvement, you can gain “experience.” It’s always a game of “fake it till you make it” for college students, and you have plenty of opportunities for the taking if you look for them.
I think it could be good experience and may help her refine her interests. (I was a little confused that she has not taken any CS courses yet, but it sounds like her college encourages all gen ed courses first… It’s probably a little early for her to know “AI Software” is her area of interest. Don’t rule out the opportunity for just that reason.
Idea - maybe she could find some housing leads from the hiring company. When I did summer internship, my company referred me to a delightful little Italian lady that rented a room in her house. It’s unlikely you’ll find that in SV, but maybe there would be some other good lead. Good luck!
Thank you. I know that our parent’s association have people hosting students during internships / externships. The application will open next month. DD took AP CS in 10th grade and was coding on and off in Java and Python but nothing major.
I wouldn’t have encouraged my kids to do it. They need breaks, and summer research or internships eat up most of their summers. This year her friends will be home from college (not always so true in the future), and it is a financial stretch. I’d skip it.
Thank you everyone. My DD was just offered an externship for the duration of her winter break in our home city. So she can stay at home! And it is a paid externship.
Well, let that be a lesson: even when you’re in high demand with a valuable major, there will still be those who try to make it seem like that isn’t the case. It’s good to hear that things worked out for the better for you.
@Ballerina016 Congratulations to your DD. I am so glad to hear it worked out. My DD is currently at the SWE conference and things are going well with her job (internship) search for this summer. SWE did things a little bit differently this year- they had students upload their resume to a central resume bank. My DD was contacted by 5 employeers this past week saying they wanted to interview her at SWE. She took two up on their offer and is interviewing with them today. She was fortunate to receive two job offers this past week from her previously attended HENACC conference which is why she didn’t take the other interviews. One of my DD’s offers is in our hometown and I would love to have her here this summer but I met she doesn’t take that offer. Thought it better to give other students those opportunities. Just called an got another offer so definitely have your DD do the SWE. It is also fun and really good workshops. Glad everything worked out.
Thank you @itsv Your daughter sounds like a very accomplished young lady. I am thrilled that my DD will be spending six weeks winter break at home and got her very first Software development internship. She is beyond exited and honored to have this opportunity as a freshman. Plus she is very happy to leave east coast to spend a winter in California.
Thank you @NeoDymium Lesson learned!
That sounds perfect.
So lately I’ve been hearing the term “externship” (on CC and elsewhere). Does it mean unpaid shadowing? Or other meaning (vs internship)?
@colorado_mom It means short duration internship. It can be one week to one month long. It can be both paid and unpaid.