<p>Just got offered an internship for the summer at a start-up company as mechE, but not sure is having your 1st internship at a startup would be good, can anyone weigh in?</p>
<p>This is really a startup, the employer said she does not yet know how many full time employees she will have by the summer, or the exact tasks I will be doing.
She says that as an intern at a startup, my tasks could change day to day from designing to working in the fabrication/machine shop answering to a foreman, to doing mundane tasks like fetching product.</p>
<p>I'm just wondering being my 1st internship to gain experience (I don't need the pay exactly, just looking for experience to add to my resume), would it be a waste to basically work as a shop-worker or errand boy and not just solely learning and working with other engineers on design process.</p>
<p>NOTE: Reason for my worries is that I have interviewed and waiting with other engineering firms that are more established that clearly laid out my responsibilities as an engineer that involves working with product and system design.</p>
<p>In a typical startup environment, people will have to do what is needed, and strict job delineations are not used so much.</p>
<p>While the overall view of a startup is smaller than a large company, an employee at a startup will likely be doing more different things in the startup than in a large company.</p>
<p>I guess it depends on your personality and your ability to take risks. I would like the diversity of many possible experiences and the ability to put a little of this and a little of that on my resume. If this start up takes off, you could be poised to be a key player in the future. If I were to take the start up, I would be ready to dive enthusiastically into as many areas as possible. If the other internship comes through, you may have set responsibilities or variety, if they want to expose you and see how you might fit into their company in the future as well. I guess you will have to weigh both situations and your personality.</p>
<p>Two years in a startup will give you five years of experience! It could be a tremendous opportunity if you are willing to work hard and learn. You may be ruined for life because you may like it so much that the slower pace of a large company with all of the politics and bureaucracy will never appeal to you.</p>
<p>Thanks for replies so far, I only have about a day left to answer offer.
Was wondering if any of these are warning signs or just usual with start-up environment
Owner does not know yet how many full time employees (not just interns) she will have during summer
Company has no office, it will be run out of the owner’s residential home (So I guess if there is a shop, it will be in garage???)
Job offer proposal doc looks unprofessional like ~5min type up in Microsoft Word</p>
<p>I know the opportunity to work at a start up will give me alot of experience and knowledge, but not sure if this company is really legit.</p>
<p>Unless you know for sure the business is well-funded and has potential customers, I would look for a different opportunity. Not because the job responsibilities are undefined (which is normal,) but because the business itself doesn’t yet sound like a real business.</p>
<p>I can see you accepting the offer, and then the owner telling you to hold off because she’s not ready yet.</p>