Internships

RealistSpy

Hi,

I am just wondering why is it so hard to get internship in the software development industry? I mean the jobs are meant to be there right? Is recession hitting this sector? How much experience or expectations are employers looking for in an intern (3rd year software development student).

GetWithIt

IT employers don't want interns, they want people who are good to go. Having a degree or commercial experience isn't necessarily required, aptitude and attitude are.

If you have the aptitude, demonstrate it. If you can't demonstrate it without pointing to a piece of paper you don't fulfill the second criteria.

What projects are you doing as part of your course? What is your role in the group projects?

Go to events like those run by the ndrc http://www.ndrc.ie/

Develop a portfolio of projects that you have contributed to, be they commercial or just fun.

GetWithIt

double post

RealistSpy

GetWithIt wrote: »

IT employers don't want interns, they want people who are good to go. Having a degree or commercial experience isn't necessarily required, aptitude and attitude are.

If you have the aptitude, demonstrate it. If you can't demonstrate it without pointing to a piece of paper you don't fulfill the second criteria.

What projects are you doing as part of your course? What is your role in the group projects?

Go to events like those run by the ndrc http://www.ndrc.ie/

Develop a portfolio of projects that you have contributed to, be they commercial or just fun.

Totally agree with you on that. I have a portfolio and most of my work are open source. I am still finding it hard well most students I know are, expect for people studying Systems Management or Information Technology.

I hope the industry is still go because people need to invest in students, well I believe.

stevenmu

The jobs are certainly there, if anything there's possibly a shortage of good skilled developers. This could possibly be leading to a shortage of internships, in general an intern will need a certain amount of mentoring and oversight. If a company is already busy and possibly understaffed then they might not have the capacity to train in an intern.

amen

The biggest problem is that no matter how good someone is they still take 3-6 months (at a minimum) to understand what they are working on and during this time they require a mentor. So by the time they are getting productive they are back to college.

RealistSpy

I understand what you are all saying. So would you say Universities or Colleges should have a extra year just for work experience or ?

amen

So would you say Universities or Colleges should have a extra year just for work experience

No. University/College isn't there to get you job but to educate you about the subject your are studying. The fact that you can/cannot get a job at the end is incidental (ask all those Art students with degrees in Politics, Ancient Irish History etc)

RealistSpy

amen wrote: »

No. University/College isn't there to get you job but to educate you about the subject your are studying. The fact that you can/cannot get a job at the end is incidental (ask all those Art students with degrees in Politics, Ancient Irish History etc)

What I mean was, would 1 year of work experience be more appealing to employers than 6months...?
I know DIT does 2 years part-time internship.

EyeSight

Over the summer i did an internship as a software engineer. i found there were loads of places willing to offer them. however most of the big companies would have hired people by now for next april
does your college not offer any help? are you a good student? i'm really surprised because in a year with about 60+ people, most got internships in my year

RealistSpy wrote: »

What I mean was, would 1 year of work experience be more appealing to employers than 6months...?
I know DIT dies 2 years part-time internship.

i'm pretty sure there's a law stating that 14 months is the most one can hire an intern for. some companies such as microsoft prefer interns to do 12 months

i also found that large companies love having interns because they get to pre-approve and train/groom them for when they are graduates. i was even offered a graduate job for the following year before my internship ended. thats just my experience and that of others in my year that i have talked to

RealistSpy

I won't be one of the smartest when it comes to other subjects but I know programming...I hope good enough. Here is my portfolio currently updating it. I have few interviews lined up but I was expecting way more at least the top companies e.g. Google and Microsoft.

I am also curious to know the percentage of students that got a job straight after college.

EyeSight

RealistSpy wrote: »

I won't be one of the smartest when it comes to other subjects but I know programming...I hope good enough. Here is my portfolio currently updating it. I have few interviews lined up but I was expecting way more at least the top companies e.g. Google and Microsoft.

I am also curious to know the percentage of students that got a job straight after college.

google are next to impossible to get an internship with. i know some very very smart students who didn't get a reply from them. Microsoft seem to love having interns but they hire in september

i know in software development there are a lot of jobs in ireland at the moment. If you make full use of your internship and make a good impression then that company would seriously consider you for any graduate job they have

punk_one82

To be quite honest OP, I've had the completely opposite experience. I'm in my 3rd year of Software Engineering, and in April I'm starting my second internship. I took a year out last year to do an 11 month internship that I got offered outside of uni, and in April I'm starting a 6 month internship that I've to do as part of my degree. The jobs are certainly there.

boblong

I'll have to disagree. I found it pretty easy to get an internship last year (was a 2nd year CS student). All I did was send my CV around a few times until I got an interview.

Encrypted Pigeon

boblong wrote: »

I'll have to disagree. I found it pretty easy to get an internship last year (was a 2nd year CS student). All I did was send my CV around a few times until I got an interview.

Same, I landed one last year (except I was 1st year CS ), showed some programs I made and they gave me a shot, was an absolutely fantastic learning experience.

RealistSpy

Good
Fingers crossed I get something this year.

CarefulNow

Were these paid internships by any chance?

punk_one82

Yep, both paid internships.

Encrypted Pigeon

Yes, paid

CarefulNow

Cheers lads. I need a summer job badly and would love to get experience.

EyeSight

CarefulNow wrote: »

Cheers lads. I need a summer job badly and would love to get experience.

check out intel. they do a good summer internship for all years

srsly78

Only 1/12 of applicants for my internship (dole + e50) were Irish. Not really suprised.

EyeSight

srsly78 wrote: »

Only 1/12 of applicants for my internship (dole + e50) were Irish. Not really suprised.

no disrespect, but when i was looking for internships for college most places were paying a lot more than that for interns. the highest was 1800 per month(with bonus and benefits), the average was 1500.
I think its fantastic when people offer internships, however you can't blame people for apply where the most money is offered

srsly78

That's the government paying for it, not me. Why would I pay for using my own time to train someone? It's a "work on whatever you want, from home if you want" type internship, so hardly exploitation. *"work on whatever you want" = within reason ofc, some things I have no clue about.

RealistSpy

Just to be clear, I am talking about internship through college not jobs bridge but I do think the jobs bridge is a good idea as well. Hell I will work for no money (experience wise).

Dboy85

DemonWare are hiring a pile of interns this year. Scrub up on python 3 and your laughing. I did the code interview for the laugh and it was tricky enough so you'd have to be pretty good at it. The plus side is you get to work on modern warfare 3 patches and servers :O

Another option is to leave the country, I'm off to Norway for 7 months. Carlow I.T have links to colleges in Amsterdam too and you'll come home with a duel diploma.

I had the option to do my own paying contract work and that would count as work placement as long as you had a supervisor. I was going to sub it out to a local business and get them to contract me to do it. They get a % for their troubles but you get a supervisor, paid and work your own hours while building your portfolio. Win win if you are that stuck.

srsly78 wrote: »

Only 1/12 of applicants for my internship (dole + e50) were Irish. Not really suprised.

Fascist

SoTek72

Sintel wrote: »

Same, I landed one last year (except I was 1st year CS ), showed some programs I made and they gave me a shot, was an absolutely fantastic learning experience.

Do companies usually take first and second years ?

Always thought id never even be considered until third or fourth year.

srsly78

EyeSight wrote: »

no disrespect, but when i was looking for internships for college most places were paying a lot more than that for interns. the highest was 1800 per month(with bonus and benefits), the average was 1500.
I think its fantastic when people offer internships, however you can't blame people for apply where the most money is offered

No disrespect but dole + e50/w + benefits (rent) is almost the same as e1500-1800, and the normal salary will probably get reduced by emergency tax too.

Fair enough most students can't get welfare, but some can (mature students over summer), and graduates can also.

EyeSight

srsly78 wrote: »

No disrespect but dole + e50/w + benefits (rent) is almost the same as e1500-1800, and the normal salary will probably get reduced by emergency tax too.

Fair enough most students can't get welfare, but some can (mature students over summer), and graduates can also.

i assume by rent benefits you mean some sort of government assistance?

most students don't get those benefits, even if they did, they would still get it if they got an internship paying them 1600-1800 anyway. they don't get emergency taxed, just taxed as long as they submit the correct paperwork

also the job market in software development for graduates is pretty good in ireland, so most wouldn't need to intern.

believe me, i have no problem with the dole/internship program, i think it's one of the few proactive programs around. but you can see why most students looking for internships will go for the higher paying jobs, most of which have added benefits too

srsly78

EyeSight wrote: »

i assume by rent benefits you mean some sort of government assistance?

most students don't get those benefits, even if they did, they would still get it if they got an internship paying them 1600-1800 anyway. they don't get emergency taxed, just taxed as long as they submit the correct paperwork

also the job market in software development for graduates is pretty good in ireland, so most wouldn't need to intern.

believe me, i have no problem with the dole/internship program, i think it's one of the few proactive programs around. but you can see why most students looking for internships will go for the higher paying jobs, most of which have added benefits too

You don't seem to know much about welfare etc. If you got a proper paid internship (ie above minimum wage) then you would be working, and not eligible for other benefits.

The software development market is good for experienced people, not for graduates from what I have been reading.

Picking your internship based on it's pay rate is doing it wrong anyway, the experience is what is more valuable. Pick a bad internship and you might end up doing support instead of development for years.

EyeSight

srsly78 wrote: »

You don't seem to know much about welfare etc. If you got a proper paid internship (ie above minimum wage) then you would be working, and not eligible for other benefits.

The software development market is good for experienced people, not for graduates from what I have been reading.

Picking your internship based on it's pay rate is doing it wrong anyway, the experience is what is more valuable. Pick a bad internship and you might end up doing support instead of development for years.

seeing as most students only source of welfare would be a college grant, i assumed that's what you meant. which they still get if on placement as students. even erasmus students get a grant for working during placement.
I am a graduate in this field and i can tell you there are plenty of graduate opportunities out their. plenty.
I never said anything about picking the highest paid internship, you made a comment about how only 1 irish person applied for your internship. i explained that is because it wasn't a competitive salary for software development internships.

srsly78

And I just explained to you that it was :P