Internship Insights for Current and Future College Interns

A while ago I found an old post from two and a half years earlier. It still felt familiar, so I kept it here and added a few thoughts around it.

For College Students Who Are Currently Interning or Will Intern Soon - Internship Experience Sharing

2011-03-30 20:23:28

It had been almost half a year since I left school in October 2010. In that short time I went from a tiny private company with six or seven people to a more structured, quasi-state-owned enterprise. Nothing dramatic happened, but it was not exactly smooth either.

The First Internship - The Second University of Life

Your first job may not decide your whole future, but the way you approach it probably will. Once you step out of school, everyone starts over. It does not matter whether you were a top student or a class leader. In the workplace, there is always a lot you have never seen before, and some things you may not even know exist.

What you need to do is first figure out where you want to go, then spend your spare time on the things that will get you there. It is painful at the beginning, but results show up fast. That is why I call the first job the second university of life.

My major was computer multimedia technology, but my first job was at a ceramic trading company, where I was responsible for website design and production. I had learned a little web design in school — enough to make mockups — but I did not really know what a backend was, or how a dynamic website actually worked. I was essentially starting from zero.

So after work, I spent almost all my spare time learning ASP + Access website development. Two months later, the site I built finally went online. I remember feeling a mix of things, but mostly satisfied. That kind of pressure turns out to be a very effective teacher.

Pursuit - When Others Start Calling You Crazy, You Are Usually Close

During that internship, one word kept staying with me: pursuit.

After working for a month or two, you start to get a clearer idea of why you are there, what you want, and what you are actually chasing.

After spending a lot of time on ASP, I realized the mainstream had moved to PHP. I went to job fairs, looked at different sites, and slowly understood that knowing only ASP was not going to be enough. So I started thinking about switching.

When I told friends, they thought it was unreasonable. I had a decent job, a decent salary, temporary housing. Why would I want to change?

But after thinking it through, I sent my resume to a company with a higher bar, just to see what would happen. Unexpectedly, I got an offer quickly. The position was graphic designer, but the learning atmosphere was good and the company bought books for employees. That gave me room to keep learning PHP on the side and exchange ideas with the developers there.

So yes — when people start calling you crazy, you are often closer to what you actually want than you think.

Work Attitude - Doing Ordinary Things Well Is Not Ordinary

A lot of students who did well in school expect a lot from the company they join. Some even want to jump straight into management because they think that would prove their value.

The truth is simpler. You are a fresh graduate with little experience. No company is going to hand you a product manager title just because you want one.

The most common negative attitude I saw was complaining. It is usually a sign that people have not yet started taking the work in front of them seriously enough.

Whatever job you are doing now, doing ordinary things well is not ordinary at all. In a company, the people who can consistently handle the small stuff are often the ones everyone relies on most.

A Few Thoughts For People Looking For Jobs Or About To Intern

• What your first job is does not matter as much as what you can learn from it.
• Stay energetic. Work hard, and keep learning new things with real enthusiasm.
• Do not rush into a company you do not understand. But also do not give up too quickly on a company that has high expectations of you.
• Do your job well, even if the task is small. You do not really have the capital to be arrogant yet.
• Give yourself a clear goal. Decide what level you want to reach by the end of your internship.