

Ask HN: which internship to take? - ghiculescu

I'm a university student (in Australia) and my uni runs an internships program with local IT companies. I've got two offers and am having trouble deciding between them.<p>One company is a large multinational. They have a corporate culture; uniforms for all, monthly compulsory drinks &#38; awards sessions, conferences, etc. They couldn't tell me which team I'd be in (so could only say I'd use java or .net). Team sizes are 6-8 and there's about 80 people all up. <p>Company two is government funded but relatively independent. About 30 people, office space looks relaxed and colorful. Had a definite job description. One of my uni friends works part time there. Pay is a few thousand less than company 1 and they didn't mention and similar perks. <p>Both jobs are full time. <p>At this point I really can't decide which way to go. This is my first internship so any advice is appreciated. Cheers!
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Jun8
At this early stage in your career 'd say you should maximize exposure rather
than try to optimize for some trait of the company (relaxed, colorful company,
etc.), so I'd say go with the first one. Maybe your internship won't be as fun
as teh otehr one but (i) it'll be a resume buster, (ii) you may want use them
to jump over to another country later, and (iii) you'll meet more people.

Getting older, you'll find that you'll find yourself inadvertently switching
from breadth first to depth first search for happiness/fulfillment in life, so
better cast the net wide while you're young.

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ewan
In what seems like an eternity ago I had a similar decision to make - choosing
between a very large (100k+ employees; non-IT focus) organisation and what
today would probably have been called a startup (~10 people across 2
continents; IT product development & sales)

I chose (your) option 1, partly because I figured they were a good company to
have on my cv whatever the outcome, and partly because they offered a few k
more a year. Frankly I think you should try to ignore the money aspect, but
when a few k is a sizeable percentage of your total salary, I know this is
difficult to do.

10+ years later I've lived in 3 countries, flown business a lot more often
then I would probably have paid for myself, and enjoyed the sort of perks you
seem to like the look of in option 1. I've done some interesting technology
based work along the way, but I've also done a lot of administrativa.

In my case, it was important that the organisation kept trading for the
duration of my year's internship, or I wouldn't have recieved the course
credit. If this is applicable to you, it is something to consider in your
choice. Remember both organisations (their Australian office at least) could
have risks in this regard.

Good luck!

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latch
From my own personal experience, I would avoid the first offer. I'd say
there's more chance that everything you'll learn at the first place will be
how _not_ to do things. It is actually a great way to learn, but it's also
very draining.

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hrasm
At this point in your career path, I would say that both offer an experience
from which you will be able to judge the kind of environment more suitable for
you.

[When I was in Company One kind of place, I didn't learn much.]

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petervandijck
Company two. I don't understand why you hesitate. Is it the pay?

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namank
You said you want to go to 2, so go to 2.

