

Ask HN: What's up with tech internships? - rkon

<i>"Ideal applicants will possess:<p>1-2 years experience working with: HTML/CSS, XML, integration and template design on a CMS (such as SharePoint or Kentico), JavaScript libraries, Photoshop or Fireworks, ASP.net, C#. Knowledge of Windows Server 2003 and 2008, IIS. Experience with SQL Server queries and stored procedures; Oracle PL/SQL knowledge. Experience with Visual Source Safe (or similar)."</i><p>This is for one 'programming/web development' internship, and it's not even asking for as much as most other ones I've seen (they usually mention C or C++, AJAX, PHP, Ruby and Flash as well).<p>Am I making too many lofty assumptions about the level of competency they expect in all these areas, or are employers just looking for ridiculous qualifications in college students (who may or may not be paid)?
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namank
No. Knowing C# is enough for this job; SQL would be good, and Photoshop is a
bonus

Employers post everything they use hoping that someone will match at least
half of them. Most full timers aren`t even experts in all the technologies.

Don't be intimidated, think about it from the employer POV. Most are
DESPERATE!

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wdewind
If you've got a year or two of internships under your belt already and are a
junior or senior in a CS program these requirements seem pretty reasonable.
1-2 years just means you've made something with it, it doesn't mean you are an
expert.

~~~
burgerbrain
Exactly. These requirements are not unreasonable at all. I don't think it is
out of line for an employer to expect that you've at least seen/touched the
tech they use.

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karamazov
A lot of the 'requirements' are more on the way of suggestions. Most companies
only expect you to know some of the things they list in this sort of
situation, anticipating that you can learn the rest if and when you need it on
the job.

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SandB0x
Where did you see this? There are plenty of bullshit "opportunities" forwarded
around CS student mailing lists. You'll learn to bin these soon enough.

My favourite was an ad for a PHP Ninja, where you needed to be a PhD student
in order to maintain their CRUD webapp, but they _might_ be willing to glance
at your CV if you only had a Masters.

If an advert emphasises what you will _gain_ from an internship, in terms of
skills and in terms of money, that is a good sign.

Just ignore anything that doesn't feel right.

~~~
rkon
Yeah, I know those spam emails you're talking about. Usually the type of
"great opportunities" where you get to manage yourself and earn "tons of
money" on commission, AKA free help.

Most of the internships in my area (Philadelphia) are just like the excerpt I
posted. Some are worse -- like the company that obviously wanted an unpaid
intern to build them a brand new website -- and very few are better.

~~~
nametoremember
All the ones I am seeing are similar.

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hansy
It's not a bad thing when employers continually raise the bar on their
expectations for both full-times and interns.

You should still apply to these seemingly daunting positions because many
times employers want to see you have the capacity to learn (remember almost
anyone can learn anything given some reasonable amount of time) even if you
don't know something right now.

Also well-known companies know they can suck people in through name alone and
not pay them as much as other firms.

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jchonphoenix
In my experience, for any company that is really worth it, the job description
is pretty meaningless.

All that matters is how you do in the interview. Thus, if you have good coding
skills and reasonable algorithmic/problem solving skills, you shouldn't have
any problem getting an interview.

