

Ask HN: Interning as a developer this summer - disposable123

Note: apologies for posting this under a dummy account; would rather keep this anonymous on HN, but I'm happy to be more candid via e-mail.<p>I'm a CS undergraduate (2/3 years completed). I really want to experience working in the Valley this summer. However, as a UK citizen, I find the visa situation to be a little daunting.<p>Apparently there's a shortage of talented developers though. So I had this thought: in exchange for visa help, flights and somewhere to sleep, would a startup be likely to take me on?<p>Just to clarify: I would essentially work for free over 3 months to cover the hassle involved.<p>Here's some of my experience over the past year:<p>- Wrote non-trivial iPhone/iPad apps (+ some Android experience)<p>- Server-side APIs: Python+Tornado, MySQL (involving lots of data)<p>- Analytics on top of a Hadoop cluster for a large global telco, dealing with petabytes of incoming data (ongoing -- also involved in deploying the cluster)<p>- Web visuals using ExtJS, Google Maps API, RaphaelJS<p>Would love to hear if this sounds even remotely plausible.<p>Thanks!
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triviatise
Dont sell your self short! Interning (work for free or for cheap) is common in
fields where there are tons of students looking for jobs (publishing, fashion,
film, TV). In development it isnt the case, there is always a shortage of good
people. If you do intern, make sure you get paid a reasonable wage! Something
on the order of 20-25/hour. When I interned about 15 years ago I made about
the equivalent of 50K/year. Not great, but certainly not free. I had found
free lance jobs on my own paying about $50/hour.

If you are going to work for free, you might as well do it for yourself and
work on an opensource project

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sgrove
We've had several interns, most of which were from Canada (University of
Waterloo apparently has strict experience requirements for undergrads).
There's not too much of a challenge - contact different startups, you'll be
sponsored, you'l come here and be put through some immigration unpleasantries,
and go home at the end of three months or so.

Give it a try! HN is only one route to find internships - check with friends,
online contacts, and your university to see if they have any placement
program.

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disposable123
Thanks for the advice. Who's the 'we' and do you still take interns? Worth a
try!

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nano81
Interning in the states is fairly easy with a J-1 visa once you have an
employer backing you. The visa costs roughly $800 (mine have always been
covered by the employer). I always used CDS to get the visa
(<http://www.cdsintl.org/interntrainusa/about-j1-visa/>) but I am sure there
are other agencies that are just as good.

Send me an email if you need more info.

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answerly
We are a startup (YC W10) looking for great summer interns and would happily
help with visas, etc for the right person. My contact info is in my profile if
you'd like to chat.

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wsxiaoys
Also want to know if there any intern opportunities accept international
students (etc. China) in valley.

