Life as a Product Design Intern at Khan Academy

[elizabethylin]

http://elizabethylin.com/khan

[ebspelman]

Amazing write-up! Those animations are fantastic. Did you really make all of them using Keynote?

And the portfolio site in general is really something else. You should definitely be more than an intern!

[elizabethylin → ebspelman]

Thank you :)! And, yes, all the animations are done in Keynote!

[zosegal]

You are extremely talented. Great write up.

[peter303]

I wonder if converting Khan's mini-lectures into video-game-like exercises will improve or degrade learning.

[jtth]

If you got less than $20k for your "internship" you got ripped off and they got their money's worth and then some.

[spaceman_2020 → jtth]

That's a very short term view.

I worked for a guy for nearly 4 months at a sub-par pay. That work turned into an opportunity that brings in six figures every year.

I understand where you're coming from, but sometimes, you have to give before you can get.

[z3t4 → spaceman_2020]

But for most people that would be 4 Years at a sub-par pay, while the employer would make six figures off your work and then when you humbly ask for a raise thinking you've earned it they'll say; "sorry, not possible.".

[spaceman_2020 → z3t4]

I don't think this works in a conventional employer-employee relationship. The person I'm talking about was a client when I was really young and he kind of took me under his wing.

[lmartel → jtth]

Last year when I was looking for internships I interviewed with Khan Academy. They pay about as much as Google does (for dev interns, anyway).

[pokpokpok → jtth]

I would go into debt to work for khan academy. they're doing something hard and worth while and doing it well

[richardlblair → pokpokpok]

People should never be taken advantage of. If Khan Academy has the resources to pay people better than they should.

But, if they don't than I'm 100% with you. It's better to work on something worth doing for less money, then work on something you don't feel passionately about for more.

[dylanvee → richardlblair]

I joined Khan Academy as an intern in summer 2012 and have been with the company ever since. We're not going to top Facebook, but I can assure you that we compensate interns competitively. Given the massive contributions that interns like Elizabeth have made, nothing else would make sense to me.

[richardlblair → dylanvee]

That's great to hear. I have used Khan Academy in the past to brush up on math!

[perseusprime → dylanvee]

Are you still an intern there?

[dylanvee → perseusprime]

After my internship I worked part-time while finishing up my last year of school, then joined full-time after graduating.

[Apocryphon → jtth]

Where did you even get that figure?

[rcheu → jtth]

$20k would be on the low end of internship pay in the bay area, and I think Khan Academy is competitive in pay.

[TrevorJ → jtth]

It really depends. Consider that fact that in many fields, you pay for 4 years or more of schooling in order to get the paper that gets you in the door. If an internship can do an end run around that then you come out well ahead.