Internship's - Starting at the bottom
polycounter lvl 8
Tdl version at the bottom of this wall of text;
After applying for job's of all kind's I finally landed a internship at a Social media studio. We we're at a recruiting event and the poor chap was ram raided mid presentation by a 'actress'. Helped him out and at the end of the presentation I asked him bluntly if any jobs we're going along with a friend.
Three weeks later I started with a friend from uni. It turned out were the only graphics artist's there. There's no one else experienced within the company as the last person was let go. (He stole 2 apple macs after the fact. I'm not sure on the reason he was fired but from peoples reactions, he seemed a dick).
We've been working for free till I brought up covering our expenses - which is starting in July but we have no other information than that. Travel & food probably £10 a day.
Currently we're re-branding three bars and the parent event manager of them. Logo's, posters, flyers - everything. I had to bring in some equipment, a monitor and my intuos4 and I've also been cleaning up there computers which are virus infested beyond belief (100GB of crap/malicious so far).
Now I know full well as intern's we are going to be taken advantage of, I expected it really.
It does seem he just hires interns as there are 5 of us along with 6 actual employee's I know of. The other three interns manage facebook/twitter for business's. Since we're the only graphic artist's with experience we have a strong position, at least that's what I'm hoping is the case.
Everyone there is really friendly and it's smooth sailing bar lack of traction at the start.
-tdl-
Been using this too ~ Intern but it doesn't really apply since we're working at employee level if not art lead role.
Internship questions! Currently only graphic artist's there;
1. What's the average time people should spend as a intern if there is no possibility of being taken on properly?
2. How long should you wait before asking for a proper wage?
3. They want me for the full summer and if I can, through my third year university. They can't be expecting me to work 9:30-6:00 an only break even right?
4. Other people experience with dealing with internship's both taking and employing them. Are they worth it ect.
In the uk ~ forgot to mention that~
Thanks for any help ~
After applying for job's of all kind's I finally landed a internship at a Social media studio. We we're at a recruiting event and the poor chap was ram raided mid presentation by a 'actress'. Helped him out and at the end of the presentation I asked him bluntly if any jobs we're going along with a friend.
Three weeks later I started with a friend from uni. It turned out were the only graphics artist's there. There's no one else experienced within the company as the last person was let go. (He stole 2 apple macs after the fact. I'm not sure on the reason he was fired but from peoples reactions, he seemed a dick).
We've been working for free till I brought up covering our expenses - which is starting in July but we have no other information than that. Travel & food probably £10 a day.
Currently we're re-branding three bars and the parent event manager of them. Logo's, posters, flyers - everything. I had to bring in some equipment, a monitor and my intuos4 and I've also been cleaning up there computers which are virus infested beyond belief (100GB of crap/malicious so far).
Now I know full well as intern's we are going to be taken advantage of, I expected it really.
It does seem he just hires interns as there are 5 of us along with 6 actual employee's I know of. The other three interns manage facebook/twitter for business's. Since we're the only graphic artist's with experience we have a strong position, at least that's what I'm hoping is the case.
Everyone there is really friendly and it's smooth sailing bar lack of traction at the start.
-tdl-
Been using this too ~ Intern but it doesn't really apply since we're working at employee level if not art lead role.
Internship questions! Currently only graphic artist's there;
1. What's the average time people should spend as a intern if there is no possibility of being taken on properly?
2. How long should you wait before asking for a proper wage?
3. They want me for the full summer and if I can, through my third year university. They can't be expecting me to work 9:30-6:00 an only break even right?
4. Other people experience with dealing with internship's both taking and employing them. Are they worth it ect.
In the uk ~ forgot to mention that~
Thanks for any help ~
Replies
However, it sounds like you arnt getting any of that, it sounds boring, with no good art, and no big team to learn anything from. Id look for something else. If youre the only graphics people there, how are you supposed to learn from anyone? Youd be better of sitting at home with Polycount, and you dont have to make some Nathan Barley media trendy richer in the process
Or you see it as investment - i.e. the work you do there will really make a difference to your folio and add to your work-experience, making you more employable than a regular graduate. If this isn't true, don't waste your time.
In my previous company we had interns who then - I think after 3 - 4 months - got offers to come on board as regular artists. While they were interns they also did the same jobs (not making coffee
University comes first. You're already committed to a degree - unless you've got a Steve Jobs-ish money making prospect lined up - finish that degree.
What you're doing sounds like a tremendous amount of free work and does not sound like a proper internship at all, especially an unpaid one, which have pretty stringent rules that vary state to state.
I would look into the local laws asap, and with that knowledge, figure out what you want to do with your predicament.
You sound really valuable to this company. You should remind them of that.
Here we go: http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs71.pdf
What I would say is that if you're not being directly mentored by someone with a decent amount of experience so that you're able to learn something then having some kind of wage will at least get something out of it for you.
But as it's been said above, if you get something out of it, work for your portfolio, experience, potential references or contacts then it may be worth it, it all depends on whether or not you think the work itself is reward enough.
The guy regularly chats with major business both marketing, gaming ect. He's linked in everywhere in Liverpool.
He said that he is going into a game dev cycle when he get's backing- talks are still going on. He doesn't have the man power so he'll have to hire a few people and possible me.
We regularly see a guy who's been a team lead at Sony for 15 years, worked on a good few major games but we don't have much professional interaction.
The work is not currently applicable to me or my future career choice. Saying that, it's work and it's work in Liverpool which is all the rarer.
I'll ride it out for the next three month's or through the entire summer depending on whether I can manage it.
So what I can get out of this is right now and why I'm sticking around;
General work experience, Contacts and a few good references.
An on the long shot he pulls through and goes into a game dev cycle.
At least i'm trying to forward my professional career and it seems I'll start at the bottom to do so aha.
Age and hindsight are wonderful to be had, but I see this all the time.
Yeah I gotta agree with Rick here. I read this comment recently on LinkedIn and I think it sums it up:
"If the intern is going to contribute work to a live, paid project then they should absolutely be paid, not to do so would simply be immoral.
The level of pay can be low, i.e. around min wage, but given that most internships are actually summer placements undertaken by students - they don't pay any tax anyway so they end up with a decent amount of money + the valuable experience.
Asking someone to work for free is not something any self-respecting company should be doing."
If you're a graphic designer (or at least an Artist who has knowledge of design), why not just establish yourself as an individual and offer your services to similar companies? I used to do that and it paid pretty well.
Action plan then-
Work till July, ask if he's covering my expense's. If not, Kindly say goodbye.
If yes~
Work till the end of July with expenses and ask to be taken on fully. If it's a no. Kindly say goodbye.
Learn life lesson's, CV has more padding and so on.
I'll start looking for junior 3D positions start of July onwards just in case. There doesn't seem to be anything going around Liverpool though which is killing me ;')
I'm not going to start begging on here, I'll work my way through on LinkedIn again and track down junior/intern friendly companies.
Thanks for the bluntness guy's, really needed it aha xD
It isn't work, it's volunteering.
If you work for him throughout July and then ask him if he's going to pay you after, the answer will always be no.
This guy is scumming you hard and you need to divorce yourself from the idea that this is beneficial to you, because you've said it isn't, and you're being incredibly taken advantage of.
Dude honestly don't wait til the start of July, if you have any free time and can get on the net, start now. Work can be really hard to come by, if you're concerned about having to move for work you could try working from home.
There's other forums (including the PC job section) where you can post your folio and help out with indie projects. At first you might get a lot of emails saying something like "We can't pay right now but once the project starts selling we'll definitely give you a share", or one of my favourites: "We're not offering any money, but it'll look great in your portfolio" ¬_¬ ...but I digress.
Money might not be amazing to begin with but its a start