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Subject:Re: internships query From:nancy ott <ott -at- ANSOFT -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 10 Jun 1994 11:01:24 EDT
Andrew J. English <aenglish -at- CRL -dot- COM> writes:
> I would like to hear from people who
> have entered the field through internships
> or people who work at companies where
> interns are used. How did you obtain
> the internship? Did it pay a living
> wage? Also, are there companies which
> offer part-time internships with flexible
> hours (for those of us that have to hold
> down a second job while we work as interns)?
> Or as an alternative to a formal internship
> program, have any of you volunteered to do work for a
> company just to gain experience when you
> were starting out, for little or no
> compensation (in order to augment your
> portfolio so as to get a real job later on)?
I got my start in the tech writing field at the University of
Pittsburgh's Computing and Information Systems department while I was
studying writing there. I worked as a part-time assistant tech
writer, and was paid an hourly wage that was so miserable I don't want
to admit what it was. (To give you all a clue, I could have made lots
more money working at the "Dirty O" -- a local fast food joint that
specializes in fried everything, especially french fries.) However,
the experience I gained was beyond value. When you're starting out,
taking a job that pays diddly but gives you good experience is often
worth it, as long as you recognize this and don't let yourself get
stuck there.
I also did a semi-volunteer internship -- I took an internship class,
and came up with a tech writing project for my CIS boss that I did
outside of work hours. I use this internship project as part of my
portfolio, and I'm certain it was one of the factors that got me my
first writing job.
I've also used interns here at Ansoft (hi, Anatole and Elliott!) with
mixed results -- two worked out fabulously (we subsequently hired one
of them), and the other just disappeared ....
- nancy
PS: Remembering my own poverty-stricken internship days, I made sure
my interns were paid a more reasonable wage than I was.
--
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nancy ott |
Ansoft Corp. | Bigger! Better! Faster! More! Now!
Pittsburgh, PA |
ott -at- ansoft -dot- com |
