It’s not so much about the money but about the skills you learn from interning. I’ve interned at various art studios for prominent artists and the techniques, skills, knowledge and networking you gain from Interning is FAR greater than any small monetary incentive they tack on to one.
Good luck keeping yourself off the streets when your landlord wants that cash instead of wanting to hear about all the stuff you’re learning how to do while fetching Starbucks orders for the office…
I have to chuckle every time I see unpaid internships attacked- you spend longer in college, pay a fortune to go (with rapidly increasing tuition costs as the norm, courtesy of uncle sam firehosing student loan $ on everyone), and well over half your time there is almost certain to be unrelated to the field of work you plan on entering, yet few if any of the people who bitch about them notice the ultra colossal racket of college itself.
THIS MAN IS SO CORRECT!!
Start your own gaming blog. If companies can see you’re already doing it, that helps your cause, and at the very least, it’s something you can link people to to show examples of your writing.
Well I have an interview with Blizzard next Tuesday at 9am. Just thought I’d say something and a thanks to all who posted. I learned a lot from this thread. Also, not quite my forte, but I will take what I can get.
I definitely cannot speak highly enough of internships. I actually started an internship in my field of choice even when I had started getting work as an illustrator. It didn’t just impress the head of the studio that I was willing to intern after starting to get work, but the fact that I worked with a major professional artist was something people care about 10 years later. Depending on the who and where you choose to intern it is literally invaluable. In my field of choice, it sped up the learning of a field and tricks of the trade and provided an opportunity to make mistakes and learn without the pressure and demands of jumping into a career for which I felt slightly unprepared.
Oh and I can’t forget the connections. I was invited places I had absolutely no right to be going at the time and met people I couldn’t have met otherwise. It’s nice to think I could have had these opportunities on my own but, in hindsight, I simply can’t say for sure. In my case, a few month paid internship turned into full time paid position.
I get paid full time. California >>> Canada
Thanks dude, that’s what I am hoping for also. We will see what happens. Truthfully, I want a Japanese based corporation, but I will take ehwta I can get. I speak English, Spanish and Japanese so I am hoping that helps sells me besides the jobs I have held and my people skills. Seems like Internships are a fantastic thing.
Good going! Foot in the door and all that stuff 
I dont know what’s off topic about getting paid full time for internships in California…
especially after he said internships are alave labor, which they arent because no firm os gonna give you real responsibilities
smh
my bad homie I thought you were a “FULL TIME EMPLOYEE” lol and I was like… “off topic mang!” I’ll pull that back off. Good for you dude. I hope you are enjoying it man.
With my lads, I have a rule.
If they want to come in, do the minimimum, live an easy life (a lot of them have college on the side, and focus on that), take on no responsibility and take no interest in the work, then that’s fine. I sign their paperwork to say they’ve turned up, give them a cookie cutter reference at the end of the internship and leave them to it.
The guys that show interest are put through their paces though; they’re given responsibility and decisions to make, to see how they behave in a professional environment. I’ll put in a lot of work showing them how to set themselves up, secure themselves a good level of desirable experience, move them into better parts of the business, help them with their portfolios and even gun to keep them on at the end of their internship.
Don’t go into an internship simply with the mindset of making money or hoping that you’re part of a lucky percentage that’s going to be kept on at the end. It’s counterintuitive, but the money and the job prospect are secondary; the experience and the chance to work at a high level (albeit on the sideline) are what you should be taking advantage of.
Do you still ever speak with the interns you hired dude?
From what I know, and from what my engineering buddies tell me, the internships given, have a merit of responsibility. It’s not just this grandeur thing. It’s mostly shadow and crunch data. Obviously, one needs to be hungry, but in general, don’t expect to be doing “interesting” stuff.
I’m jealous of the aerospace interns at Boeing…
Boeing as in by LAX sir?
not that one, the one over by seal beach. The one in Long Beach and LAX are civilian branches of Boeing.
Yeah, have some of them on facebook lol. Some are graduating right now, some have a year to go, some were taken by other depts, some work in the same area.
worth noting , I don’t hire them myself; we have grown ups for that lol
Sites that are helpful to this cause, I think:
There are more, but these two stand out, IMO.
LinkedIn is good if you’ve got stuff worth showing off. When helping my girlfriend find an employer, I use it to find their dirty laundry: previous companies that an MD has gone bust in, overall profits theyve made with small businesses. If you’re looking at a startup company, or one you haven’t heard of, it’s a great tool for scoping out the business and its managers. Don’t put yourself on there, unless you’ve got nothing to hide, though.