NY/CT Intern (paid)

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  • ukit0

    Well keep looking ismith but be realistic. Earlier in the thread you said:

    "come December I'm out of a home so I need to be able to afford some living space, food, and a few other things"

    Now although I admire your ambition in finding a real design position/internship, I wouldn't be so sure of your chances of finding something that pays well enough to afford all of that. The job market being as tough as it is, you'd imagine most decently paid internships are gonna be snapped up by college students and recent graduates first. Doesn't mean it can't happen, but adjust expectations accordingly. If you need to pay rent and buy food and have no degree or professional work experience, I don't see how you can rule out a non design type of job, and trust me, we've all been there.;)

    • I'm being realistic, but it isn't really pertinent. Paid is a chance, unpaid is suicide.ismith
    • And I'll have a degree, however little it's actually worth, in May.ismith
    • *specifically how it's realistic isn't pertinent.ismith
    • Consider finding freelance work via the web - always an option and no degree or experience required, just a portfolioukit
    • +1 I am finishing up my internship right now. And two of the other interns at my work at actually graduated two y ears ago from college. So to get an internship as a 17 year old.. i dont know how that will happenplusminusbox
    • ago... so i dont see a 17 years old getting a chance... when even graduates are looking for internshipsplusminusbox
    • I'm out over $1500 from unpaid freelance work, which leaves a really bad taste. I'll still do it (and am) but it's hardly reliable.ismith
    • $250/wk (ideally) would easily be enough until I graduate, at which point I'll need a much better gameplan.ismith
    • you are not going to make that...
      Etype
    • I don't mean at one job.ismith
  • Etype0

    i've never heard of a 17 year-old intern

    • +1
      plusminusbox
    • That's because you're a hack that barely knows of a world outside deviantArt & QBNNostradamus
    • its always the dude that has the link to google... doucheEtype
    • lets see your resume bitchEtype
    • LOL sorry but yesterday your link was to google or qbn (because I wanted to see your site)ismith
    • Anyway, I'd really appreciate it if any disputes could be moved to another thread or something...ismith
  • akrokdesign0
  • digdre0

    whats the deal, if your first day is all about making coffee i wouldn't even show up after lunch.

  • digdre0

    you go get that internship !

  • ismith0

    Let me just point out the problem with getting a regular job: there are none where I am (forget jobs, there are barely three businesses). I drive 1.5hrs just to get to school, but I can't make that sacrifice to work a job that doesn't have anything to do with my goals, can't legally employ me for more than 35hrs/wk, and legally only has to pay me 85% of minimum wage for my first 6 months. If I have an opportunity, ANY opportunity at all to work in the city (or even CT/HV), it'll be my best shot at finding something better.

    And no, I can't work the days I'm at school– I have to leave at 7am and don't get back until 11pm. It's a bitch y'know, but I'm doing all I can or at least know how to deal with my situation (oh, and fuck all if I start thinking about paying for school next year...tuition's gonna be more than $2k that's for sure).

    • That being said, I have applied to the few local businesses around and got nowhere so far.ismith
    • (they just want hot young girls to work the storefront, and there are [apparently] enough of those here.ismith
    • Ah shit, I don't know why this thread had to go the way it did. Explanations are rubbish, I just need work!ismith
    • :\ismith
  • armsbottomer0

    i don't think you're a quintessential douchebag if you want a paid internship (even if your 17), but you've got to get your priorities straight. do you want money, experience, or resume eye candy? as a current student whose taken decent paying shitty internships, and paying-for-coworkers-coffee-out... amazing internships, i'd much rather have the latter and also be working a part-time job at a cvs. what's the point of making the money you need at an internship if you're not going to learn anything from it? you'd be better off getting a full time job elsewhere that will be paying you a hell of a lot more. often, if you want to reap the true benefits of an internship, you've gotta swallow your pride (and utilities bills) and make some sacrifices.

    • * paying for coworker's coffee out of pocketarmsbottomer
    • <---- thisidentity
    • Priorities: money, discipline, experience, resume.ismith
    • If I were in a slightly better situation, I would agree 100%.ismith
  • alicetheblue0

    Just up- good luck!!!
    http://www.krop.com/jobs/y9nht/

  • era4O40

    Such a lively debate for Monday...good luck, Ian! Wish I knew someone seeking interns (paid or otherwise).

  • plusminusbox0

    Its hard to find a good paid internship. or any paid internship period. Specially if you are only 17.

    I was fortunate enough to find a paid internship.( I just graduated 4 yearcollege program) It's not as shitty as people say on this message board. I actually love it. It's definitely somewhere I want to be. But it's probably because it's a big firm whereas smaller firms don't do paid internship period.
    Good luck on finding your internship but I think you would have better chance by going to school before looking for one.

  • akrokdesign0

    depending on where you trying to get internship also.
    some places are really full. ex. sagmeister, inc.
    you have to apply, at least a year head.

    • and Ive heard he is booked for the next 2 years... he's also spending a year in malaysia or something?identity
    • He spent time last year or something right next to my uncle in Connecticut.ismith
  • akrokdesign0

    if they pay, they probably just pay lunch money anyway. most of them won't pay. its like a indusrty standard. no matter how you like it.

  • identity0

    ^ Thats a good point - payment IS important - I guess even for my non-paid internship i was "paid" in free meals and coffee with the boss (what was great was that more often than not we would grab breafasts/lunches/coffees together, which let me spend a lot of time with him in and OUT of the office and I could pick his brain a lot) - it was also 3 days/week and I worked full-time the other 4 days... It was a hell of a 3-month period during the summer, but it really worked out for me...

    I dont know if there is a definitive answer one way or the other - ismith - just take the sum of all the stories on here, average em' out and see what works out best for you. There is no sure-fire way to be successful - just keep working no matter what.

  • Nostradamus0

    " If you do end up taking a paid internship, it wont be worth it, because it will be at some shit ass studio that nobody has ever heard of and all you will be doing is holding the art directors cock."

    lol, yeah, because the small studios are the ones so flush with cash that they can actually pay an intern. That's exactly how it works out!

    Look, a megastudio like Pentagram isn't going to pay you shit, and you probably aren't going to learn shit. It's resume filler for you, and it's a coffee getting gopher for them.

    A tiny studio also is going to be more like slave labor. No, they can't afford to pay you.

    But come on, you cunts have read Goldilocks. Find a studio that's just right. Not too poor they can't pay, not too big that their egos give them the superpower to render interns invisible coffee-fetchers. You're not going to get a valuable experience at a big firm. Maybe at a tiny firm. But you should be shooting for a medium sized firm, looking to grow, and needs more hands on deck.

    That sort of firm can at least swing minimum wage.

    It really comes down to respect. Who wants to work for a company that can't even respect its interns enough to make sure they can eat?

  • identity0

    ^ Can you explain that? I think that COULD be true in the case of junior designers being replaced - but I dont see how someone with some solid experience and getting paid some good money could be replaced by an intern - unless the intern was amazing - and the experienced designer was resting on his laurels...

  • Rand0

    this thread has become unexpectedly entertaining

  • dyspl0

    Unpaid internship (as well as low paid internship) is what makes experienced&expensive people getting fired....

  • identity0

    As someone who has done both paid AND non-paid internships, I can say that it is just ONE variable in the over-all decision. Ive taken paid internships - got to work on some stuff - but learned nothing as I was more-or-less a production guy for the AD. Now, I DID get to work on some stuff that eventually was over-hauled and printed - but its stuff that was outdated in a year's time LET ALONE have it in my folio now. The unpaid internship I took was a bit more strategic and I did a bit of research. I groveled at the feet of a Pretty well-known industry guy for months (inflating his ego and letting him know I wanted him to be the Mr. Miagi to my Danielle-son)... this eventually worked out and I got the internship. The LESSONS that i learned while working for him have been INVALUABLE and while my work product now has outgrown what i did then (as a portfolio SHOULD), I can say under him and picking up these little hidden "gems" as he called them, influenced the entire process in which I think about design.

    This is not to say that every unpaid internship will lead to a Disneyesque' movie story - but if you do your research, take the time to woo someone, it could pay off in spades for you... You're 17, so it IS important to put a roof over your head - but I think that now, while youre impressionable and dont have many bad-habits, it would be good to try to get in with someone who can TEACH you how to do things the right way.

    • long story short - don't look to intern - look to apprentice for someone...identity
    • roof is 1st priority, but only until I can find something better. thanks for the adviceismith
  • Nostradamus0

    "If that means putting in extra hours to do something you love, upaid, so be it."

    You're a fucking idiot. Don't even try to equate "extra hours" to free slave labor.

    Some of you hipster yuppies are so twisted and out of touch. I swear, turn the clock back 150 years and you'd all be arguing why Black slaves shouldn't be freed, they should be happy that they've got a roof over their head and the valuable experience cotton-picking imbues them with.

    http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/…

    And just to clarify, there is a huge difference between doing design for the love of it, doing projects without being compensated because you love it.......and contributing to a capitalistic entity's profit statements because you're too spineless to ask for minimum wage.

    Etype, I just went to your deviantArt gallery. ← And with that short sentence alone, we've settled who knows more about this industry.

  • ismith0

    Look, I have nothing against unpaid internships. Really, I had a lot of fun over the summer at one. It still has lots of benefits, the most important to me being the people you meet. Sadly, that's not enough for me right now. I'm graduating with an A.S. in graphic design at the end of this year, but come December I will be without a home. I'd like to find a job while I finish up school that could give me any more insight into the business before I head off to 4-year.

    I haven't made any demands. I will do absolutely any work that pays enough for food and some kind of living space, but only within the hours stated because every other minute I'll be spending at school or hustling for a better break. You want me to hold your cock? Fine– but while my other hand is free, you might as well let me use it to organize files, distract clients, make the grid in illustrator, fix the newbie's godawful "experimental" leading, trace some microscopic gif into a vector file, scan your shit, and lastly MAKE YOUR LOGO BIGGER.

    Now back to the original post, do any of you know of where I can gladly be of service in an industry like this with my own MacBook Pro, hipster messenger bag, and douchy hair?