NY/CT Intern (paid)
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- monNom0
Unpaid interns steal office supplies. It's a known fact.
- 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
- dyspl0
advice from someone who did paid internship for 2years :
You should consider having a part time job, non design related with standard hours, then go out, see intersting yhings and work on side project for band, galleries, small shops etc (keeping in mind you already earn money and that your goal would be to make a good book).Honestly spending time in a office being "the intern", giving coffee, doing the jobs no one want to do (as convert those 500stock photos into gifs etc...) for a shitty salary with nothing to put in your book is not that great.
- era4O40
Such a lively debate for Monday...good luck, Ian! Wish I knew someone seeking interns (paid or otherwise).
- alicetheblue0
Just up- good luck!!!
http://www.krop.com/jobs/y9nht/
- 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
- 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?
- mrbrandnew0
Oh it's so good to see you post your list of demands above. Anything else a design studio can offer you? Maybe a corner office? A driver?
Get out and beat the pavement dude, and if you turn down a good internship because it isn't paid, you're an idiot. Design and architecture studios don't want to hear that shit, especially from somebody your age.
- <cuntceiling_cat
- Demands? Just the areas I'm familiar with and my availability. I apologize for wanting to feed myself.ismith
- yes rude cuntspraycan
- Don't be such a dick!Didsomething
- lukus_W0
If all internships were unpaid - only people with rich parents would get to become designers.
- mrbrandnew0
.... or people who work their asses off
- 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.
- thats cool cause I dont have deviantArt doucheEtype
- http://esptype.devia…ismith
- Do you see an S in my name?
Etype - or a P?Etype
- your email sir, betrays you.lukus_W
- http://www.flickr.co…Etype
- suck on that
Etype - Yes, so it's the same name and email. You have a flickr too, congratulations! Now can we move along?ismith
- ya great you guys found an account that I haven't logged into for 2 years awesomeEtype
- HAHAHAdMullins
- 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.
- dyspl0
Unpaid internship (as well as low paid internship) is what makes experienced&expensive people getting fired....
- ukit0
Don't be a dick.
He said 10hr/ day 50 hr/ week. Is there some internship out there that's gonna officially demand that you work 12 hours a day? LOL
- Rand0
this thread has become unexpectedly entertaining
- 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...
- 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?
- ismith0
For everyone's reference: I love unpaid internships and all, but 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. Maybe internship isn't the best way to put it, but I wouldn't see myself as experienced enough to be applying for any 'position'.
- ismith0
I've been told I have an eye for perspective, and I know my way around a drafting table if that helps any. Rapidographs are like extra fingers.
- 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.