Internship Reflections and Considerations

Last month, I hired an intern from Singapore.

She was my former intern in one of my previous companies. When she started to work with me again, I realized that she usually works at night, like an owl. She told me that she feels smarter during the nighttime and mentioned that she usually sleeps in the morning. What a global-minded girl. 🌏🦉

When I hired her, I created a mini program called “What If You Became a CTO in Your Startup.” Every week, I assign her tasks, explain concepts, and engage in discussions about what a CTO should consider. I let her make decisions.

Of course, I have my own ideas and solutions in mind, but I want to give her a meaningful opportunity to think like a CTO. I’m not entirely sure how much she will contribute some product development or I can guide well, but at the very least, she reminds me every day why I started my own company (remotegrove.com) this year. 🚀💡.

One day we talked about why she wants to work with me again. She told me one thing about her past experience, while she worked in another company, there was no one to guide her but expected to deliver results within a strict timeline. It is just a bit weird, as I never expect my interns to be assigned without any guides, if they can do that, probably they are not interns.

Personally, I have mixed feelings about the current internship culture. While internships are touted as a way to gain real-world experience from professionals and potentially secure a full-time position, I often see that many companies, especially larger ones, hire some interns and have them sit in a corner for months. They are often assigned menial tasks like copying documents or attending meetings to take notes. On the other hand, some small companies place unrealistic expectations on interns, providing little guidance and then blaming them for poor performance. 😕💼

In the realm of engineering and hiring, there are numerous issues that need to be addressed. I am not entirely certain why we need to hire an intern if they don’t give real chances to learn something meaningful or have no time to guide them. And I feel extremely bad especially when some companies may treat them as cheap labor.

It’s time to reconsider our approach to interns. They are neither cheap labor nor anonymous; they are simply younger versions of ourselves. 🌟👩‍💼👨‍💼 #startups #intern #hiring #teambuilding