Internships for Talented High School Students?

xeon4life asks: "I'm an Austin, Texas area high school senior with a slight dilemma: I need a job, I don't want what's offered at my age, and internships are not quite open for kids like me. I've recently been reading essays by Paul Graham about creating your own startup and have been motivated enough to convince two of my good friends to go into business with me later, during college. Thus, an internship at this point would be the ideal solution for me now, but nobody is willing to take me as an intern because I'm still in high school. What am I to do?" "People have suggested that I just do what every other good American high school citizen does and take a mediocre job. The problem is, I feel it would be a waste of my talents right now to be stuck folding shirts at the local mall or flipping cheeseburgers when I could be helping develop a cutting-edge game, the next-generation compiler, or even the Linux kernel as an intern. I have a higher than most college students' understanding of concepts, and some real programming experience in languages like assembly and C/C++, but that isn't going to amount to anything if I can never find an interviewer who will at least listen to me. I'd appreciate any input the Slashdot readership can give me."

Comments

Patience is a virtue

[ignorant_coward]

You can gain other important skills by other ordinary high-school jobs. You don't have to work at a burger joint, there's libraries, and even good entry level jobs at factories. Working third shift at a factory can be loads of fun (kinda dark and mysterious).

Also, commitments among friends in high school often end at graduation. Life gets more complex, and you can find no fault in your friends if they get a significant other or decide to change their focus in education (what if they get into a different college from you).

Don't grow up too fast. You'll feel like you're 65 and ready to retire by the time you're 25, so be careful.

Re:Patience is a virtue

[Blkdeath]

You can gain other important skills by other ordinary high-school jobs. You don't have to work at a burger joint, there's libraries, and even good entry level jobs at factories. Working third shift at a factory can be loads of fun (kinda dark and mysterious).

I hate having mod points; I can never shut up long enough to use them. ;)

Another important facet of getting an "ordinary high-school job" - PERSPECTIVE. Too many people in IT nowadays (and too many people entering IT) have never experienced a non-tech job. Some skills you can learn at your local burger joint, library, mall kiosk, record (CD) shop, factory;

• People skills
• Customer service
• People skills
• Mechanical aptitude
• People skills
• Humility
• People skills
• Respect for chain of command

Oh, and by the way, people skills.

Another good thing to keep in mind; the tech sector dried up not so long ago. When I was in college, there was promise of endless jobs for countless graduates. Schools couldn't bring enough people in! Co-op positions were available by the tree-load and we all had dollar signs in our eyes.

Now that the "bubble has burst" and everybody's graduated we have ten applicants for every available position. This, of course, compounds this young gentleman's problem; it's an employer's market. The first set of resumees to hit the cutting room floor are those that lack a high school education. Next round - post secondary? Industry certifications? Experience? When certified college/university graduates are applying for internships (at internship rates) there's not much hope for someone without grade 12.

Personally, I'd like to echo the suggestion to 'pound the pavement'; hit the phone book, job bank, dress nice and start visiting local businesses. If they're not specifically an IT shop but have need for some help with their systems so be it. You're probably not going to get a job with Compaq, AT&T, IBM, Microsoft et al. right out of the gate. You may find your happy niche designing in-house software for Joe's Falafal House, Inc.

Good luck to you, son; but never hold yourself too high that you can't work like those other regular schlepps. BTW - it can actually help in the near future to show a prospective employer that you have some range of experience. It may set you far enough apart to land that dream job.

Re:What??

[Seumas]

I'd say, suck it up and get a real job. That's what being a teenager is about. I worked flipping burgers for a few weeks and then stocking shelves at a Cub Foods all night for a few weeks. Even though it wasn't very long, the hard labor, long hours, terrible bosses and coworkers, low-pay and generally hellish environment is something I'm glad I went through. In fact, I even pumped gas for three days.

Of course, I was 16 at the time, but a few years later, I had a software career making a _lot_ of money. And knowing exactly what those kind of jobs are like makes me glad I have the job I do today. Even when work sucks the most, I can stop myself and appreciate the fact that I'm not digging ditches in the blazing sun for $12/hr or flipping burgers or stacking 50lb bags of dog food for $8/hr.

Worry about your internship when you're in the last half of college. Don't worry about it in highschool. Besides, you're not only competing with seasoned professionals who need real jobs, but college people who need internships over the summer. You're low-man on the totem-pole.

And if you really want to do something, go donate your time and services at a local charity that could make use of your technical skills. That will definitely look good on your college application and future resumes. Besides, you'll feel a lot better doing something you love and just getting some kharma for it than you will busting your ass at Intel or IBM for free.