I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the right area, but here goes...

I'm looking for anyone that has interned with Sprint - I was hoping you could tell me about the work you did and how your summer was. Either send me a PM or post here, thanks!

This thread could also serve as a place for anyone to share intern experiences, so post whatever you want as long as it's internship related.

-Ben

I think internships in general are an excellent learning experience. I'm graduating in May and if I could change one thing about my time at UMR, I would have started summer internships even sooner than I did. In fact that is probably the only thing I would have done differently.

Even if all you can find is some paper-pushing internship at a company that you don't really care to work for later on, by all means do it. Any kind of internship beats going back to your home town and flipping burgers. On top of that, internships almost always pay more, and many companies will help you out with housing. No matter where your internship takes you, you will always learn something.

If you can land an internship that is outside of your home state and you have the opportunity to live on your own for a summer, then go for that too. It's a great opportunity.

Even if the first internship is coffee making and button pushing etc, already having an internship is like a ticket to getting another internship, it seems to me.

WIth large companies, it really depends on what group you are in and the type of person your manager is. Like the guy above said, once you have one on your resume, regardless of what it is or where it was at, other companies will be more willing to receive what you have to say.

Also even if you are making coffee or filling the water cooler, at least you will be able to see how the company is setup first hand, find out what everyone does. If you like what you see then you can go back and say "I want this or this." Otherwise you can move on with your life and get a better one next summer.

Also, make sure you take advantage of the resources/learning opportunities they have, especially if you end up not liking what you are doing. Then in future interviews you get to say what useful experience you do have, even if that wasn't one of your assigned tasks.

Exactly, I had the opportunity to work in the same group two summers in a row (might do a third run to basically guarantee a job) working in Denso's EMC group. The first year I followed a tech around fixing stuff, setup computers in our new lab, or just generally assisted during tests. The next year I was just given tasks and reported back when completed. Though when they had nothing for me to do they "sold" me to other groups in the office but all in all I got more experience and understanding of how that company worked and a better idea of what I want after school.

An internship gets your foot in the door. Even if you are the coffee maker, if you do a good job, the company may hire you full time when you graduate for an actual job doing what you went to college for.

I'll be returning to the same company this summer that I worked at last summer. I really enjoyed my work (and I wasn't the coffee bitch, I actually did stuff) and apparently, they must've liked me or something because when I went to the career fair last month, I talked to their recruiter (who interviewed and hired me last year) and she gave me another internship right there on the spot, and I think I'm all but guaranteed a full time job with them when I graduate. And even if I was the coffee bitch, I'd still probably return knowing how much it increases my chances of a job with them.

I think a general rule of thumb is that companies prefer to hire past interns. You're familiar with the company and they know whether or not you're a good worker, they won't feel like they're taking a chance with you. So it's definitely a good idea to get an internship.

Plus, a lot of them pay quite well. Money is good.

Plus it's off campus, ftw!!!!11111!@11!!11!!!one!oneoneeleven

o i tried not to but I lol'd

</thread crap>

I'm on a Coop right now. If anything else you get experience to put on your resume. There are a lot of people that don't have any experience when they graduate. I know a couple people that graduate without experience and said it was a lot harder to get a job later. And yeah, I'll second that the money is good.

And don't forget, no matter how well you learn the stuff from your books, some of it is just not practical, and NEVER used in industry. I am a Met, and it is AMAZING what you can learn spending a summer in industry with your eyes and ears open.

Even if you happen to intern at a place where you won't want to work full time, you can still get really great references for your desired full time job if you do good work.

indeed my boss was at the time was IEEE - EMC president

That and just try and meet as many people as possible, especially if you want to work in the company maybe not for the same group. We went to a few IEEE lectures and I met many people around the area working at many different companies. Funny part is I ran into my dad (works at Ford) and met some of his group members again but this time I was treated like a peer instead of their co-workers son.