IT internship / co-op in Europe - paid
 

So, i'm almost in my last year of college with one "co-op" semester left from May 1-Aug 15, 2020. Yes, I could just stay here and do it at the same employer i've done the previous two, but feeling very bored with where I live and want an adventure. Looking at Europe as i'm an EU citizen and won't need a visa, and I want to go somewhere that will be easier for me to stay in if I really like it there and develop ties.

I'm in IT, but not software development - don't know the first thing about developing an application, I am more systems/active directory/exchange/etc, and learning a bit of PowerShell.

The one thing is, for the internship/co-op to count against my college diploma it needs to be paid, and I don't really feel like working for free either since i'm used to having a paycheque every 2 weeks for pretty much my entire adult life. A lot of the "Go intern abroad" programs i've seen do not offer paid internships, and the only ones i've seen are for software developers.

I'm almost 21, have almost 3 years of work experience in a helpdesk/desktop support kind of environment, would be interested in doing something similar or as a stretch / best case scenario junior sysadmin.



I guess I need to know where and how I should be looking for these jobs? Unfortunately my school is not helpful with finding any jobs out of country or even out of province.


Any advice/help appreciated

Cheers

Re: IT internship / co-op in Europe - paid
 

I'd contact the graduate recruitment departments of most large IT companies.
If you speak an EU language, I'd say they might be interested. If you don't, probably not.

Re: IT internship / co-op in Europe - paid
 

Thank you.

I have been looking on linked in and there are alot of places that are looking for English fluency. Obviously once I secure a job offer i'd be trying to learn the basics of the local language but the working language would have to be English looking realistically since that's the only language I fluently speak.

Re: IT internship / co-op in Europe - paid
 

I think you're going to be wasting time trying to get a paid or even unpaid internship if you don't even speak the local language.
I'd concentrate your efforts getting your degree even if you are a little bored with local opportunities.

Re: IT internship / co-op in Europe - paid
 

That still leaves the UK (providing freedom of movement is still a thing in 2020, and even barring that i'm sure a working holiday visa for Canadians exists) and Ireland. Dublin is a pretty big tech hub and Ireland is English-speaking.

The kind of internship i'm looking for is a 4 month over the summer in between academic semesters, so i'll be returning to Canada to complete my last term after the internship. The internships are required as part of my diploma. I'm just single, bored, and most of my friends live in different cities than me so it's a good time to try going abroad.

I'm even going to be looking just to get out of my current city and look at other Canadian cities eg Toronto, Montreal, etc.

Re: IT internship / co-op in Europe - paid
 

your issue is that you are competing with local EU students for internships and you don't seem to have anything extra to offer.
Although you have the right to work in the EU, most people don't and internship programmes are not set up to handle outliers like this. If you had some exceptional skills ( like at least 1 EU language proficiency) then perhaps they would do it but I doubt it. Paid internship programmes, especially with the big tech firms have many more applicants than places available.
Other issues
taxation - both for you and the company.
living costs
flights

looking outside your current city but staying in Canada is probably your best bet for now.
just fyi: my daughter is a software engineer and for her 2nd internship with FB ( ie she had already done 1 summer with them) she requested an EU position. She is bilingual english/french, near native level spanish , she was an A+ student in a very highly regarded honors CS degree , also UK citizen who had been brought up in France and they 'exceptionally" agreed to her request. She was offered London for the summer but on local intern salary and conditions. It wasn't worth it financially so she returned to her Seattle team.