Intern Salaries
 

Can't vouch for the validity.

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/...-_3117332c.jpg

Re: Intern Salaries
 

I'm a bit confused by some of those numbers, as some would seem to indicate a salary of significant proportions (i.e. more than I earn).

My current understanding of internships is many more affluent kids do them compared to less well off kids because their living costs have to be subsidized by their parents.

Re: Intern Salaries
 

Sorry, I should have posted the original link.

Silicon Valley interns probably earn more than you do - Telegraph

Re: Intern Salaries
 

I am now tempted to quit my job and become an intern

Re: Intern Salaries
 

Those numbers sound about right.

My impression was that the median annualized salary for software engineering interns around here is about $85k and those numbers are consistent with that (given that the list focusses on the big, high paying, employers)

Re: Intern Salaries
 

Remember that most of these interns will be the top of their class, and eager/encouraged/forced to put in quite a bit of unpaid overtime.

Amazon is pretty well known for burning out software engineers in less than two years, very few people can handle the constant pressure and lack of personal time. If you can, and you don't have software experience, there are oil rig and deep sea fishing jobs that pay similar and give you the same amount of free time.

Re: Intern Salaries
 

I am with Colbert. The whole point of Interns is that you do not pay them anything.

Re: Intern Salaries
 

A friend of mine is one of the head gaming developers at Zynga. He did confirm that they pay the interns very well but they do put in an immense amount of hours.

Re: Intern Salaries
 

What exactly is the difference between a pain intern and an employee? What benefit is there to a company, are these salaries considered low in that type of work so these companies are saving money?

To me the wages are super high, so I don't understand what advantage there is to the companies.

Re: Intern Salaries
 

To me as well. But I guess full-time salaries are correspondingly higher.

My son was doing an internship with a graphic design company over the summer but was getting minimum wage.

Re: Intern Salaries
 

Most employees in the Silicon Valley get their base salary, bonuses, and stock options. The intern's income is currently probably about the starting base salary for programmers in the Silicon Valley.

As others have said, interns are normally at the top of their class and it gives the employer a chance to evaluate their abilities, work ethic, and character. Some programmers have a good theoretical knowledge out of school but little ability to put their knowledge it into practice. Some come out of school and can immediately handle complicated tasks but often others never can even if they were at the top of their class. So it is a crap shoot whenever a programmer is hired and the odds are not in favor of the employer.

Re: Intern Salaries
 

Was that a graphics design studio? Those are mostly very small businesses and they are brutal. My son works for a graphics design studio as a producer and his work hours are very long talking to ad agencies around the world, negotiating contracts, negotiating prices for changes, and documenting changes needed for the developers. He often works late into the night and weekends. He gets a very good salary but they are much more demanding than any Silicon Valley company that I've ever heard off. None of the graphics design studios are public companies so when someone is working for them, the owner is typically in the office pushing people hard to get the products out and contracts signed.

Re: Intern Salaries
 

It's a graduate recruitment scheme - 12 week interview. Same as in oil & gas. Much cheaper to find out this way.

Re: Intern Salaries
 

In my industry the interns are unpaid, and not used much except in large corporate owned properties, but the pay is usually min. wage.

Re: Intern Salaries
 

Exactly.

Re: Intern Salaries
 

So why even bother having interns?

Re: Intern Salaries
 

It's beyond my pay scale to know why they are used.

Re: Intern Salaries
 

As far as i know they typically do not get any benefits that would be provided to a full time employee. Healthcare etc.

Re: Intern Salaries
 

While I think that is probably true in most cases there do appear to be some exceptions.

The Best Internships For 2014 - Forbes

As far as health care goes there may also be some legal issues regarding needing to provide it for interns who are, in some companies, effectively full time employees on a 3 month fixed duration contract. Certainly, for large companies like Google, Facebook etc the incremental cost of adding a young (and most likely healthy) person for 3 months is going to be minimal compared to the perceived value of the benefit.

Re: Intern Salaries
 

My last employer hired summer interns, who were paid a good rate of pay. It was really a 12 week interview. I don't know if they were given health insurance, but if you're under 26 then you're likely to be on your parents' policy now anyway.

Re: Intern Salaries
 

The numbers sound about right given that the median salary in Silicon Valley is $150k.

Re: Intern Salaries
 

Around where I am, it seems most are unpaid, or if they are, it's expenses.

Games industry is generally really shit with money too...plus there are a lot of computers that need switching on and off...

Re: Intern Salaries
 

Same here. It's the main reason we use 'em. Free labour.

Re: Intern Salaries
 

People with real skills though, like programmers and engineers CAN get real money even out of school.

Re: Intern Salaries
 

Yes....but depending on the location, they can also get nothing but perhaps the parking paid or a free lunch :/

Re: Intern Salaries
 

++

We get labor. They get experience.

If we wanted to pay a salary, we would just hire somebody.

Re: Intern Salaries
 

Though I wonder if people are making a difference between a intern who is doing a work placement for college credits, which is different to one who has graduated and doing a internship as part of a works experience type intro program.

The former, definitely don't get paid here, the latter, aren't considered interns and do get paid.

Re: Intern Salaries
 

The guys who interned for me were there for experience, and I expected them to contribute as a result of the experience. It seems to me many people don't expect any contribution from the intern to the process of the company. Where you DO expect a contribution, you are honour bound to pay them.

Re: Intern Salaries
 

Most people do expect them to contribute and they are not honour bound to pay them, it depends if the state says that they must be paid.

Here, if they're getting school credit, they do not need to be paid and many are not.

The expectation is that if they are any good and do actual work, that they would be head of the line for a job interview once they graduate and apply for a full time position.

Re: Intern Salaries
 

Exactly this.

Re: Intern Salaries
 

Except you'd probably hire more interns since you don't have to pay them.:nod:

Also it's fun to be a king.:thumbup:

Re: Intern Salaries
 

Ultimately it comes down to supply and demand.

If there is a sufficiently large pool of potential interns who have the appropriate skills and who are willing to work for nothing then intern pay will be low (or zero).

If, on the other hand, the company looks on interns as part of its graduate recruitment program, wants to hire the very best possible candidates in the US and is in fierce competition with other employers to hire those people then the compensation and benefits offered will be high.

By not paying interns at least a living wage companies are excluding from consideration any candidates who simply can't afford to work for nothing no matter how well qualified they may be.

Re: Intern Salaries
 

Just like companies that eliminate employment candidates for any number of frivolous reasons.

Re: Intern Salaries
 

And in our area, with the number of decent uni's, there's no shortage of top talent, who can afford it.

So just like anything else, it's all down to location and local market because no company is going to relocate a student for a internship on their own dime, not around here at least.