Internships In Earnest
Internship season is upon us!
Yes, that time of year when Grad students take a meaningful break from their solid and unrelenting workload to fill out applications, update their CVs and write cover letters and then jettison them off a cliff and wait to hear back. The reply, possibly sent by telegram or passenger pigeon, will never come. The soul crushing silence only serves to punctuate the deafening roar of time as it speeds by and internship season ends! It’s been a fun ride folks, good luck in the real world, thank you for settling for the least offensive job and have fun out there!
But seriously, applying to internships, much like actual job searching, stinks. It’s work of the worst kind – filling out applications, poring over cover letters that need to follow uncertain guidelines, and puffing up a CV to make it seem like you’re far more experienced than you are. I hate to brag (no really, I do) so writing letters and filling out forms that talk about how great I am really makes me uncomfortable. You don’t have to be British to downplay your strengths, as one of my classmates recently pointed out to me about my portfolio.
You see, in addition to all that mess, I also have to create a portfolio. This will showcase my abilities and give potential employers more reasons to hire me – or so they say. All it does for me is add more to my plate during an already stressful, insane time. Is it a good test of my skills to create a website that’s functional? Did I perhaps go overboard by including a blog and a creative portfolio? Should I really have spent loads of time creating a kickass logo?
Spent three hours on this. Totally worth it.
Damn straight. I’m proud of that website, unprofessional though it may look right now. Over time, I hope that it will become more advanced and I can add PHP, Javascript and other additions as my experience levels grow. I love having a website that entirely my own.
So I guess something good did come out of Internship Season. I’d just rather have an actual internship.
(See ryanmcconnell.net for my website, if you are interested.)