This document is an attempt to explain the tech business side of taking on an intern. While this organization does not provide internships, many in the community have participated in providing these learning opportunities. These are thoughts from those experiences.
Having an intern can be a great experience for staff and intern.
One of the best ways to become a better expert and communicator is to teach others. Internships provide this opportunity to tech companies and staff.
In teaching we can see and revise relevant business issues such as
- improving new employee onboarding process
- updating process and documentation
Lastly giving back to the local community is another great benefit.
There are a few issues that often make a business hesitant to take on an internship.
- Unknown expectations
- Non-obvious tasks for the intern
- Having someone in person in a remote first work culture
- Adding a non employee to work tools (Slack Jira, etc...)
A potential host for an intern can very wildly in "tech". From software to hardware, from games to web services, all of these while in tech are not the same.
Below are some very general suggestions
- Provide expectations for the internship
- Provide information on the interns skill level
- Provide a summary or examples of past successful internships.