Doing Internship

Post Reply New Topic

Hello everyone,

So I will be doing an internship shortly. Typically, you would go and work at one of those companies. But I heard horror stories regarding office politics, bullying, demonic creatures, and other nasty things that plague workplaces in general. Even some of my senior NT friends complained to me about these stuff.

I'm an Engineer, and I don't know whether that's a help or a hindrance (I really don't have any idea about engineering workplaces. Do they have the same ridiculous cubicles as elsewhere? Would you still be interacting with morons OFTEN?). So, I'm considering taking up a research placement at a university.

I'm assuming working in academia would have less nasty things going on compared with working in the corporate world. However, I'm afraid that doing a research might be harder than working at a company, in terms of the actual work itself. By the way, I have to do an Engineering related internship, and it counts towards my credit hours.

To sum up, I've the following options:

1. Work at a typical company with all the "bells and whistles" (worst nightmare).
2. Work at a research center at a university (sounds more convenient, but still with potential minefields).
3. Figure out a third option (I've tried to find Virtual Internships and similar options, but to no avail.)

I would very much welcome your input on all three options, particularly the third one.

Thank you

I think people grossly overuse the word bullying when it comes to office politics.

Every place will have downsides, every place will have ignorant people.

Ignore them.

Most of the Engineers I came across were working in consulting, but if you're going to be working for an engineering firm, you'll probably have a completely different experience.

Personally, I tried the experience of the working world first and I didn't like it, so now I am working freelance to earn money to go back to University and re-experience academic life. Yes, there are office politics, there will be unfair treatment and you will have to interact with people who make you want to smash your head against the wall sometimes. On the other hand, it is something worth experiencing, if only for a short time, and particularly if you have the option to return to an academic environment. I'd say see how the internship goes and make your decision based on that - work from there. Good luck!

The good thing about internships is that they have a fixed term. My advice would be to go to the potentially more stressful options, so you can test yourself for a short period of time (eg. 3 months). It would be much worse if you were employed with a regular contract, and then you had to quit abruptly after the same time period. Also, office politics often don't matter that much until you try to move upwards in the organization, so as intern you should be quite safe.