I have a startup idea, we take interns on for a small fee and then bid for the scummiest jobs on elance. Then we get the slaves^H^H^H^H^H^Hinterns to deliver the goods and pocket the extra cash.

Do you think I could get some funding for this? Who's with me?

haha I think that would work and the best thing is you don't need funding, just put up some flyers at your local university cs department.

I remember back when I had the dreaded 0 years of professional experience I would have done anything to have a programming job on my resume.

Getting that first programming job is the most frustrating thing.

I'm not so sure about internships. There are a lot of technical companies, and a lot of internships. If you go looking, you can find one (especially if you wait until sophomore year or so).

getting the first job period is. Doesn't matter if you are in business, math, biology etc. Noone will hire a person with no experience...if they have the option

Paying to work? Oh, this is not good.

No, it's paying to learn. Interns are not necessarily net producers. There is a cost to the "employers" to have an intern, even if you pay them nothing. They take time from existing employees, and use resources.

This is not to say that interns are a bad idea. They're not. They're an excellent idea, but internships are a part of education. They are one of the most valuable, useful and effective parts of education.

Paying for them is not stupid. Assuming employers will continue to pay for them in the current climate is questionable.

Wouldn't it be easier to simply learn by doing some project over the summer?

I am thinking "paying for internship" == "loser for life", to put it bluntly :-( With that attitude, people are always going to be sucking up to the big guys, waiting for their turn that will never arrive.

In short - no. That only works if you're doing something that can be learned by yourself. Not everything can, and some things are much, much slower. The insights you get from other people's ways of working and code can be incredibly valuable.

It's for this reason that graduates are advised to change institution to do post-grad work. You need the breadth that comes from working with other people.

This all assumes it's a good internship. In practice, that's not a given.

I agree it might be possible to learn a lot from experienced people, but getting such an internship might be really hard? What do you think are major things one can't learn by oneself, by jumping into the cold water?

In any case, it seems to me if one pays to get an internship, it is unlikely that the internship will be any good. The company probably doesn't really need anybody and doesn't care, otherwise they would look for the best person available, not for the highest bidder.

Indeed. So paying for the consultant to help you style your CV might be better.

It's up to the employers to pay their interns. Why? Because they are the ones who demand that their new hires have that internship experience. If you're not going to get hired unless you coughed up the bucks to get "industry experience," that is a horrible deal that sets a bad precedent for the future. This is one step away from unpaid entry-level jobs, where you don't get paid until you're making the company enough profit.

These internships are generally a few weeks to a few months in duration. It's actually more like paying for a hands-on, supplemental class at an exclusive trade school.

For technical folks, it's easier to get a foot in the door if you demonstrate competency & have the grades. For those trying to break into marketing, publicity, etc., an internship is as much a requirement as a BA.

I think it's more about paying for that line on the resume, and possibly the networking opportunity.

"and last week took an unpaid internship with a city police department, writing their emergency-response plan."

Sounds like work.

I don't think this is too uncommon in other fields. I know I was very surprised to learn that when my wife was out on a clinical to become a physical therapist she wasn't paid and had to pay (a reduced at least) amount of tuition as well.

I study at an engineering uni and finding an internship is the easiest thing ever... nearly every professor doing research is looking to hire more students for his projects. This includes computer/software engineering. It's paid work (if you have decent grades anyway), and you get a chance to publish articles.

Don't forget to look inside the school itself!

Great way to bootstrap your startup :)

This might be worthwhile if it was something like that capitol hill program, which guarantees an internship on capitol hill. But otherwise, it's probably a waste of money. Every single internship I have gotten was through people I knew. I'd really question the value of an unpaid internship in something like engineering and computer science. While I would be willing to volunteer at the internships I have gotten, everyone of them either paid me or said that it would be paid in the interview.