Sounds like you have reasons to be upset. Too bad, the economy is not good and projects plummet. You would find that you are not the only one who is experiencing this. Not the right time to be too choosy, though.
Here are some suggestions:
1. Do you need extra money? If they pay well, stay there first until you find a permanent job. Having extra cash would be helpful in bad time.
2. Even if you leave now, there is no guarantee you would get a job immediately. You probably end up doing the same thing at home- "do your own works", "doing small task in photoshop"etc... on top of that, no one pay you for doing that.
3. There are actually lot of things you can do while waiting to get a real job- continue "educating" yourself is one of them. You would find that once you start working you would be so tied up with deadlines that you wish you have time to do those things that help your personal development, such as reading some books and articles, working on a personal creative project, research on a particular topic etc...
4. Network, network, network... go back to your teacher and ask him/ her to refer you to someone who can also refer you to someone else who can give you a job...
5. Take initiative to call up agencies and design houses- what are some of your dreamed design agencies ? Do you have any heroes or design idols in where you live? Is your portfolio measured up to their standard? Call them up for a meeting. most of the time you would find sitting down with them really helps, even though they might not have a job for you, they can give you some good advices. Most of these designers love to meet fresh graduates and see what they are up to.
If after meeting them, you find that your portfolio doesn't measure up to the industrial standard, then you have a task to do. Go back to your office and start "bringing your own work" and to work on your portfolio. The beauty of this is you still get paid to work on your own thing. Isn't that a blessing?
6. If there are limited opportunities in where you live, consider other cities, and even other countries.
First of all, feel lucky that you got the internship. A lot of people would like to be in your shoes. The economy is bad everywhere, and it's going to be that way for a while, probably.
Secondly, even at full-time, paid positions, there will be times when there is little or nothing to do. So, as Yee suggests, look at the free time as an opportunity to learn new skills, i.e., learn some Web design. If you have questions, you have three people there who can help you out. Or as your bosses said, work on your own stuff.
Last but not least, if you ride this internship out, you will have something to put on your résumé. If you leave now, you won't.
I went through this with one of my internships. Just ride it out, do whatever work is available, and learn what you can when stuff comes up. In the dead time design fonts ;)
What I would do, would depend on what kind of internship it is. Was it arranged via school or part of your school program? If so, I would seriously consider to quit, especially if you feel that you're wasting your time. I mean, if you have to bring your own work, they don't have to offer you much with regards to knowledge. If the agency isn't that good, it isn't interesting to put on your resumé either.
In my school career I've heard about many fellow students quitting because of similar reasons. If it's via / for school, you might be able to find another agency? You are there to learn; if they can't offer that, then it's a waste of time. However, if the internship is only a few months, I don't know if it's worth the trouble of switching agency.
If it's an internship that has nothing to do with school, then I don't know, because it will be more difficult to find another spot. Then I would probably ride it out.
I suggest you read this recent account of someone doing an internship at another studio. Forget about the studio he's working for, forget about the fact that he is much busier than you are. What I want you to notice is the writer's attitude. He is not expecting anyone to buy him lunch. He does not mind that he is working on small, non-design tasks (and cutting his fingers while doing it), or that he has very little contact with the partners. He is there to learn. In fact, he is there to learn as much as he can, and he can't believe his luck.
^ what I was saying is that they don't give me enough work. I didn't say I minded organizing the files on the computer, but I was given that because they couldn't think of anything else.
I ran errands for previous internships and was happy to do it. here, they tell me to bring in my own work, and it just seems like "why am I here."
My boss came in two hours late the other day and I finished my work for the day quickly, so he said I could go home early.
I am finding it so hard to get into the web design world. I spent the whole of last 3 months applying for internships none stop but nobody seems to be interested, nobody has gotten back to me, even though I am willing to work for free to get my hands on any experience I can find.
I changed fields, from gradating in product design, to working in online marketing as a brand executive for a year, where I became interested in the world of web design. I enrolled myself on a graphic and web design course for 6 months and finished with an A grade. But I don’t seem to be getting anywhere with these web design internships.
Can anyone help with any advice?
In the mean time I am trying to build up my own personal website and asking for work from family and friends so I can build up my portfolio. But what else can I do to get into the scene?
Please ignore my last post in this thread, I just figured out how to create a new thread so you can answer it in "how do I get a web design internship?" sorry for confusion, I’m new to the site.
Don't wait for them to give you jobs. Figure out what needs to be done, and ask if you can do it. Or better yet, just do it and show it to them after you're done. The most important thing you can learn in an internship is how to work when nobody else is telling you what to do. Figure out what you can do that the rest of the staff can't. Really you just need an attitude change.
" I’m not getting paid, so all of a sudden it seems like I really wanted to be there in the first case, which isn’t really true."
Sorry I missed this part when posting my first comment.
My take is this, if you are not getting paid at all, and you are not learning anything, and you are not happy being there, and you feel manipulated,... then you should just quit, because you are wasting your time at a fruitless activity.
Time is bad. Focus your energy on survival plan and strategy.
If there is no contract signed, no commitment of any sort, no obligation in anyway just moonwalk out of the door...NOW.
"Never waste waste." Always find a way to recycle them.
If you do decide to moonwalk out from the internship, don't forget to include the company name in you resume. As a fresh graduate, to have a job experience on your resume when you go for interview is always better than not having one at all.
What Cerulean said: they're bound to have software that you haven't used: familiarise yourself with it, train yourself up on it; and then that's one more thing you can say you have knowledge of.
_______________________________________________
Ever since I chose to block pop-ups, my toaster's stopped working.
> Beats the hell out of having McDonald’s on a resume.
Well, I don't know. If you haven't done anything worth mentioning at the agency, it's no use to be there and you'd only put it on your resumé for show.
I mean, it will look nice on there, but if someone inquires what exactly you did there and you have to answer that you had to bring your own work... dunno.
Well, I don’t know. If you haven’t done anything worth mentioning at the agency, it’s no use to be there and you’d only put it on your resumé for show.
My first internship was at a nonprofit whose staff designer had just left. I spent the summer designing really awful stuff because they couldn’t find a new designer on their budget and I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. The pay was bad, I didn’t get any portfolio work out of it, and aside from learning a bunch of Indesign hotkeys I didn’t walk away with much. But the next summer having that on my resume helped me land a job in a design agency where there was a nasty lull and I spent most of the days on thesis research and designing my first (and thankfully unreleased) font. But the year after that I got a great internship with a very generous stipend and produced some really great printed pieces for my portfolio. And if the economy wasn’t in the tank I’d probably have a pretty nice job between the three jobs, the good references, and the showpieces.
> but if someone inquires what exactly you did there and you have to answer that you had to bring your own work... dunno.
Still means more than a McDonalds. Even if you aren't doing any real work, you should be watching others work, and occasionally asking questions ... and learning.
2.Jul.2009 10.35pm
Sounds like you have reasons to be upset. Too bad, the economy is not good and projects plummet. You would find that you are not the only one who is experiencing this. Not the right time to be too choosy, though.
Here are some suggestions:
1. Do you need extra money? If they pay well, stay there first until you find a permanent job. Having extra cash would be helpful in bad time.
2. Even if you leave now, there is no guarantee you would get a job immediately. You probably end up doing the same thing at home- "do your own works", "doing small task in photoshop"etc... on top of that, no one pay you for doing that.
3. There are actually lot of things you can do while waiting to get a real job- continue "educating" yourself is one of them. You would find that once you start working you would be so tied up with deadlines that you wish you have time to do those things that help your personal development, such as reading some books and articles, working on a personal creative project, research on a particular topic etc...
4. Network, network, network... go back to your teacher and ask him/ her to refer you to someone who can also refer you to someone else who can give you a job...
5. Take initiative to call up agencies and design houses- what are some of your dreamed design agencies ? Do you have any heroes or design idols in where you live? Is your portfolio measured up to their standard? Call them up for a meeting. most of the time you would find sitting down with them really helps, even though they might not have a job for you, they can give you some good advices. Most of these designers love to meet fresh graduates and see what they are up to.
If after meeting them, you find that your portfolio doesn't measure up to the industrial standard, then you have a task to do. Go back to your office and start "bringing your own work" and to work on your portfolio. The beauty of this is you still get paid to work on your own thing. Isn't that a blessing?
6. If there are limited opportunities in where you live, consider other cities, and even other countries.
Hope this help. All the best.
2.Jul.2009 11.40pm
First of all, feel lucky that you got the internship. A lot of people would like to be in your shoes. The economy is bad everywhere, and it's going to be that way for a while, probably.
Secondly, even at full-time, paid positions, there will be times when there is little or nothing to do. So, as Yee suggests, look at the free time as an opportunity to learn new skills, i.e., learn some Web design. If you have questions, you have three people there who can help you out. Or as your bosses said, work on your own stuff.
Last but not least, if you ride this internship out, you will have something to put on your résumé. If you leave now, you won't.
Think about it.
3.Jul.2009 5.16am
I went through this with one of my internships. Just ride it out, do whatever work is available, and learn what you can when stuff comes up. In the dead time design fonts ;)
3.Jul.2009 11.06am
What I would do, would depend on what kind of internship it is. Was it arranged via school or part of your school program? If so, I would seriously consider to quit, especially if you feel that you're wasting your time. I mean, if you have to bring your own work, they don't have to offer you much with regards to knowledge. If the agency isn't that good, it isn't interesting to put on your resumé either.
In my school career I've heard about many fellow students quitting because of similar reasons. If it's via / for school, you might be able to find another agency? You are there to learn; if they can't offer that, then it's a waste of time. However, if the internship is only a few months, I don't know if it's worth the trouble of switching agency.
If it's an internship that has nothing to do with school, then I don't know, because it will be more difficult to find another spot. Then I would probably ride it out.
3.Jul.2009 11.11am
No, its not with school. I did it because this is a tough economic time and I thought I could learn an additional skillset.
Its weird, I go on my own freewill and we decided on three days a week, but its ended up like I'm going there to hang out.
They don't buy me lunch either.
3.Jul.2009 11.32am
I suggest you read this recent account of someone doing an internship at another studio. Forget about the studio he's working for, forget about the fact that he is much busier than you are. What I want you to notice is the writer's attitude. He is not expecting anyone to buy him lunch. He does not mind that he is working on small, non-design tasks (and cutting his fingers while doing it), or that he has very little contact with the partners. He is there to learn. In fact, he is there to learn as much as he can, and he can't believe his luck.
You will get out of this what you put into it.
3.Jul.2009 11.46am
Right, then I would ride it out as I said in my post. Three days a week sounds pretty good. How long is the internship?
On the lunch, I've always had to buy my own lunch at agencies where I've had internships (not only me, but everyone who was working there).
3.Jul.2009 11.57am
^ what I was saying is that they don't give me enough work. I didn't say I minded organizing the files on the computer, but I was given that because they couldn't think of anything else.
I ran errands for previous internships and was happy to do it. here, they tell me to bring in my own work, and it just seems like "why am I here."
My boss came in two hours late the other day and I finished my work for the day quickly, so he said I could go home early.
3.Jul.2009 12.28pm
If the agency isn’t that good, it isn’t interesting to put on your resumé either.
Beats the hell out of having McDonald’s on a resume.
4.Jul.2009 5.18am
I am finding it so hard to get into the web design world. I spent the whole of last 3 months applying for internships none stop but nobody seems to be interested, nobody has gotten back to me, even though I am willing to work for free to get my hands on any experience I can find.
I changed fields, from gradating in product design, to working in online marketing as a brand executive for a year, where I became interested in the world of web design. I enrolled myself on a graphic and web design course for 6 months and finished with an A grade. But I don’t seem to be getting anywhere with these web design internships.
Can anyone help with any advice?
In the mean time I am trying to build up my own personal website and asking for work from family and friends so I can build up my portfolio. But what else can I do to get into the scene?
4.Jul.2009 5.26am
Please ignore my last post in this thread, I just figured out how to create a new thread so you can answer it in "how do I get a web design internship?" sorry for confusion, I’m new to the site.
4.Jul.2009 7.40am
Here's a link to muneebah's new thread, everybody:
http://www.typophile.com/node/59641
4.Jul.2009 12.12pm
Don't wait for them to give you jobs. Figure out what needs to be done, and ask if you can do it. Or better yet, just do it and show it to them after you're done. The most important thing you can learn in an internship is how to work when nobody else is telling you what to do. Figure out what you can do that the rest of the staff can't. Really you just need an attitude change.
4.Jul.2009 7.31pm
USE THEIR STUFF. What software and other tools do they have that you don't own at home? What could you do with it?
4.Jul.2009 7.52pm
" I’m not getting paid, so all of a sudden it seems like I really wanted to be there in the first case, which isn’t really true."
Sorry I missed this part when posting my first comment.
My take is this, if you are not getting paid at all, and you are not learning anything, and you are not happy being there, and you feel manipulated,... then you should just quit, because you are wasting your time at a fruitless activity.
Time is bad. Focus your energy on survival plan and strategy.
If there is no contract signed, no commitment of any sort, no obligation in anyway just moonwalk out of the door...NOW.
weng
4.Jul.2009 7.59pm
sorry typo-
"on" a fruitless activity
4.Jul.2009 8.08pm
oh, BTW, before I forget-
"Never waste waste." Always find a way to recycle them.
If you do decide to moonwalk out from the internship, don't forget to include the company name in you resume. As a fresh graduate, to have a job experience on your resume when you go for interview is always better than not having one at all.
: )
All the best
weng
4.Jul.2009 9.16pm
Good Grief.
-=®=-
5.Jul.2009 3.55am
What Cerulean said: they're bound to have software that you haven't used: familiarise yourself with it, train yourself up on it; and then that's one more thing you can say you have knowledge of.
_______________________________________________
Ever since I chose to block pop-ups, my toaster's stopped working.
6.Jul.2009 1.35pm
> Beats the hell out of having McDonald’s on a resume.
Well, I don't know. If you haven't done anything worth mentioning at the agency, it's no use to be there and you'd only put it on your resumé for show.
I mean, it will look nice on there, but if someone inquires what exactly you did there and you have to answer that you had to bring your own work... dunno.
6.Jul.2009 1.46pm
Well, I don’t know. If you haven’t done anything worth mentioning at the agency, it’s no use to be there and you’d only put it on your resumé for show.
My first internship was at a nonprofit whose staff designer had just left. I spent the summer designing really awful stuff because they couldn’t find a new designer on their budget and I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. The pay was bad, I didn’t get any portfolio work out of it, and aside from learning a bunch of Indesign hotkeys I didn’t walk away with much. But the next summer having that on my resume helped me land a job in a design agency where there was a nasty lull and I spent most of the days on thesis research and designing my first (and thankfully unreleased) font. But the year after that I got a great internship with a very generous stipend and produced some really great printed pieces for my portfolio. And if the economy wasn’t in the tank I’d probably have a pretty nice job between the three jobs, the good references, and the showpieces.
7.Jul.2009 5.19am
> but if someone inquires what exactly you did there and you have to answer that you had to bring your own work... dunno.
Still means more than a McDonalds. Even if you aren't doing any real work, you should be watching others work, and occasionally asking questions ... and learning.
Do you want fries with that?