Reading Time: 3 minutesThis idea was originated when I was asked to make a blog post regarding the summer internship I did during at Angry Ventures. But rather than speaking about the technical parts and the obvious bits, I chose to go for what you don’t see and why you should do a summer internship rather than using the summer to rest.
The experience from the internship was more than I could expect since I’ve grown professionally and as a person. I had the opportunity to meet incredible people that made work fun, learned not only about Marketing, Design, Software, Business Development… But also how you do team building on a daily basis, why knowing your value is so important and much more.
Allow me to explain the title
“Life is a marathon, not a sprint” – you might think that is obvious or a cliché quote but we tend to forget it.
At the end of my internship (and in some way at the beginning) money was a subject, some internships are paid others aren’t. In the internship I did, they managed to pay for my travel costs and I appreciated it a lot. But thinking that I wasn’t paid for my work just because I didn’t have a salary is completely wrong.
Here’s the thing, I come from a secondary professional course where doing an internship is mandatory. So when I decided to voluntarily enroll in a summer internship with no salary some people saw it as useless or that it wasn’t worth it.
But what is being “worth it”? Isn’t it when somehow what you are currently experiencing or doing will later bring benefits? I understand them, from an economic perspective, I made less money than someone that was working at a bakery.
But what about what you learn?
Nowadays we all thrive for instant pleasure, we want it fast and we want it now. So if you want money you instantly go to work that summer, but what about scaling? Knowledge gives you the ability to scale, both financially and personally.
When you get yourself a summer job or an internship that doesn’t make you go further, that doesn’t challenge you, you are getting yourself into a loop. By getting into an internship or a job that pushes you to accomplish that extra mile you are gathering knowledge that you will be able to leverage in the future.
I’m now doing my Management Degree, so if I want to learn in the summer it has to be now, it won’t be when I have a job or other responsibilities.
Internships are mostly not about what you learn but rather about who you meet
I strongly believe in this, because the technical bits you can learn where ever you want, even online. What you can’t learn anywhere is how in a company and its people interact with each other, how different personalities affect the end result, the stories that lead people there, what they have learned so far, what they believe in, and much more.
And why is that so important? It will have a much bigger impact on who you are as a human being and how you perceive everything. We are a product of our environment and people are a big part of the environment that surrounds us.
To conclude, I fully understand if your economic situation doesn’t allow you to do a summer internship. But if on the contrary, you have the privilege to do it, gather as much information as you can, get to know as many people as possible, even if it doesn’t apply directly to your situation. That’s the whole point, work in the present and think about the future.
Obsessed with creating, BMTH #1 fan and an assumed Petrolhead.
