Prioritizing Paid-Technology Internships for Students is Important.
We tend to prioritize placing our students in paid-internships because of the affirmation and support that these types of internships provide.
Over the years, our team’s helped many of our Code School students to earn their first internships in tech. The types of internships vary. For instance, one of our student’s first internships was building online college courses when she was only 16 years old and still in high school! We’ve helped other students to earn their first freelance jobs building websites to support the growing technology needs of small businesses in their area. We value internship opportunities for our students because they give our students the motivation, confidence, and financial support that they need to further explore their tech journeys.
Paid internships are proof that there’s value in the skills that they’re learning.
Earning a paid, tech internship affirms for our students that there are real career opportunities connected to the skills that they’re learning and that they deserve those opportunities. Getting a paycheck helps our students to accept that their internship is not a handout but an opportunity that they earned. They bring value to the company that they’re working with and receiving payment for their work helps to send our students that message. Their internship position also confirms for our students that they have the skills needed to work professionally in tech.
As we all know, imposter syndrome is real. If prior to their internship, our student questioned whether or not they’re good enough at coding to compete professionally or major in computer science in college, being offered a paid-internship at a tech company helps to replace the self-doubt that comes with a lack of experience with confidence. These professional experiences help to build our students’ confidence in both themselves and their tech skills. It also helps to motivate them to continue their skills development. At times, our students’ paid internships give them the room to explore how far they can go with tech for the first time because it helps to remove another barrier, predated financial obligations.
You rarely ever know a person’s whole story.
When we first started our coding program, we had a lot of students who needed to be able to financially contribute to their household. Some didn’t have the time to give to a skills development program because they needed to go to work at a part-time job. We thought that paid internships could help our students afford to have the time that they needed to learn a new skillset, coding, that could one day help them to create the career that they wanted.
“I wanted the chance to help the younger generation learn better, and hopefully help them make the right moves to build the career they want!” — Dipack, coding instructor
Although the professional experience might be the same whether an internship is paid or unpaid, the financial aspect can be the determining factor between whether or not a student is able to take full advantage of the professional and personal growth opportunities that a quality internship can offer.
Internships are an opportunity that every hardworking student deserves.
Internships can be incredibly valuable learning opportunities because they help students to decide if a career path fits their personality and talents, meet new people and network, and gain experience that helps to boost a student’s college applications or resume for future job applications. The most valuable benefits that we’ve particularly seen paid, tech internships provide for our students are the affirmation and support that they get from working professionally in tech. We call this the most valuable because those benefits transcend any career or area of study that a student is interested in pursuing. The internships that our students have experienced aren’t only about tech but are about personal development and equitable treatment so that all hardworking students have the chance to see just how far they can really go in their education and careers.
South Bend Code School’s goal is to make technology education equitable. Even though we’re based in South Bend, our virtual coding classes for Ages 7–18 are open to anyone in any state and in any city!
Sign up to code with us in our after-school program for Ages 7–18 by visiting southbendcodeschool.com.
