What is an internship? & Why we need it?
What is an internship?
An internship is a professional learning experience that offers meaningful, practical work related to a student’s field of study or career interest at a company for a fixed time period. Most software engineering internships can last from six months to a year. Interns are usually undergraduates. The internship is a part of most Software engineering or computer science degree programs. That opportunity becomes a key part of the university experience for all undergraduates.
Why we need an internship?
These are the 10 reasons why an internship important for undergraduates.
- Gain real-life working experience.
As undergraduates, you get knowledge about theoretical practice in the university. An internship enables you to gain first-hand exposure to working in the real world. It is a great place to apply the knowledge which you learned from the lecture room.
2. Learn about the professional work environment
The environment you get in our universities is completely different from the organizations.
An internship helps you to learn all about the professional work environment, employee relations, and code of ethics followed by the organizations. It should help you on-board in your first professional job with more ease than if you haven’t had professional experience.
3. Can connect with professionals
You will be surrounded by professionals in the industry when you’re doing your internship in the organization. So, internships provide a great environment to meet professionals in the career field you want to pursue, as well as other interns who have similar interests.
4. Develop and refine skills
You can learn a lot during your internship period. As an intern, you’ll make number of mistakes, learn from your mistakes. You can learn a lot about your strengths and weaknesses. Ask questions from your supervisor, professionals, and other people in your department. Act like a sponge and soak up all the information you can during your internship. Take risks. It will make you a better professional in the future.
5. Help to find the areas of our interest
For undergraduates, internships play a vital role in recognizing their talent and field of interest. It will help you to identify your passion. While everyone probably wants to walk away from an internship feeling excited and passionate about the experience, there’s a silver lining to be found if you didn’t enjoy the job: you’ll know what you don’t like. So, definitely, it will be a milestone in your life.
6. Get professional feedback
During the internship, you may work with many more people in your department. They might be your mentor, team leader, project manager, developers, etc. Internships provide opportunities for receiving feedback from someone who works in your desired field on a daily basis.
7. Increase marketability
Having an internship gives you experience in the career field you want to pursue. It makes your educational value more marketable. An internship usually requires less training and can handle more responsibilities. It will help you to find a Good job with a higher starting salary in the future.
8. Obtain confident
An internship is a great place to apply the knowledge which you learned from the lecture room. It allows you to make mistakes and you can learn from them. An internship helps you to gain confidence about what you’re doing.
9. Add value to your resume
Most undergraduates' final goal is to find a good job with a good starting salary. The job market is very competitive and actually, it’s not an easy task as we dream. It’s better to have at least have one internship on your resume before leaving university to give you a leg up on the competition.
10. Career opportunities
Working with all your interest and curiosity to learn during your internship can land you up as an employee in the company opening a wide area of opportunities. Many companies use internships as a way to enhance their recruitment efforts. In some cases, a company may decide to hire an intern at the end of the internship contract. Even if a job offer doesn’t happen right away, an intern who makes a good impression could receive an offer down the line when an opening occurs. Some companies test out an employee before committing to hiring them.
