What are the Interns up to this summer? Getting pinged 788 times in June?
Before getting into some commentary that won't appeal to most readers, I'll start by doing a super Q&A right now for those of you starting on your summer internships:
I invite you to send me more questions about either getting into the
CA program, what it's like when you're already there, or any other random
questions you have. There's a handy "e-mail me" link here or you can send mail to my gmail account. It's "acsblog".
What should I expect to be paid during my internship?
If you're doing an internship for a newspaper or other publications, quite possibly zero. But you probably knew that already.
If you're working for a CA firm, on the other hand, your average paycheque will be close to if not very similar to that of newly hired "full-time" staff.
I am not just writing that to rub salt in the wounds of my friends studying English. But I am aware that this is a side effect of stating those facts.
What should I expect during my internship?
The luck of the draw. You will either...
- Find yourself on a series of serious jobs where budgets are tight, the number of staff is short, and they're relying you on the start to help meet crucial deadlines, giving you more overtime than you ever expected to see in your short stint in the professional world. You don't joke about bringing a cot into the office either because you fear they'll say "good idea" or because it's already happened. Your family files a missing person report when they fail to hear from you and you really do feel like you've been kidnapped.
- End up sitting or walking around, waiting for "real" work, and instead doing what people in medical fields call "scut work" - make friends with the photocopier. If you don't know how to fax, you soon will. Older staff take advantage of you being there by volunteering you for work which may or may not actually be real, such as car-wash fundraisers for the "Human Fund" - and I don't mean the group in Cleveland - or the ever-popular "Skyscraper Window Washer for a Day" job swaps.
- Have trouble staying sober because it's party time every night of the week - or if it isn't, it just feels that way. Special social team-building events, excursions to locations both near and exotic, and tons of swag to drown in. Your liver hates you, but you don't care - this is what you spent all that time figuring out the difference between DR and CR to get a 100% score on your exams in first year accounting so you could score an intern, and now you're letting loose - you know you look damn fine in a cowboy hat, no matter how pasty your skin is..
Whichever extreme scenario you tend towards, good luck this summer.
It goes without saying that some combination of the above in less extreme proportions is equally - or perhaps more - likely. But people love hearing about the extremes - although it says a lot about you whether you prefer to hear about #1 or #3 - so I had to oblige with the best caricature a few hastily written lines of text could create.
Enough about interns - what's the deal with the lack of activity here?
I haven't been exceptionally busy, but I've had a steady stream of things to do. In spite of that, last month was one of my most quiet on record, in terms of writing here - scratch that, it was the quietest - just 4 posts.
I could just blame the summer weather, and it's partially to thank.
That and getting involved all of a sudden in four sports - if you count biking to work as one of the four sports, anyway.
Maybe coaching people for the School of Accountancy exams had something to do with it too - the exam was written just this Wednesday. Results come out later this month - fingers crossed that everyone made it.
And, continuing the incredibly disparate tangents, is there any correlation between the lack of writing and the fact that I only got hit by spam 788 times? The May post where I mentioned I got hit 801 times actually sheds some light on what happened to the last month - I was writing an exam myself!
Between trying to actually spend time with friends - catching up with those who I didn't see while squirreling away with the exam prep books - and all the other distractions June just flew by.
I have much to write about but won't start now because it's late, I'm tired, and I doubt many people will soldier through to the end of this little self-indulgent bit of meta-commentary. But if you did, I salute you and invite you to read some of my recent pearls of wisdom on this now 123 comment long posting on another site.