If it's just for skills development, small, well-defined projects are good. Corners that you might not have time to get to if someone weren't working on it.
Reminds me a little bit of what someone once said about a PhD student: the thesis has to be do-able, and not on the critical path of the main research program. Best wishes, Bruce On 2/26/08, Fisken, Alex <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Dan, > > > > We brought in an intern over winter break and key thing was finding work > that was valuable to us, but not necessarily client facing. What we > eventually found extremely helpful was analysis work. Whether it was > competitive analysis of products we were launching, cataloging best > practices in shopping cart design, or some basic usability – it was useful > for us. This type of work also gives a good sense of how someone thinks > which is great if hiring is an ultimate goal. > > > > -Alex > > > > > > *Alex Fisken* > > Sr. Manager, Web Sales > > Network Solutions > > Desk: 703-668-5131 > > Fax: 703-668-5819 > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > http://www.networksolutions.com > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > *From:* [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] *On Behalf Of *Dan Brown > *Sent:* Tuesday, February 26, 2008 1:29 PM > *To:* UX Management > *Subject:* [Ux-Management] Internships > > > > I just got an email from someone asking if EightShapes has any open > internship positions. I have to admit, it made me think. > > I've never been an intern and only have had very limited experience > managing interns, so would like to solicit other managers on their > experience: > > * Has anyone used them in a design setting before? > * What's the best way to get the most out of the internship? > * What financial arrangement did you have? > * Did you use them on client work? > > I listened to a podcast a couple months ago on Joel Spolsky's internship > program at his software company. His shop is almost pure development, and > they build products -- they don't do client work. > > Still, he uses interns as a recruiting mechanism. Brings them in, assigns > them a project (for the summer) and ultimately (if it's a good match) hires > them. It made a heckuva lot of sense to me. > > Nathan and I could probably use a similar model but: > > (a) It would be difficult to use interns on client work > (b) I'm not sure if we would have time to evaluate or mentor their work > outside current billable projects > > Any guidance or suggestions (or horror stories or more questions) would be > most welcome! > > -- Dan > > > -- > | work: eightshapes.com > | book: communicatingdesign.com > | blog: greenonions.com > | talk: +1 (301) 801-4850 > > _______________________________________________ > Ux-Management mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.iainstitute.org/listinfo.cgi/ux-management-iainstitute.org > >
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