My former FAANG uses internships at the Ph.D. level for both recruiting and talent acquisition. Hiring committees have a way easier time assessing candidates with feedback like "this intern implemented X, Y, and Z beyond their project spec W during the summer" or "this intern goofed off all summer."
The whole point of an internship isn’t to get low cost work. It’s part recruiting and part teaching students about working in the real world vs. in educational environments.
I think companies will take advantage of AI in the future to create efficiencies with the existing workforce and free up their time to solve other problems that AI cannot solve such as user research, reasoned architectures, etc.
Can you provide data on the trends so I know where to position my recruiting efforts when internships are “no longer viable?”
I agree. Even if it isn’t right, and will probably be damaging in the long run, cost cutting management will likely think this way and thus reduce the number of interns/juniors hired. They probably expect AI to replace programmers by the time the interns/juniors are well trained & this find no point even as an investment. I personally feel like this will cause a crisis later on but who knows
I have never worked for a place where interns are hired for work output. It’s always been a talent source and an opportunity for mid or senior level engineers to understand the process of mentoring.
internship programs are ways to lock in top talent from top universities. I don't know the stats but I bet the majority of graduates end up taking a job at a company they interned with. You still need to hire juniors to have the eventual seniors.
