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[XiaNaphryz]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-...s-talent-grab-spawns-high-school-interns.html

Facebook Inc. (FB) rolled out the red carpet for Michael Sayman when the social network hired him for a job that started last month, including flying him out to meet Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg.

Sayman, 17, brought his mom along on the trip. The position Facebook recruited him for: summer intern.

“When I got the e-mail saying -- oh my god -- Mark Zuckerberg wants to meet you, I had to make sure nobody was playing a prank on me,” Sayman, who wears braces and recently graduated from high school in Miami, said in an interview. “It was just incredible to be able to meet him.”

Landing top talent is getting so tough in Silicon Valley that technology companies are trying anything for an edge -- including hiring interns out of high school and boosting new recruits’ perks. Facebook said it just started wooing interns before their freshman year of college, while LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD) opened its summer program to high schoolers two years ago. Startups including Airbnb Inc. have also nabbed interns as young as 16 years old.

For the companies, it’s all about keeping up with Silicon Valley’s youth-oriented culture, especially as the young and technically inclined are sometimes encouraged to create their own startups instead of joining large organizations. Early Facebook investor Peter Thiel pays people under 20 years old $100,000 to quit school to pursue their passions. Others aspire to follow the path of Summly Ltd. founder Nick D’Aloisio, who became a millionaire at 17 last year when Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) acquired his mobile application.

James Anderson got his internship at Portland, Oregon-based Web startup Planet Argon LLC last year through just this route. At age 13, he went to a conference focused on the Ruby on Rails programming language and met Planet Argon’s founders on a company hike. He later asked for -- and got -- a summer internship before starting high school.

“I felt like age shouldn’t hold me back as long as I can code,” said Anderson, now 15 and a soon-to-be sophomore at Flintridge Preparatory School in La Cañada, California, who taught himself several programming languages and built apps based on online tutorials.

In the push for candidates, summer interns are getting treated better, too. It’s become standard for engineering interns to snag free housing, transportation and salaries of more than $6,000 a month, according to job-search site Glassdoor Inc. That compares with the $4,280 average monthly income for U.S. households in 2012, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Of the top 10 companies paying the most for interns, all are technology companies except for Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), Glassdoor said in February.

“It’s kind of insane that as a 19- or 20-year-old, you can make more than the U.S. average income in a summer,” said Daniel Tahara, 21, who interned at big data startup Hadapt Inc. last summer and mobile-security startup Lookout Inc. the year before. Tahara, who declined to say how much he was paid, started a job with online storage startup Dropbox Inc. this month.

Other perks abound. Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) puts on a free concert for summer interns, last year booking Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Deadmau5. Dropbox pays for interns’ parents to fly to San Francisco and learn about the company. Google Inc. (GOOG) provides standard workplace benefits to interns, including on-site massages and laundry service.

Not all companies want younger interns. Google requires interns to be at least college freshmen and encourages them to finish their degrees. The Mountain View, California-based company finds other ways to look for recruits, said Kyle Ewing, Google’s head of global staffing.

“We do have a former professional ballerina, a former professional baseball player who used to throw a 90-mile-per-hour fastball, a student who raps in Chinese competitively,” Ewing said of the company’s interns. “Someone after their freshman year could have been programming since they were 10 and they may be ready for a technical internship, some may need more development and might not have been as self-trained as others, and come in for a different kind of program.”

Discovering Sayman

Facebook found Sayman last year because the teen was using the social network’s Parse developer tools to build a mobile game called 4Snaps. The game, which involves people taking four pictures and sending them to friends as clues for guessing a word, has more than 500,000 players.

Sayman taught himself to make mobile apps at 13, partly to help his mother, a driver for Lyft Inc., and father, an audio engineer, to pay the bills after a foreclosure four years ago.

“He was the one paying for everything in the house, at 13, 14, 15,” his mother, Cristina Sayman, said in a phone interview.

 

[smokeandmirrors]

Landing top talent is getting so tough in Silicon Valley that technology companies are trying anything for an edge -- including hiring interns out of high school and boosting new recruits’ perks.

Yeah and wage suppression and fixing too.

This is nothing more than finding cheaper labor. Why go after college kids who can be pricey when you can nab 'em young and pay them less overall.

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

That's actually a really great initiative, and insures that they keep a lot of talent in state. Harvard, MIT, and MGH do the same with local HS students and visiting undergrads.

Yeah and wage suppression and fixing too.

This is nothing more than finding cheaper labor. Why go after college kids who can be pricey when you can nab 'em young and pay them less overall.

Interns are supposed to be cheap labor though.

 

[Admiral Bone to Pick]

Really speaks to the evil that the highest paying company is named Palantir.

 

[chickdigger802]

yeah, interned in china year before graduation, made ~$400 from 3 month of working 7 to 6.

At least i got free lunch

 

[SummitAve]

Damn, I wish I was an intern.

 

[smokeandmirrors]

Interns are supposed to be cheap labor though.

Yeah but high schoolers are even cheaper. It's all a race to the bottom and sooner or later these internships will be unpaid like the rest of them.

 

[Akuun]

What the fuck @ those salaries

 

[victreeb3l]

Yeah and wage suppression and fixing too.

This is nothing more than finding cheaper labor. Why go after college kids who can be pricey when you can nab 'em young and pay them less overall.

Interns arent about cheap labor. These billion dollar companies arent going to have kids writing their core code. Its about developing them early so they have a greater chance of hiring them when theyre older and more experienced.

 

[Damaniel]

Yeah and wage suppression and fixing too.

This is nothing more than finding cheaper labor. Why go after college kids who can be pricey when you can nab 'em young and pay them less overall.

At least they get paid, and by the looks of intern pay at Palantir and VMWare, they get paid pretty damn well. Expand those to annual salaries, and those meet or beat starting salaries for degree-holding developers in most places. That's a far cry better than the traditional arts 'internship' -- work for a company for free for months, and maybe they'll consider offering you a part time job that pays barely over minimum wage, but only if you have something special that separates you from the hundreds of other applicants willing to give away months of free labor in the same way. The latter is what needs to be cracked down on, not the former.

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

What the fuck @ those salaries

Just want to point out that all of these kids make more than me.

 

[panzone]

I only say that this summer I'm participating in the Google Summer of Code and not only I earn in 3 months more than my parents in 6 and, thanks to my work, I have also received some internship proposals that could permit me to earn in little less than 3 month what my parents earn in a year.

Everyone really want to search and steal the future potentially good computer scientists.

Interns arent about cheap labor. These billion dollar companies arent going to have kids writing their core code. Its about developing them early so they have a greater chance of hiring them when theyre older and more experienced.

This. Codebases today are really complex and require time to be known decently. This way you can have young (and potentially ambitious and without kids) people that could work on your project immediately after college.

 

[wenis]

I'm 27 years old. I'd take a paid internship at Facebook please.

 

[rpmurphy]

Just want to point out that all of these kids make more than me.

My current salary seems like a pittance, let alone the $20/hour internship I had in college. lol

These kids are lucky.

 

[Chris R]

I'm 27 years old. I'd take a paid internship at Facebook please.

No kidding!

 

[panzone]

I'm 27 years old. I'd take a paid internship at Facebook please.

Too old. I' m not kidding. They want young and (possibly) unsettled people that could spend most of their energy and time on work. This type of internships are just investments for find the good people and make them productive immediately after college.

 

[smokeandmirrors]

Interns arent about cheap labor. These billion dollar companies arent going to have kids writing their core code. Its about developing them early so they have a greater chance of hiring them when theyre older and more experienced.

At least they get paid, and by the looks of intern pay at Palantir and VMWare, they get paid pretty damn well. Expand those to annual salaries, and those meet or beat starting salaries for degree-holding developers in most places. That's a far cry better than the traditional arts 'internship' -- work for a company for free for months, and maybe they'll consider offering you a part time job that pays barely over minimum wage, but only if you have something special that separates you from the hundreds of other applicants willing to give away months of free labor in the same way. The latter is what needs to be cracked down on, not the former.

I'm just a bit, for lack of a better word, disillusioned because I only see this as a way to further drive down wages: give high schooler an internship for less than normal, then offer them a job when you get them into the system for less than you would pay and keep doing that.

After the whole wage suppression that came out and is still going on at these billion dollar tech companies I am no longer surprised at their want to race to the bottom, especially after facebook is one of the companies leading the charge to get more foreign (read cheaper) workers over american workers. Not that foreign workers are bad or anything but it's cheaper labor for the companies.

 

[wenis]

Too old. I' m not kidding. They want young and (possibly) unsettled people that could spend most of their energy and time on work. This type of internships are just investments for find the good people and make them productive immediately after college.

I know. I'm just saying. I'd work pretty hard if I was getting paid to do an internship at Facebook..

 

[panzone]

especially after facebook is one of the companies leading the charge to get more foreign (read cheaper) workers over american workers. Not that foreign workers are bad or anything but it's cheaper labor for the companies.

Cheap does' t pay in a tech company this big. They just want to take the best future computer scientist worldwide and they want to be sure that you work for them, if you are one of this promising student. If you are a student, with all this money you probably accept the internship. They can test you and see if you are a promising developer and, if you are this kind of developer, you are probably ready to work the exact day after graduation since it' s something you already saw.

The student, seeing the previous internships and how much he earned during it, is more motivate to return to the same company. I know this because I' m one of them in this moment.

 

[Brakke]

Interns are supposed to be cheap labor though.

No, internships are a recruiting practice. Interns almost always cost more than they're worth, especially if you pay them. You also peel experienced workers away from their stuff to train / ramp the intern. Most fulltime employees at tech companies aren't worth even close to their salary until they've been around for a year or two.

Internships are a way to lockdown labor that will be cheap once you can hire them full time, and to identify people you wouldn't want to hire fulltime.

 

[Damaniel]

I'm just a bit, for lack of a better word, disillusioned because I only see this as a way to further drive down wages: give high schooler an internship for less than normal, then offer them a job when you get them into the system for less than you would pay and keep doing that.

After the whole wage suppression that came out and is still going on at these billion dollar tech companies I am no longer surprised at their want to race to the bottom, especially after facebook is one of the companies leading the charge to get more foreign (read cheaper) workers over american workers. Not that foreign workers are bad or anything but it's cheaper labor for the companies.

In this case though, I don't think that the internships are paying all that much less (if any) than traditional internships. I know this is Silicon Valley we're talking about here, but the listed intern salaries up there are way higher than what I've seen offered by companies in my area. Hell, the highest of those aren't really all that far from what I make as a seasoned developer.

The bigger issue I see is the push to 'get in young' and skip the whole college degree -- if there's one thing that Silicon Valley is guilty of, it's valuing youth above all else. In an industry where 35 is considered 'too old to get work', and where VCs won't even stop to listen to your idea (let alone fund it) if you're a day over 30, the biggest problem with these companies isn't underpaying, it's over-relying on youth.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

After the whole wage suppression that came out and is still going on at these billion dollar tech companies I am no longer surprised at their want to race to the bottom, especially after facebook is one of the companies leading the charge to get more foreign (read cheaper) workers over american workers. Not that foreign workers are bad or anything but it's cheaper labor for the companies.

I dunno about the bolded anymore, at least from my own experience and others I know here in the Bay Area. There's been a LOT more active headhunting going around here for good experienced engineers in the tech sector in the last couple of years. Especially those with postgrad degrees. And I say this as someone eligible for that current class action suit regarding the wage fixing.

An old coworker of mine managed to get Facebook and Google into a bidding war for his services. The offer he ultimately ended up with was pretty damn good.

 

[bodyboarder]

That intern pay was a bit higher then I thought. Nice work if you could get it, awful hours I'm sure though.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

That intern pay was a bit higher then I thought. Nice work if you could get it, awful hours I'm sure though.

Hours aren't usually terrible, especially if they end up getting paid hourly even at those monthly rates, but even then I wouldn't necessarily expect a standard 8 hours a day/40 a week type of schedule either.

 

[The_Inquisitor]

I interned for a major defense company starting out at the end of my senior year oh high school. I landed my current job partially as the result of it. My salary is fine.

 

[Devolution]

More stable. Longer hours because no "having to pick the kids up" when they are the kid.

 

[HideyoshiJP]

I'm 27 years old. I'd take a paid internship at Facebook please.

Too old for Silicon Valley these days. *tsk tsk* Why aren't you a billionaire CEO yet?

 

[Brofist]

I'm 27 years old. I'd take a paid internship at Facebook please.

Over the hill

 

[victreeb3l]

I'm just a bit, for lack of a better word, disillusioned because I only see this as a way to further drive down wages: give high schooler an internship for less than normal, then offer them a job when you get them into the system for less than you would pay and keep doing that.

After the whole wage suppression that came out and is still going on at these billion dollar tech companies I am no longer surprised at their want to race to the bottom, especially after facebook is one of the companies leading the charge to get more foreign (read cheaper) workers over american workers. Not that foreign workers are bad or anything but it's cheaper labor for the companies.

Nah, I dont think talented engineers have much to worry about, at least for the next couple of years. Headhunting is a very common practice so if you're talented, you will always have tons of amazing offers thrown at you.

I work at a start up and its been ridiculously hard to hire engineers because someone is always willing to pay more than you. Theres definitely a talent drought and its really fucking frustrating.

The foreign workers thing is something I'm conflicted about. I can see FB or Google wanting to ease immigration so they can have an army of cheap engineers at their disposal but at the same time I feel like talented guys will always command top pay like they are now. So its a quality vs quantity issue.

In this case though, I don't think that the internships are paying all that much less (if any) than traditional internships. I know this is Silicon Valley we're talking about here, but the listed intern salaries up there are way higher than what I've seen offered by companies in my area. Hell, the highest of those aren't really all that far from what I make as a seasoned developer.

The bigger issue I see is the push to 'get in young' and skip the whole college degree -- if there's one thing that Silicon Valley is guilty of, it's valuing youth above all else. In an industry where 35 is considered 'too old to get work', and where VCs won't even stop to listen to your idea (let alone fund it) if you're a day over 30, the biggest problem with these companies isn't underpaying, it's over-relying on youth.

Yeah, this is an issue. Everyone is trying to find the next Zuckerberg but that was just lightning in a bottle.

 

[Amagon]

I was born too late.

 

[KingFire]

I interned at a major oil company in Texas. The pay was great and the treatment was top-notch. The work was very challenging though.

 

[irfaanator]

waiting for that neogaf internship

 

[bodyboarder]

Hours aren't usually terrible, especially if they end up getting paid hourly even at those monthly rates, but even then I wouldn't necessarily expect a standard 8 hours a day/40 a week type of schedule either.

Don't tell me that, now I'm back to being depressed haha.

 

[Juz]

Damn

 

[mechashiva]

Interned in broadcasting at a news station for zero dollars.

This would have been awesome. Don't understand people dissing this and calling it cheap labor. It's scouting and the salary before housing and benefits would be 72k. That's a pretty nice investment in your training ground.