A few words on not losing your #@%$ or sleep over summer internship applications.
Hello!
As February draws to a close, and I watch the application inbox start to fill with applications for summer internships, I have a few things to share. Consider this neither the last word, nor the first on this, but hopefully and perhaps a little helpful if you are a student and applying for internships this summer.
Student internships are fraught with more anxiety today than before, largely because of the expectations set — in my view unfairly for a six to eight week window between curricular regimens. It is neither a test nor a milestone in what is likely to be a long, rather adventurous journey that the design profession will demand of you. So, how else could you imagine it?
Maybe, think of it as a working ringside view. You get to be up close to where the action is, lend a hand when needed, and see the parts that it takes to make the machine of creative practice move. This may have been the studio or practice of your choice, or not. But the view is thrilling nonetheless. Learning by experiencing can come from unexpected places and in unexpected forms. Let the environment be your mentor, let the experiences be your mentor. You may not get all the answers that you’ve been seeking, but you will get new points-of-view, provided you ask questions. This is an introduction to the practice of design, and not necessarily design itself. How people/studios practice design, impacts what they design too. Therefore this can become the first of many steps to understand conscious choices that professional practice will call for. Internship experiences can be eye-opening or inspiring or informative or challenging — but the freedom and quite naturally then the onus of what to do with the acquired knowledge falls back on you — to imbibe, adapt or challenge.
Getting ‘that’ internship is really not the goal. Being present, being open, being curious is — wherever you go and whatever you do.
