Every semester I ask my students to submit questions semi-anonymously for an internal Ask Me Anything. The questions range from “How does retirement saving work?” to “How do I start a business” and the more short-term, “What should I include in my portfolio?”
But this year a student asked something that really made me think and took a turn I did not plan for:
How easy would you say it was for you to get an internship, and what advice would you give on landing one?
My answer:
I applied to two places for an internship. I heard back from both and selected one, which was with the Indiana Supreme Court’s web dev team. I was 17. They hired me full-time with a salary and benefits when I was 18. I was promoted to Senior Web Developer when I was 19 and left that job when I was 20 to start my business full-time.
Frankly, I did not have a hard time finding internships. I don’t think I knew why at the time, but my then-boss Lindsey told me years later: “You had the most prolific portfolio of anyone I’d ever seen.” I had been making sites and doing graphic work in high school and had my own website at justinharter.com since I was in 7th grade (still do!). I had a few clients, like small car lots in my hometown of Salem and class projects.
This likely sounds weird to people today. Probably then, too. But I know why in retrospect I did all this effort: I didn’t have anything else to do.
- Social media didn’t exist, though there were some apps like ICQ and AOL Instant Messenger, as well as a few internet forums.
- We didn’t have cable TV (too rural). High speed internet didn’t exist there yet.
- It was me, an HP desktop with an Intel Celeron processor, and dial-up internet.
- I was an only child and didn’t live near many people. So I spent my time building stuff.
This is surely a lot harder for some people today, since YouTube exists.
All this to say: this should kinda piss you off. You should be a little pissed at how good corporations are at hijacking your time and attention with distractions and consumption. The world belongs to the creators and builders. You can argue those companies did build something. But our parents and grandparents spent a lot more time tinkering in the garage, gardening, and just building things for their own use. You don’t have to build some giant Omniglobal Mega Corp.
