Computer Science Work Experience Pay?

my_self

Hi,
As part as my Computer Science degree I am required to complete six months work experience.

So, I had an interview at a company that I would really like to work for. The position seems ideal. Anyhow, during the interview pay was mentioned. I was basically asked how much pay I want. Which was a pleasant surprise, although I didn't know what to say.

I have to get back to him. So, the problem is I have no idea what to ask for. My main goal is to get the job, as the experience is of more value to me than the pay. So, can anyone give me some advice on what would be fair amount? Thanks.

Stheno

My ohs son did this type of work experience last year and was paid 10 euro per hour iirc

MouseTail

I know someone doing this and getting €400 a week, so in line with above post.

Stheno

MouseTail wrote: »

I know someone doing this and getting €400 a week, so in line with above post.

Do you mean per month? In that case 100 per week is more than that.

I've come across plenty on nothing.

My OHs son has been blessed, gotten offered a permanent job due to working on experience

Mr. Loverman

Don't get greedy and scare the employer.

You have to remember you probably won't be very useful to the company and overall will cost them money/time. They are doing you a favour by hiring you.

I'd be inclined to say something like "I know I haven't graduated yet, but I do have a lot to offer and will try my best to make a worthwhile contribution to your team. If I could receive compensation to cover my living expenses, I would be happy with that".

So you are leaving "living expenses" open to their interpretation, which could mean just bus and lunch or could mean your boozing on the weekend.

The goal is to get the work experience. Any financial reward is a bonus.

Crow92

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

Don't get greedy and scare the employer.

You have to remember you probably won't be very useful to the company and overall will cost them money/time. They are doing you a favour by hiring you.

I'd be inclined to say something like "I know I haven't graduated yet, but I do have a lot to offer and will try my best to make a worthwhile contribution to your team. If I could receive compensation to cover my living expenses, I would be happy with that".

So you are leaving "living expenses" open to their interpretation, which could mean just bus and lunch or could mean your boozing on the weekend.

The goal is to get the work experience. Any financial reward is a bonus.

I doubt he'll end up costing them more money than he is worth to work there.
If it was me I'd ask for 10 euro an hour. It's decent enough to live off and a bit over minimum because you'll be doing skilled work.

Don't undersell yourself, I assume these guys didn't have to hire you so they aren't doing you a favour. The experience is definitely what your after but a basic wage is hardly going to scare off an employer and I think it's a shame in Ireland that a lot of work experience and internships are unpaid. (Not to derail the topic).

kippy

Its a kinda tricky enough thing these days with all the cheap competition out there and you dont want to shoot yourself in the foot.
That being said I think asking for minimum wage is fair while on one of these contracts. They obviously expect to pay you and Im pretty sure thats what they are expecting.
Best of luck. Make a great impression and there might be more doors opened for you.

hardCopy

2005 might not be very relevant as a reference, but when I did work placement back then I got minimum wage for working on a QA test team.

Mr. Loverman

Crow92 wrote: »

I doubt he'll end up costing them more money than he is worth to work there.

I've managed quite a few interns.

They take up a lot of time and their work has to be double checked as it typically isn't up to the standard of normal employees.

By the time they become competent they are leaving, so from a financial standpoint they are not worth it in my opinion.

Of course if they are brought on to do an easy job which requires minimal training, they are good value. My industry is IT.

my_self

OK, I'm grateful for everyone's input. My interviewer who was an absolute gent, disagreed with the practice of not paying interns/work placements. Which was a pleasant surprise in this day and age. So, I was thinking in and around the minimum wage.

Just to Mr. Loverman everyone has to start somewhere. Most companies regardless of industry when they take on new staff have to provide training. An apprentice is payed from day one why shouldn't a college graduate be payed from day one? I get were you're coming from in terms of someone in my position (only available for six months). You might have a valid but immoral point in my case. Is it really such a big ask to expect companies who need and complain that there are not enough experienced IT people to give a student some payed experience? We can't live of thin air, while we get our experience.

Mr. Loverman

my_self wrote:

why shouldn't a college graduate be payed from day one?

What are you talking about? Where did I say graduates shouldn't be paid?!

Regarding the rest of your post:

There is a big difference between an intern who will be there for a few months (bad investment) versus a normal employee who may stay for a while (good investment).

Companies are not charities, and publicly traded companies actually have a legal obligation to seek the most profit for their owners (the shareholders). Training interns out of some moral obligation is, at best, not in their interest.

I'm not being cold hearted. I'm just honest about how to world works.

hardCopy

my_self wrote: »

OK, I'm grateful for everyone's input. My interviewer who was an absolute gent, disagreed with the practice of not paying interns/work placements. Which was a pleasant surprise in this day and age. So, I was thinking in and around the minimum wage.

Just to Mr. Loverman everyone has to start somewhere. Most companies regardless of industry when they take on new staff have to provide training. An apprentice is payed from day one why shouldn't a college graduate be payed from day one? I get were you're coming from in terms of someone in my position (only available for six months). You might have a valid but immoral point in my case. Is it really such a big ask to expect companies who need and complain that there are not enough experienced IT people to give a student some payed experience? We can't live of thin air, while we get our experience.

Lots of apprentices have to pay back the cost of their training if they don't stay for a minimum amount of time, for example you pay massive money to leave the army early if they've given you specialist training.

I know in our place we trained up a graduate for a permanent position and he left after 10 months, in this case it definitely took more work to train him up than we ever saw benefit from. That wasn't a reflection of any lack of effort from him, it just takes time to get people to the point that they can be independently productive.

In the case of a six month internship it would be very hard to get a payback on the training time involved unless you have people doing very basic duties.

I was very lucky in my placement that the employer was able to balance giving me meaningful internal projects to work on alongside my day-to-day work which a trained monkey could probably have done.

my_self

What have I started. My intentions where not to get into a debate about whether work placements/interns should be paid or not. And apologies you never said graduates should not be paid. But you did say "you won't be very useful to the company and overall will cost them money/time". I don't think I'm useless. If this is the case why do many companies still take on work placements if they "have a legal obligation to seek the most profit for their owners". Some companies obviously do think it's worth their while. Some pay, some don't. Also, many students I'm sure would greatly continue to work for a company part time if the offer was to arise or when they have completed their degree. I know I would and I have heard of this happening. You have to agree a lot of companies are taking advantage of the current situation and blatantly exploiting young vulnerable graduates.

BTW: I know how the world works, but thanks.

corkmans1

would love to know what part of the country you are in my_self?. Im in cork just completed my first year in computer science, done two weeks work experience where I was worked to the bone but never complained as I felt I definitely got a huge amount of experience from it. I went back to college and from what I gathered I was the only one not giving a few euro, and to make things worse the employer made sure they were not there to even say thanks for my time, I felt a little bit put out by that so will be doing my work experience somewhere else next time.