I've owned several companies, so I have been exposed to variety of scenarios but I'm a bit at a loss here.
We have a new intern studying computer science. Interns are a little bit random because you find some who are passionate about programming and will be very proficient, while some others are just cruising along and now and then, some are just not interested in their topic and discover it during internship.
Since we have many tasks where interns can practice along with the staff, usually they get a chance to pick and chose which ones they're interested in and eventually tend to stay with the same staff for other things since they're getting to know each other.
All in one, it's a flexible environment where they can be exposed to a variety of things.
So, we have that new intern who's passionate about everything related to technology; his curriculum exposed him to C++, Java and Javascript as well as web technologies.
He's a very dedicated and focused guy, gets along great with everyone, will stay extra hours with the team, etc. While he understands base concepts and keeps himself very informed, he is completely (I would even say terminally) unable to 'connect the dots'. While he has factual knowledge, out of his passion, he can't grasp the logic required in this field.
Having dealt with this field for 29 years now, I can say in absolute confidence that programming is never going to work for him. There are other fields in technology that may be a good fit, but programming is not one of them.
He's aware of the challenges he has, but being very young with no work experience, he doesn't have the foresight of how badly he'll fare in that field.
As he's a good kid with passion I'd like to find a way to help him discover other fields within his realm where he's not going to hit a brick wall.
But I don't know how to do this without casting a negative shadow on him, or hurting his motivation to be into tech.