What would you do in my place? I'm an intern, the money is good and the total conditions are awesome. But it's not what I wanted at all. I really could use the money now but I'm afraid that this will not contribute to my experience as a developer in the long run and might even hurt my chances.
-
How did it happen? How long will you be reassigned, is there a plan to change this?– skymningenCommented Aug 16, 2017 at 9:30
-
The CEO decided that i will be needed more in the IT department right now, and the position for which i interviewed was closed. I was told that in that company everybody does anything. In my contract it was written specifically that i will be a part of the development team. I feel like i was lured into a honey trap. No specific time frames were mentioned, the words "For now" and "In the beginning" were thrown to the air...– ealopirCommented Aug 16, 2017 at 9:34
-
If "the position for which you interviewed was closed" does that mean it was closed before you signed your contract? Because the contract between you and the company is a statement that this position is filled, not closed. I am not sure about intern contracts though and how strong they are (in your location).– skymningenCommented Aug 16, 2017 at 9:38
-
3No. Experience does not hurt. At all. Depending on what type of work this IT department does it actually helps for development to know how things work for IT. (like toadflakz said in their answer)– skymningenCommented Aug 16, 2017 at 9:55
-
2Your boss don't put a timeframe that don't mean you do put one. Learn all you can about infraestructure (that's a real plus for developers), save the money but put a goal: 3 months, 6 months it's you do decide. If you get stuck for long move on– jeanCommented Aug 16, 2017 at 16:38
|
Show 2 more comments
3 Answers
It never hurts to have an understanding of infrastructure as a developer. In fact, it's often a bonus when you can convincingly argue a point with a sysadmin if you ever end up in a big corporate environment. Also understanding the infrastructure environment that you will be developing for can only aid you as a future developer.
However, I would press on with the polite reminders to your management about being a development intern and make sure you communicate to them that you expect them to transfer you to a development position as soon as is practical and that you consider your current situation temporary.
You are at the beginning of your career - soak up the knowledge and experience of where you are, but keep your goals in mind.
-
2I would go further, in an ideal world every developer should spend some time in infrastructure and sysadmin / DBA roles. Having empathy for people who do those jobs will make you a far better developer in future. Commented Aug 17, 2017 at 5:53
-
@JuliaHayward I would prefer "spending some time along a sysadmin/DBA working on the specifics of their domain". If you want me to be a DBA/sysadmin (like there is no one else) even temporary I will answer "No I'm not qualified and I refused that responsability". Eventually I could take a role where I install and manage a database for my application, but I will refuse the title of DBA because I don't want to be scapegoated if something able and I'm unable to solve it (aka google "no result").– WalfratCommented Aug 17, 2017 at 10:58
This is remarkably unprofessional of the firm. Along with politely reminding them that you consider the situation temporary and should expect to be moved into development in a reasonable time frame, you should quietly start looking for a new internship. Don't consider a permanent position with this firm, they have problems keeping promises.
answered Aug 16, 2017 at 14:57
While having IT infrastructure understanding/knowledge as a developer is absolutely a great thing and can improve your marketability; having only this experience on your resume can make it more difficult to attract attention for the types of positions you want in the future. You will need to take more care in drafting cover letters and in interviews to explain how this experience makes you more valuable as a developer.
I speak from experience though in a somewhat different scenario. I'm a self taught software developer since childhood, with some professional experience (freelance work and one published video game). I went back to school after having kids and graduated top of my class with a degree focused on embedded system design (hybrid electrical engineering and software development).
When applying for internships in embedded systems with companies that had a hand in the creation of the program: "Based on your experience, we'd like to offer you this other [purely software development] internship working on our website..." The internships I was interested in went to straight EE classmates with no prior experiences.
