Bite the Bullet

No internship is created equal. No learning experience, no job, no endeavor will ever bring the same amount of satisfaction or education.

There's no such thing as a perfect internship, but there definitely are experiences that may be "less-perfect" than others.

My "at home" job, the one I'm so in love with...well, it's one of the closer-to-perfect ones. I love the work I do, and I'm trusted enough to be given hefty tasks without overt baby-sitting. Other experiences, though, have not been so good.

I've held down jobs where menial tasks involved hand-holding and babysitting. I could have shown my worth a million times over, but the title "intern" or "student worker" automatically dictated a need for constant supervision. Micromanaging is not the way, people!

However, as the intern, as the "lesser experienced" student of the world, it's your job to shut up and learn. Sure, there are instances where enough is enough. Of course there are times when the practices are so incredibly wrong that you have every right to complain or report. The plain and simple fact is, though, that a lot of the time, interns and student workers are brought on to do the work that "real" employees don't have time for.

Let's face it, not every position we get is about our learning experience. Many times, it'll be about the company or organization's productivity. Cheap labor can get things done.

So, hang in there. I was once told that "Today's interns are tomorrow's CEO's." If that's true, then aren't those awful experiences worth it? I think I can handle some micromanaging and coffee-fetching if it means I'll be the one running the company someday.

Bite the bullet, swallow a bit of ego, and step into your future. Sometimes, the worst jobs bring the best opportunities.