We have many names; the intern, graduate, placement but one I find derogatory: student. Interns are all of different levels and personalities but if we all have one thing in common it is that we are not students; we are graduates.
I did not pay to go to university for three hard years to walk into the working world as a student. When do we not become a student? Junior designer for me is a long way off, and granted I am still learning but I am not a student; a student is someone still studying at a school. By calling me a student you are making me directly comparable to a first or second-year, and often people assume I am still at school. Pure ignorance allows people to think you walk into a job straight away and I find this really frustrating when it comes from the industry itself.
I guess one of the reasons I am writing this blog is to show people how it isn't always easy. At College, the ex-students that come in to talk to you are the successful ones. They are the ones that the tutors have remembered and were probably the ones that did well at college anyway, so if you are mediocre or forgettable, like myself, these are the wrong people to take advice from. It is rare that people who find it hard to succeed are the ones to give advice, but it is valuable. It is the testing things you need to know about, not the happily ever after. Not yet anyway.
Beautifully said. I'm not yet an intern - I'm a 'student' about to graduate. But in my final year studying I find this irritating already as if it devalues me and makes me question my position and ability in the world as a designer and not just a humble student, in honesty the word makes me feel undeserving of my future and that makes me nervous.
ReplyDeleteExactly. We are designers, not students. We have done our time, when you intern make sure you spread the word: calling us "student" is not cool.
ReplyDelete