What exactly does an intern for a company do?

What should I do if I am working in a small team within a big tech company as an intern but have little to no work?

• For this summer, I came to California to work with a big networking (4G, LTE and stuff)  firm as a User Experience Design intern (I'm a graduate studying Human Factors). I'm 3 weeks into my internship (which is for 11 weeks) and I feel that there is absolutely no requirement for a UX designer on the project I have been put into (at least not yet). I have enrolled myself into online courses but everyday I feel like I am wasting my precious time by doing very less work, most of which is reading about Network trends and . What should I do to get out of this situation? Note: Whenever my manager talks to me about my timeline and work, he himself has nothing set up for me. It's like he's trying to find some goals for me and is struggling so hard!

• Answer:

  that shows poor planning on your manager's part or a lack of clarity on why he even wants you there in the first place. But naturally, projects are not designed keeping interns in mind but despair not. The best thing to do in such a scenario is create work for your OWN self. But work that could potentially benefit the company as well. You've been chosen as an intern whcih means they saw something in you. Can you look within you and see how your skillset matches your organization's CORE need. Perhaps that wasn't the intention in their choosing you in the first place or you were hired for an on-the-side role filling posiiton, Regardless, identify your organization's core need (ie. their core USP - what drives the biggest demand for their services)   Once you've identifed that, then the thing to ponder over is how in a pool of similar candidates could you stand out in helping the organization fulfil that need. eg. a more creative way, a maverick approach, something your skill set directly speaks to.... If you determine that what gets you going from inside is not what drives the company's business, then you'd know that you landed yourself at the wrong place. If the converse, that is you're among the best people suited for the role at hand, then the quest my freind is to do it better than others with a similar profile to stand out differentiated. In your case that could mean thinking of UX design the way it's never been thought before in the networking industry. Do you have some seedlings growing inside you there that you'd perhaps want to implement if given a chance....end of the day UX strives to make the interaction journey simpler for end consumers -- can you mash brain cells together to make complex networking scenarios it as simple as pudding and pie. Could a hosuewife set up a network without any formal knowledge maybe?What would it take? Why do I keep talking about the organization's core need - becasue that is what'll keep you from getting pinkslipped in bad times, expecially if you prove yourself to be better than others on the same job/project stream. Else the option is to pick one of their lower revenue generating businesses (perhaps one where they significantly lag behind their competitors) and see if your skill set could apply to that. The next question is HOW? research the skill set required for the organization's core need. Talk to people (not just your manager) who are a part of such teams (seek them out outsdie office if you have to - come across looking sincere and honest in wanting to genuinely know more about what they do citing the opportunity you've been given in the form of an internship) -- remember they went through the same shit when they were interns, so if these interns were hired back as full-timers and the same culture still exists of 'sitting around doing nothing' then they will definitely notice someone trying to change the status quo - the mark of a future leader - remember the cliche - 'the only constant in this world is change.' next, see if their description of what they do sounds exciting enough to you to pull yourself out of bed every morning to come do the same shit for years to come - if the answer is yes then you've atleast begun charting out a potential future growth path. You're in the internship to learn about the company the people the culture, not exactly the specific project in which the've decided to take you on to do the doggy work for them. So do much more of networking with people around the office and less of playing truant and being lonely by just sticking to your assigned internship project head becasue end of the day in the big bad corporate world, it's each man to himself ! I would like to end by wishing you luck with the techniques I've outlined...even for a techie, networking is important - right now concentrate on coming across as a brand that they'll remember positively months after your internship is over Last word of caution : if no one is interacting with you, it's not going to be super easy brekaing into conversation mode right away,,,,in that case pick the targets who're more open to talking (or have less work on their hands), treat everyone equally from the receptionist to the highest head and use everyone as a conduit to get to the right people and the information you seek... So get out of that chair from tomorrow or today and get cracking on creating a brand, not just another sodden internship experiecne. ps please correct my typos for me if you have the time mr. intern :)