Internship advice.

Design Discussions design employment
1

Hey guys,
I’m currently having a little dilema and wondered if you could give me your prespective on what would be best?

I’m taking a year out of my study for an internship, currently coming to the end of working for a big corporate company in Germany (i’m orginaly from the UK).
I’ve learnt alot here, but the catergory of design i am working on isnt so close to my heart and the past few months havent been as enjoyable and become predictable and slow in terms projects.

My orginal plan was to get a few more months experience in London at a studio (completely different experience) even though it would be low/no pay, before returning to my study for one more year.

Although now i’ve been asked to stay an extra few months in Germany, but they would hire me as a freelancer meaning i would get a higher wage.

I could stay here for a few more months, save the money for low paid internships in London after my graduation in a design studio, who i would much rather work for in the future…

Anyone had any similar experiences i could learn from?
Thoughts?

2

I took a placement year in an engineering environment and didn’t really enjoy it but it made me realise engineering based Product design wasnt for me. I finished it early and spent the summer working a part time bar job. I was skint most of that summer but it was one of the best summers of my life.

Do what you enjoy. London isn’t the be all and end all. Don’t go to London unless you really like it in London. As for unpaid or low paid internships, I wouldn’t bother unless its somewhere/something you’d REALLY enjoy or you may get something out of it long term. You’ll come out of uni with enough debt, why add more?

Spend time working on personal projects or better still, preparing for final year, you’ll need to hit the ground running even with a head-start to get that dissertation done.

Bottom line: do what you love, and the rest is easy(ish)

Out of interest, where are you from, and which uni are you at? what are your uni’s industry connections like?