What 'The Internship' Got Right About My Internship

Fictional Googliness vs Real Dellisms

The Internship starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson got 33% on Rotten Tomatoes, but I'd give it a 3/5 when it comes to depicting what it's like to have an internship in a large tech company. I got the funny idea that some interns should watch The Internship together and I walked away with a few friends and talking points.

3 Points:

• Don't be intimidated. The movie did a great job making the antagonist a huge prick. He strategically creates a team of beautiful people and 'useful' people, which are supposedly separate, and he's a bully the entire time, but the revenge is sweet at the end. 
  
  Although that kind of character is great for movies, you won't find him in the collaborative spirit here at Dell. For the first few weeks, I sat near interns from great schools like UT Austin, University of Michigan, Boston College and Rutgers. Then two new interns from Northwestern joined us. 'Regular' people might say, "Oh cool! New interns!" On the other hand, business school folks say, "Oh wow! New interns from a Top 5 business school? They must be really smart!" Yes, they are smart, but that doesn't take anything away from you or me. We both got internships at Dell that will hopefully lead to promising careers. Collaboration is hindered by being intimidated, which is not Dell-y. 

• You can always help someone. A current Google employee helps the 'Nooglers' with their internship challenges, but Vince and Owen help him with his own personal challenge. Classic geek-gets-the-girl story. 
  
  This internship is a great opportunity to learn about the company, industry, role etc., but don't forget that you're also able to make an impact on your team beyond your project. After going to a few fitness classes with a coworker, she told me she enjoyed having a buddy go with her because it motivates her. Or, maybe your seemingly insignificant discussion about your trip to England could help someone who later has to answer a question about England to win trivia night. Seriously. You never know how you can help someone, but always be open to it. 

• Play to your strengths and work on weaknesses. The point of the movie is that two 'obsolete' salesmen restart their careers in something new. The turning point for Vince is when he realizes he can't just use his strengths, but he actually has to work on his weakness to help his team. 
  
  My strength is I can talk, that's why I'm in marketing. But in my old job, project management (or at least the proof of project management) was my weakness. I couldn't just tell my boss I did a good job managing the project, I had to prove it. So, before starting my internship at Dell, I took a project management class. It kicked my butt, but I started this job feeling more prepared and it has definitely paid off. When a few interns felt unorganized, I shared a few tips I learned from the class and I can see that it helped them. Working on your weakness could help others. 

2 Missed Opportunities:

• It's not the Hunger Games. The movie made it seem like everyone is out to get each other, but even previous Google interns said that isn't the case. Same goes with Dell. You're not competing against each other. In fact, I was surprised when everybody introduced themselves at the Marketing Onboarding session and no one had the same job. You're only competing against yourself. 
• Mentors want to help you. Sergey Brin, one of Google's co-founders, made two quick cameos in the movie, but how cool would it have been if he had actually said something profound? One of the great aspects of my internship is the opportunity to have 1x1s with people from various roles. Maybe not Mr. Dell, but we get to talk to managers, executive directors, and even chief officers who all really want to help us get the most out of our 11 weeks here. 

The Internship was obviously a cheap laugh and not the long-awaited followup to The Wedding Crashers, but I thought it was $7.50 well spent. #DellInterns13