Summer Interns
We have two interns who will be continuing on with us through the summer, and likely into their next 3-4 years at Texas Tech. Hopefully, they'll be staying at Texas Tech.They are both diligent workers, and produce a fair amount of product (though, I can always hope for more), and each one has slowly (or very quickly) worked their way up through the frameworks we have in place -- and, in some cases, added to them. I have been pondering a few options to rewards them.
First, tuition reimbursement. Since both of them are wrapping up their senior year in high school, and will soon be attending college, they may be wanting some sort of tuition help. One of the guys has a complete ride, if he wants it. The other has about 50% paid through a Presidential Scholarship. Way TO GO! The issue I have with tuition reimbursement is that I personally don't have a degree, and don't see a whole lot of value in it in this particular industry. Certainly, a degree from MIT, Harvard, Georgia Tech, Berkeley might be different. However, there's not a lot at TTU that can't be learned on ones own, if they're dedicated. And my guys are.
So, what's the advantage of paying their tuition? They stay around -- which is great. They like me. Even better. They continue to work here. That's good. Perhaps speeding their exit out of school.
What are the disadvantages? More out-of-cash money for me. Bad. They exit school faster (and who knows what they'll want to do then?!?!).
Do I need the advantages to retain the employees? Likely not.
Second, a laptop. They have both asked for laptops this summer. Now, if we were big on working on customers' websites, or running around and showing off prototypes, I'd be all for it. I know they COULD work more with a laptop. I know it makes remote developing easier. The question is, WOULD they work more with a laptop. For that, I have no answer.
I'd want them to have a fast, dual-core laptop. They'd need both linux and Windows (VMWare), and probably at least 60GB of hard drive space. A crisp screen. Wireless and wired networking, and a DVD drive. Decent battery life. And insurance. [Neither of them can pay for a new laptop if they drop it!] Probably around $1600 for a good machine.
Now, I wonder what type of ROI I could see on that. They'd have to work quite a few hours, on their own, to make it worthwhile. I'm about 50% convinced that they would. But I'm not convinced just yet.
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