Should I take this co-op? (career related)

[noobman]

Hey all,

So I'm faced with a bit of a dilemma. I'm going on my last internship opportunity before graduation (next summer), and I have two choices.

I could go w/ RIM in Waterloo, Ontario as a Windows 7 Migration Developer. It sounds like they're getting ready to launch a location-wide upgrade to Win7 and need some helping hands to plan out and execute the upgrade. The skills they're looking for include VBScript (blah), O/S shell scripting, and working knowledge of Active Directory and Group Policies. It sounds interesting, but far too much like a desktop support type of role... though they may be looking for someone to leverage WMI using .NET

Alternatively, I could stay at my current posting as an IT Analyst w/ a bank. It involves migrating a department onto a new application. It involves a lot of SQL work and some work in ASP.NET (C#), and heavily involves learning business processes/requirements and mapping them to software. It's also supposedly a good company name to have on your resume.



My question is this: Does the RIM posting have any real benefits to someone interested in software development? Sure, it's a high-tech company that does a lot of software for its mobile phones, but I'm not getting exposure to that in this position.

The new company wants an answer from me very quickly, so some additional advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Shadowssong]

How far would you have to move for the new job?

 

[noobman]

~2hrs west of my current location, so I'd have to move to a new city for the 4 months. It shouldn't be hard to find a rental though, since a lot of university students will be leaving that city for the summer and will want to sublet.


That's not really an issue though. I'd be making quite a bit more there so the added expenses wouldn't hurt me, and I really have no qualms about moving (or discrepancies in salary) because I'm fairly young. Meaningful experience that will help me learn new things and refine my skillset is my #1 priority.

 

[william_fontaine]

I'd say it depends on what you want to do long term. If you're sure that you want to be a software dev, not a configuration and support admin, then the RIM position doesn't sound like it offers much benefit.

 

[jimmyb]

RIM usually offers a variety of internship positions, are you sure you couldn't find something there which is more software development related?

 

[noobman]

RIM usually offers a variety of internship positions, are you sure you couldn't find something there which is more software development related?

I applied to a bunch of software developer positions at RIM. They typically look for Java developers to work on applications (strength) or C++ developers for Operating Systems and other hardware-related development (weakness). They didn't seem too interested in my resume, despite my background in both Java and C++ Were this a job in development (or even project management in the development process) I wouldn't even need to make this thread~

I actually didn't apply to either position they offered to interview me for... they just pulled my resume out of their system and thought I might be a good match.

The first interview request I received from them was for Desktop Support... something I haven't done since 2007. I declined the interview, since it wasn't what I had in mind.

The second position (the one in question here) sounded very loosely defined in both the posting they sent me along w/ the interview request, and the interview itself... meaning that I could grab onto an aspect of the project I liked (scripting/automation, project management, etc) and try to get something out of it.

The impression I got from the interview is that they want a computer science/software engineering student to cover their bases, in case they find that they need that skillset. The technical questions they asked me were all support related (what to do in case of a BSOD, what to do if a user can't log in). What they really need, from a technical perspective, is someone that can learn how to use Windows Deployment Services, write scripts to support deployment as necessary, and manage group policies.

The more I think about it, the more it sounds like I won't be taking the offer. Of course, staying put isn't exactly ideal either... but it feels a little closer to where I'd like to be. I might have to get my relevant experience from the open source community.