My internship on the Khan Academy iOS team (opens in new tab)

(kasrak.com)

95 pointskasrak11y ago25 comments

25 comments

21 comments · 9 top-level

tunesmith11y ago· 5 in thread

Are internships still only for people still in college? That's what I always thought, but I read some articles recently that indicated some programmers with 15-20 years experience are going around and working "paid internships". (I don't really understand the difference between that and a plain old contract.)

internship11y ago

I went through a paid internship. In my case it was for a couple of reasons:

1) I was underqualified for the position that I applied for. So they offered the internship.

2) Since I did not have a lot of (work) experience I guess it was a gamble for them to employ me "just like that". So it could be seen also as an qualifications test maybe.

3) Visas are hard(ish) so not employing me made it, let's just say more legal. Paperworkswise I've been working as a freelancer for their branch in a different country.

andymatuschak11y ago

Anyone can apply for an internship; you can think of it as a paid, fixed-duration, apprentice-like position.

Fomite11y ago

Only sometimes is it paid, and indeed the rise of the unpaid internship "for experience" is something of a problem.

3 more replies

tunesmith11y ago

That's interesting, thanks. Khan academy has been on my crush list for a while, it's fun to consider taking a break from consulting work to apply for an internship...

benshyong11y ago

This is awesome! Great policy on internships

d314111y ago· 3 in thread

Nice write-up!

corysama11y ago

Please note that the HN community takes a rather strict approach when moderating comments that contribute noise to the conversation. "Nice article!" comments are routinely downvoted. As is sarcasm, witticisms, memes, references and other styles of comments that occur frequently but do not contribute to the discussion. It's a knowingly doomed attempt to hold back the flood of noise that covers Reddit. Welcome to Hacker News!

d314111y ago

My apologies, I'll keep that in mind for future posts/comments.

k-mcgrady11y ago

I think the most simple test before posting something is: "Does this contribute to the conversation?". If not, rethink it.

crm41611y ago· 2 in thread

Can't speak highly enough of the Khan Academy internship experience--I interned with Kasra last summer and it was a pretty incredible few months. From the team to the mission to the culture to the work itself, it's A+ all around. If you're looking for a software internship, I highly recommend applying.

(By the way: the Khan Academy iPad app actually shipped _today_. Congrats to everyone back at Khan HQ!)

andymatuschak11y ago

We're serious about intern mentorship: http://bjk5.com/post/23266999170/how-intern-mentorship-works...

If you're an iOS dev who wants to be mentored for a few months by a former UIKit author, hit me up. :) andy@khanacademy.org

avinassh11y ago

any chance you would consider mentoring remotely?

1 more reply

fnayr11y ago· 2 in thread

I tried playing the video of the scaling down video animation on safari on iOS and every time I closed the video it would immediately pop back up. I had to quit safari actually to get out of the loop.

kasrakOP11y ago

Ah sorry about that! Is that on an iPhone or iPad?

Edit: should be fixed now.

fnayr11y ago

Thanks, it is. (It was iPhone, I should have specified that).

noobermin11y ago

Looking at that made me think about us back in the brick-and-mortar version of Khan Academy, us in the university. Our analogous tools like mastering physics and webassign, while they have improved, pale in comparison to Khan Academy's up and coming tools.

jianshen11y ago

Wonderful write-up and I'm happy to see some details and work that didn't make it into production get some attention here. It's often those exercises that we discard that make us better at what we do.

Sounds like a stellar internship!

SeanDav11y ago

Does Khan Academy only support iOS and Apple? A quick search seems to indicate that they do not support Android.

neerajdotname211y ago

Where can I find the source code for the scratchpad work. I would like to take a look at it to understand it better since this could be an excellent addon to an educational app I am building for my kids.

serve_yay11y ago

These interactions look wonderful. Good on ya.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

25 comments

21 comments · 9 top-level

tunesmith11y ago· 5 in thread

internship11y ago

I went through a paid internship. In my case it was for a couple of reasons:

1) I was underqualified for the position that I applied for. So they offered the internship.

2) Since I did not have a lot of (work) experience I guess it was a gamble for them to employ me "just like that". So it could be seen also as an qualifications test maybe.

3) Visas are hard(ish) so not employing me made it, let's just say more legal. Paperworkswise I've been working as a freelancer for their branch in a different country.

andymatuschak11y ago

Anyone can apply for an internship; you can think of it as a paid, fixed-duration, apprentice-like position.

Fomite11y ago

Only sometimes is it paid, and indeed the rise of the unpaid internship "for experience" is something of a problem.

3 more replies

tunesmith11y ago

That's interesting, thanks. Khan academy has been on my crush list for a while, it's fun to consider taking a break from consulting work to apply for an internship...

benshyong11y ago

This is awesome! Great policy on internships

d314111y ago· 3 in thread

Nice write-up!

corysama11y ago

d314111y ago

My apologies, I'll keep that in mind for future posts/comments.

k-mcgrady11y ago

I think the most simple test before posting something is: "Does this contribute to the conversation?". If not, rethink it.

crm41611y ago· 2 in thread

(By the way: the Khan Academy iPad app actually shipped _today_. Congrats to everyone back at Khan HQ!)

andymatuschak11y ago