Whats the consensus on paid internships? LAN/WAN engineer?

TheFORCE

A few days ago i applied for an internship with a company. today i received an email saying that i have been conditionally accepted
to begin the application process for the LAN/WAN Engineer internship.

Its a 1 year paid internship working for a Microsoft/Cisco consulting company in my area. It will involve a 3 month LAN/WAN engineer prep camp. the camp is valued at $25.000 and it will be paid thru the internship and a percentage of my future income. I will be responsible for training materials, lab access and exam fees. Upon the completion i will be qualified for a position making a decent salary.

Now thats all about the email said, and it also has a form that i have to fill and send it back to them.

Since im new and i have no idea how these things work im posting here for some advice since there might be someone in here that knows about these opportunities. or has actually done or involved with something like this before. is it worth it? will i benefit from this, keep in mind that i havent worked much in the field so i might actually learn a lot.

int80h

TheFORCE wrote:

the camp is valued at $25.000 and it will be paid thru the internship and a percentage of my future income.

These are scams.

TheFORCE

So basically this is just one of those training programs that you pay to learn stuff and then they send you to take the exams and then they try to find you a job?

It did sound too good to be true and very fishy. thanks for your reply. Im new to the field and its kinda hard to distinguish a job offer from a scam job offer.

mikej412

TheFORCE wrote:

A few days ago i applied for an internship with a company. today i received an email saying that i have been conditionally accepted to begin the application process for the LAN/WAN Engineer internship.

Did you pay an application fee? If you did, that's probably how they make most of their money.

Probably conditional on your check clearing the bank.... and having thousands of $$$ for "training materials" (a.k.a. Brain ****).

TheFORCE wrote:

Its a 1 year paid internship working for a Microsoft/Cisco consulting company in my area.

Is that guaranteed in any contract any place? Do they pay you if they don't place you? I'm guessing no.

TheFORCE wrote:

It will involve a 3 month LAN/WAN engineer prep camp. the camp is valued at $25.000 and it will be paid thru the internship and a percentage of my future income.

If they don't place you in an internship and you find a job at McDonalds, they get a % of that, right?

Maybe they do have a lab with $25,000 dollars worth of equipment -- and that does make their "STORY" (a.k.a. FAIERY TALE) sound more believable.

TheFORCE wrote:

I will be responsible for training materials, lab access and exam fees. Upon the completion i will be qualified for a position making a decent salary.

How many Thousands of $$$$ are those materials and lab access? Are the training materials brain **** (which won't qualify for any position). Do they have any references from people who aren't employess pretending to be former students? Do they have any references from former students who's internship isn't telling "fresh meat" how great the camp was?

TheFORCE wrote:

Now thats all about the email said, and it also has a form that i have to fill and send it back to them.

Is this where you have to send them the "Application Fee?" If so -- RUN -- its a braindump bootcamp scam!!! Otherwise, kiss your application fee goodbye and RUN -- its a braindump bootcamp scam!!!

TheFORCE wrote:

Since im new and i have no idea how these things work

It probably don't work great for you.... but if they can convince you to pop for those "training ****" it works great for them.

TheFORCE wrote:

im posting here for some advice since there might be someone in here that knows about these opportunities. or has actually done or involved with something like this before. is it worth it?

NO save your money and go to a Community College and actually learn something (if you can't motivate for self-study).

TheFORCE wrote:

will i benefit from this,

NO

TheFORCE wrote:

keep in mind that i havent worked much in the field so i might actually learn a lot.

Not likely -- hopefully you learned a lot by reading this, and saved several thousand $$$.

I'd have to agree with int80h.... (quoted here so you don't have scroll back up)

int80h wrote:

These are scams.

TheFORCE

hehehe thanks for your indepth reply mikej412. i need 2 more courses to get my degree in computer science but since this semster i cant take those courses im looking to get some experience in the field. i guess i will have to manage something on my own for the rest of the exams like i did for A+, and try looking for a job.

keenon

i think you should RSVP on hell no to this company..

i was approached about this same type of deal.. after probing them a for while it seemed kinda "off" to me

at best they offered 2 certs " o you can get ccna and msce" my reply was i don't want any microsoft certs .. then they mentioned comptia certs
and blah, blah, blah.. most certs you want involve dedicating some time, spending less than $100.00 to $1000.00 depending on the depeth you want.

Webmaster

TheFORCE wrote:

It did sound too good to be true and very fishy. thanks for your reply. Im new to the field and its kinda hard to distinguish a job offer from a scam job offer.

Fortunately these type of scams quickly become like the paypal and ebay fishing attempts - even without the quacking it's still obviously a duck. I.o.w. if it sound too good to be true or even a bit fishy, your built-in scam alarm should go off