Quick background: I'm persuing my degree in Computer Science and transferring credits to Virginia (moved here fairly recently).

I am currently 26 and looking for internships at a Lockheed branch right near me while going to school.

Is this considered a late age for applying for internships?

My father is suggesting at this point, with no degree yet, to try and find entry level positions for smaller companies and take a temporary leave of school. Which in my mind makes absolutely no sense.

I would assume at 26 I could use my age as an advantage towards scoring a decent internship at a more profound company such as Lockheed Martin.

Also, I would like to know how did you go about handling school AND work? I have to work full time and I learned real quick that working full time and going to school full time is so hard and my poor grades did not reflect my capabilities as a student.

The easy solution is to just goto school part time then...ok, I could do that but I really don't want to. Assuming that I cut my credits per semester in half, that would change my 2 years left of school into 4 years (apprx). And I refuse to be 30 when I obtain my degree.

Please share serious suggestions and/or personal experiences in relations to this matter. Thank you in advance.

Quote: Original post by isometrixk

Also, I would like to know how did you go about handling school AND work? I have to work full time and I learned real quick that working full time and going to school full time is so hard and my poor grades did not reflect my capabilities as a student.

Please share serious suggestions and/or personal experiences in relations to this matter. Thank you in advance.

Your mileage might very, but I agree with you here. There are a lot of reasons to this. Sometimes it goes fine, sometimes it went south. Sometimes if your manager have a diploma and you start studying part time for a degree, suddenly your workload will double while getting the same pay. if when asked on why you further for a degree, and you answered "it's the path to go for a master degree", then your workload will triple, yet for the same pay.

it is a sad story to see one of your co-worker who studying for a degree to drop out of study for that reason. however, from what i heard, there is a guy who decided to drop from that company instead. oh well, to each of it's own i guess.

Personally, I stumbled into an internship after my first year of college. The first year was easy, because the internship only lasted for the summer and I wasn't planning on taking summer classes anyways. Starting with the second year, the internship started in the summer but lasted until I got hired at the company (after graduating several years later). They were rather understanding to start with, but I had to also convince them to lower their requirements further so I could work only a few hours a week while also taking a low-to-moderate class load. It took me 6.5 years to get my baccalaureate, but I graduated debt free and gained a ton of "Experience" (mostly just the kind you can put on resumes, but also a bit of the kind that aids and improves learning).

Everyone handles things differently of course, but I worked at the school, which worked out really well for me with balancing work and school. Didn't pay much, but that's not really important, you're supposed to be broke in college.

I wouldn't think 26 is too old for an internship. Lockheed has summer internships, so if you're not going year round check into that.

Or just finish your degree then get a job, although you probably won't start with as high of pay, maybe. I went all through grad school and never had any 'real' work experience, and I didn't have any trouble finding a job when I was done. That said I always kinda wished I did get an internship during school.

Good luck.

Thank you for the replies. I'm very nervous planning all this out. The internship would be my job more or less, it will have to pay me through the rest of my college. Rent and bills alone would be in the uppers $1300/mo. here in Fairfax or DC.

I'm expanding my search and blending what my father is suggesting to what I want to do. So I'm looking at entry level positions with low requirements and see what happens and plan on going to school part time for now.

Thanks again.

I had an internship at General Dynamics... I think this means we are enemies.

I work at a company that works with other companies like Lockheed, General Dynamics, Boeing, etc. In my opinion you have two choices. Try to get a job now and go to school part time once you've settled in. Many places will pay for your classes (at least if you're going for a Masters degree; I'm not so sure about a Bachelors). That way you start getting real-world experience and you can still get your degree though it may take a few more years. Your other option is to just focus 100% on school. If you're only a year or two away from graduating, take out some loans. Work if you can, but don't let work affect your schooling. Whatever you do, don't try to do both work and school with the expecations of doing both full time.

My personal choice would be to finish school first. Get your degree. Saying to a perspective employer "I'm working on my degree" doesn't make much of a good impression. And if/once you get a job, the chances of later completing your degree goes down. You just won't have as much time/energy/motivation to do it as you do now and in the long run it'll be better to have the degree.

Quote: Original post by isometrixk
Quick background: I'm persuing my degree in Computer Science and transferring credits to Virginia (moved here fairly recently).

I am currently 26 and looking for internships at a Lockheed branch right near me while going to school.

Is this considered a late age for applying for internships?

My father is suggesting at this point, with no degree yet, to try and find entry level positions for smaller companies and take a temporary leave of school. Which in my mind makes absolutely no sense.

I would assume at 26 I could use my age as an advantage towards scoring a decent internship at a more profound company such as Lockheed Martin.

Also, I would like to know how did you go about handling school AND work? I have to work full time and I learned real quick that working full time and going to school full time is so hard and my poor grades did not reflect my capabilities as a student.

The easy solution is to just goto school part time then...ok, I could do that but I really don't want to. Assuming that I cut my credits per semester in half, that would change my 2 years left of school into 4 years (apprx). And I refuse to be 30 when I obtain my degree.

Please share serious suggestions and/or personal experiences in relations to this matter. Thank you in advance.

I went back to school at a pretty late age (25) to get a second degree, and here are some of my experiences:

Lockheed was actually a company that a lot of people went to from my school (lockheed, ernst & young, and Merrill Lynch were the three biggies).

I interned at Merrill the summer before year before I would have graduated, and made the same amount as people made as a starting salary. They kept me onboard as a part time employee until I graduated, after which I had an offer for full time. My age didn't negatively affect me in any way, if anything it helped. (plus it's not like you are THAT much older than your peers. Most people didn't know I was older than them until I told them.)

At Merrill I got 60k/year as an intern/part time (pro-rated of course), and a bonus. (i think the bonus was a couple thousand). It's probably more now. I'm pretty sure Lockheed should be comparable.

Conclusion: Go for it! You can make 13k or more over the summer, and if you can do a good time and negotiate to stay on part time or continue interning over the school year, you'll be flush with cash. I managed to sock away most of what I made and buy an engagement ring that summer! :)

Quote: Original post by ktuluorion
Conclusion: Go for it! You can make 13k or more over the summer, and if you can do a good time and negotiate to stay on part time or continue interning over the school year, you'll be flush with cash. I managed to sock away most of what I made and buy an engagement ring that summer! :)

Some great advice, thanks for sharing! I did talk to a student before that just worked over the Summer & continued throughout the year part-time. I would love to get my hands on something like that!

As an update, I have some great news & planning:
_I just had a meeting with my boss, and I should be receiving two promotions soon each with a reasonable raises (second promotion to salary pay). Although not exactly the pay compared to software engineering, it should solve most of my financial planning.

_However!...I will still keep my eyes out for internship opportunities - if I get paid more & works well with my school schedule.

_I plan to live off campus but find & live with roomates. Not particularly excited about this but it saves me money and could be the factor that allows me to be able to only work part-time during school.

_Depending on how much I save until Fall '11, will determine if I need to continue to work FullTime or PartTime.

I might sleep well tonight n_n. Still so much planning, but this is good n_n.