I thought an internship would be the shortcut I needed

Getting my foot in the door without a plan

I remember sitting in my room, staring at the screen for hours, trying to figure out if I should apply for those corporate internship programs that kept popping up on my feeds. It felt like everyone around me was already securing spots at places like Samsung or jumping into these high-profile industry projects. I kept hearing this mantra that degrees were becoming secondary to ‘actual experience,’ which honestly just made me feel even more behind. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to be a BX designer or move into something tech-related, but the pressure to have a resume filled with ‘practical field experience’ was suffocating. I ended up applying for an internship program near my university because the tuition for the semester felt heavy, and the stipend—which was maybe around 1.5 million won a month—seemed like a decent way to justify spending my summer in an office rather than traveling.

The reality of industry-linked education

When I actually got into the program, it wasn’t the slick, professional environment I had imagined from the brochures. The local industry-linked curriculum was supposed to be this bridge between my textbook knowledge and real-world application, but a lot of the time, I was just doing basic administrative tasks. There was this one project where we were supposed to collaborate with a local semiconductor equipment company. I spent nearly three weeks just organizing files and sitting through meetings I barely understood. The senior employees were nice enough, but they were always so busy that I felt like a burden whenever I asked for actual design or technical work. I realized pretty quickly that these programs are often set up more to satisfy university requirements and government funding metrics than to actually teach a student how to handle a real, high-pressure project.

Missing the point of the certification grind

Part of my time there was also spent dealing with intellectual property training, which the organizers insisted was vital for my career. I spent about six hours a week in a windowless room listening to people talk about patents and legal frameworks. It felt incredibly disconnected from what I actually wanted to do, which was building stuff. I remember one of the other interns asked if this would help us land a job at a big tech firm, and the instructor gave this long, vague answer that didn’t really say ‘yes.’ It left me wondering if I was just checking boxes. I have a friend who went the Working Holiday route in Australia, working in cafes and saving up, and sometimes I think that might have been a more honest way to spend a few months rather than pretending to be a professional in a corporate lobby at 9 AM every day.

The gap between project and outcome

By the end of the eight-week stint, we had to present a final report on what we had learned. I cobbled together a presentation about the ‘application of AI tools in design processes,’ which sounded impressive enough, but deep down, I knew I hadn’t really used any of it in a meaningful way. The mentors nodded and gave me some polite feedback, but the whole experience felt like a performance. I still don’t know if having this on my resume actually makes me a better candidate for a real, full-time position or if it’s just another line item that recruiters scan past in two seconds. Some of the other students seemed genuinely excited, maybe because they had a clearer vision of their path, but for me, it just felt like I had traded my summer for a certificate and a bit of pocket money.

Still uncertain about the next step

Now that it’s over, I’m sitting here with a slightly updated LinkedIn profile and a feeling of lingering doubt. Is this what people mean when they talk about the ‘AI talent’ era? Is it just about having the right keywords on your resume and having done a few months of low-stakes office labor? I’m looking at job postings again, and the requirements are getting even more specific—demanding years of experience for entry-level roles. I don’t know if I should try for another internship or just try to find a junior role somewhere small where I might actually have to learn how to fix things when they break. The industry-academia cooperation thing sounds great on the news, but when you’re the one in the seat, it’s mostly just a lot of waiting and hoping that someone eventually notices you’re there.