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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   846 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 26, 2026

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I'd like this forums advice regarding the two current job opportunities I have:

  1. Network Engineer Internship: 17 an HR with benefits. 3-4 months. Recruiter says I have a 25-50% chance of a full time offer if they have a spot available and if I perform well!

  2. IT Support Engineer: Full Time, no benefits. 21 an hour. Basically another helpdesk job, Id accept it if there were benefits, but there arent any, so theres that.

Honestly, I feel that the Network Engineer internship is gonna look much better on the resume. I'll get the touch real equipment! And something tells me if I do well performance wise I can move up and stay permanently. But I'd like advice from other people who've been there. (Obviously, If a fulltime job with benefits pulls through, Ill take that ideally, but I'm playing the cards I've been dealt here.)

I'll caution that, without further detail, Network Engineer Intern is probably a lot of Cat5E pulling and crimping, and a lot less fighting with Cisco IOS, than it would sound like from the job description. That's better and more experience than it sounds - the difference between implementing spanning-tree on a lab environment and troubleshooting it on some wild unmanaged switches is night-and-day - but it can feel a little hazing-like from the inside view, and you'll want to keep up your more specialized skills.

It seems to me that internships with placement opportunities not only signal "I'm aiming for a higher job" but are also harder to get relative to full-time IT support type positions. So not only is the opportunity cost higher if you were to not go with the internship, but the signals align with what you likely want for your career. I'd go with the internship unless the finances don't allow it. Sure, it sucks to then go around and job-hunt a second time, but there's nothing stopping you from job-hunting a bit again especially towards the end of the internship (plus if you find another opportunity, it also inflates your value a bit if they want to bid to keep you).

Although where exactly you are education/career-wise might matter a bit. The one caveat here is how good the reputation of the internship company is. 17 seems pretty low, so I'd wonder if that stinginess extends to the rest of their org.

Just my 2 cents, gut reaction

nothing stopping you from job-hunting a bit again especially towards the end of the internship

And as an intern without an offer, you can openly jobhunt while employed, and even get help from with your jobhunt from your co-workers. You can't do that in a normal job.

Here is my resume for reference

I don’t currently work in IT but my family and a lot of people I know come from the infosec world. If I were you I’d take option A, network engineer intern. Do well, continue to network and try to gauge what a realistic offer from them would be if you make the cut. Hope you do well!

Recruiter says

In house or external? External Recruiters are frequently full of shit, they make their money by getting bodies into seats, that stay there. You getting a full time likely would get them a bonus. So of course they want to sell you (and themselves) on that possibility. They likely have no clue or decision-making power.

In house

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