π° state of top tech internship offers, 2016 #talkpay pic.twitter.com/Mkp5XWQyuE
β Rodney Folz (@rodneyfolz) April 26, 2016
The Bay Area is an expensive place to live β a fact which tech giants like Facebook, Pinterest, and LinkedIn appear to have factored into their search for top-tier summer interns, as landing an internship with one of these companies has long been understood to come with a hefty compensation package. Now, thanks to a survey conducted by an incoming Yelp intern, we have an understanding as to just how much students can expect to make spending their summers with some of the wealthiest companies around.
Conducted by Rodney Folz, and picked up by Bloomberg (and others), the survey results show a wide range of compensation. For example, according to his data, the median package offered by Pinterest is $9,000 per month cash, plus a $1,000 relocating bonus, and a $3,000 per month housing stipend. Square, on the other hand, reportedly has a median pay of $6,200 per month plus roughly $6,000 in assorted benefits.
Bloomberg calculated that for interns surveyed the median monthly base offer is $6,800, which comes out to $81,600 a year, before helpfully pointing out that the "national wage index is $46,481.52." Sigh.
Five hundred and three people responded to the survey, which was circulated online, and Bloomberg made an effort to confirm the numbers by reaching out directly to several of the companies. Twitch, which Folz's data suggests coughs out a median $7,400 per month plus over $10,000 in housing bonuses, confirmed the numbers.
This isn't the first time we've gotten a peek at the world of tech intern pay, with numbers coming out in 2014 revealing the premium tech companies were willing to pay for interns that could code. However, assuming the latest numbers are correct, Folz's data shows that in many cases those numbers have jumped even higher (interestingly, not for every company, though).
Part of the motivation behind the survey, explained Folz, was to give students a starting point for negotiations. βI think the idea of being courted like this, being paid so much, being offered so much responsibility at a new job doing real things, is really exciting, especially when it's never happened to you before,β Folz said. β[Students] donβt want to ruin it by trying to ask for more.β
As for the rest of the students out there, those not lucky enough to be courted by the hottest companies around? Well, Folz thinks there's value in the data for them as well.
more $ *should* go to nontech interns! use tech interns pay as example to negotiate up. interns of the world, unite!
β Rodney Folz (@rodneyfolz) April 30, 2016
And for everyone else? Well, just keep rooting for the bubble to burst.
Related: Here's How Much Tech Companies Are Paying Interns Who Can Code