This week we’re going to start the process of looking for an internship which befits your BIG GOAL. But instead of diving right into resumes, letters of inquiry, identifying business, etc. – we’re first going to look for “future peers.” Individuals that are a in places and positions of work, early in their career that in a role which could help on the pathway toward the BIG GOAL. These people are in jobs that appear to be a way to “get in and get started.” They not necessarily grand jobs, usually assistant and/or junior in role, but part of a team in a workplace that creates the kinds of work you envision in your BIG GOAL.

So let’s find some actual digital presences of “future peers.” They must be a number of them online somewhere right? A LinkdIn profile, a personal website, an Instagram account with more links to other profiles, etc. What are the actual titles of the jobs they’re doing now, done in the past, or even internships prior?

Research and Document

So the task is to find a “future peer” and their profile at least one, better two or more that is working in a role that is appealing to you. How do you find these people? General Google searches are probably not going to do it. You need to be more specific. Here are some examples:

• Look at the TV credits of a show or series of interest. Find the names of production assistants and associate producers. These people tend to be earlier in their careers. Google their name with the name of the show.
• Identify graduate schools which have masters programs in areas of interest. Look for sites that list current MFA students or recent alumni. Google their names and the program they’re working in.
• Look at various Tech Meetups in meetup.com. See what profile information exists for people that have attended meetups. There’s even a CUNY Tech Meetup.
• Find design firms / production companies that have credits for junior developers and/or assistants. Again Google names and organizations.
• Look at companies advertising remote jobs in the tech industry, look for ones that ask for HTML and JS skills.
• Use Linkedin to find individuals in particular junior roles at various companies. If you don’t have an account, you might need to create one. Search within the platform, but also Google names and organizations.

Document what you find:

• Site(s) where the person hosts their profile(s)
• A person’s name, their job title, and the skills required for the job.
• Find examples of the work that individual is currently working on, or has completed in the past.
• Describe how that piece of work is presented. Is it just a line in a resume (like a production credit) or are there artifacts (images, video, titles, descriptions, links to sites and or code, etc…)
• What is an example of a piece of work you’ve completed and/or should complete and how should it be preseented? Why should it be done and presented in the way you’ve described?

Peer Report

We’ll follow the usual peer reporting pattern and share our findings with one another.