Review: Studios92 & Internship-UK Webdevelopment internship | thumbs down
Looking back: Web development static versus dynamic - ASP or PHP
I was quite motivated to start because of what they wrote on their website. The amazing things I would learn. Although they were quite vague on the phone and in the email about what I would be doing there exactly.
The idea I got was optimizing gift-tours or studios92. Or working for studio-solution.com. The impression I had of the latter was that outside companies were actual customers. Soon I learned that all the 100+ sites they have with studio-solution.com are their own. No actual customer with specific desires that lead to meetings, designs and programming.
Static websites?
I wondered why their websites are all HTML (with only a few exceptions). It may seem a very quick solution on the short term, but it is an extremely expensive and clumsy on the long run. When walking through the office all I see are screens with Quanta Plus (Linux editor). All marketing interns are modifying the content in the files itself (in between the HTML and bits of JavaScript code)..!!
Let me quote internship-uk.com:
“By creating modern websites and efficient software modules, you will acquire practical skills in different programming languages. During your internship you will be able to develop all your IT skills relating to web development…”
If I really was creating modern websites and software, the marketing team wouldn’t have to edit content offline, upload it and then re-create sitemaps every time they make changes to a page.
Their few dynamic sites
Their portfolio consists of few dynamic websites only. Very dynamic sites of procedural coding only. A few ASP site generate HTML pages. It is not something new to me but at least something a bit more interesting when dealing with heavy traffic. Unfortunately they never mentioned this technique by the right name, FAIL! Instead all I heard them ramble about static pages being faster. Which is true but so are dynamic pages?!? The very valid reason I heard is when de db connection is gone.
My first ASP project was changing and adding new functionality to aankom.com, a free classified ads site. Some procedural coding here and there, nothing fancy for a passionate web developer.
I find ASP not being the most optimal language to create websites. I missed a site like PHP.net with all documentation. I am not sure if there is such a site for ASP. No one told there is such a resource available and www.asp.net was slow to load (because the studios92 internet connection is f*cking slow all the time).
Use PHP: NO! … Use mod_rewrite: NO!
When I suggested to use PHP to create dynamic sites, where you can easily apply SEO techniques as well, their reply was something like: The reason why we use static websites is that when there is no database connection the site is still online (true), it is hard to apply SEO techniques with dynamic sites (false), and the best one: Google doesn’t index dynamic site! (laughing my ass off!!) For this my friend, there is a solution, which I suggested as well: mod_rewrite. But they rejected both dynamic websites and mod_rewrite HARD!
As you can see I was already confronted with a few things in the first weeks. New things are great but it felt like being brainwashed about the way of doing web development things. I felt I could teach them a few things related to web development as well, they won’t listen and always had excuses (which weren’t always valid). You can understand that I was quite angry as I have to take the things as it is: what they say is true… I am just a clueless intern.
…and a week later, PHP-related project: launch 6 dynamic sites using Dolphin Boonex Community Script and use of mod_rewrite! Install the script, modify little bits and you are done..now, that is the art of true web development! 
(no wonder the boss says it is hard fro IT web developers to find a real job in the real world)
Honestly, if web development in real life is how it is with studios92, then it is a huge turn off for me! I will pack my backs and never do any coding every again… (just kidding.. they are clueless, I feel sorry for them).
Don’t create! Copy and Paste!
The boss wanted copied/pasted code. I have no trouble doing so, that is perfectly oke and legal if done the right way. It is easy for me to do so to make it work with a current site. But I wasn’t here to learn to copy/paste code only. Therefore I avoided copy and pasting code as much as possible.
Looking back: SEO tactics
The very first thing I learned were their SEO skills. I won’t get into much detail of it. Some of their SEO techniques are correct. And there were some techniques that are totally wrong in so many ways, amazing really. I explained why but was not able to convince, even not with proof.
SEO is difficult to apply
I was told that it is difficult to apply SEO when creating a website. I was surprised and puzzled. In my experience, a part of web development is about creating websites best as possible and take into account how customers or marketing can apply SEO techniques without much effort. Once you know the techniques it is easy to implement.
Probably the reason WHY it is difficult for them to apply SEO is because of their HUGE amount of static websites where everyone is editing text using a text editor. They have 100+ websites of their own. Can you imagine all these websites are updated using text editors. People are writing text in between the HTML.
Looking back: the promise by their website and the reality
I wanted to become an IT web developer with studios92 because of their info provided on the site. Looking back and analysing the promise of their website and the real life, I came to the following conclusion:
“By creating modern websites and efficient software modules, you will acquire practical skills in different programming languages. During your internship you will be able to develop all your IT skills relating to web development…”
The above sound very professional! Internship-uk and studios92 do not have modern websites. They don’t create software modules. They want us to copy and paste code everywhere because that is safe and less time consuming. Come on guys, I am not here to copy and paste code. I prefer to actually create software modules and learn how to make them ready and safe for production. Instead of blindly copy and paste!
“Developing web platforms for on-line communication systems will turn you into a flexible specialist in software engineering, web development and web marketing. As a logical thinker who can recognize structures fast and implement the most common algorithms efficiently, you will be suitable and ready to make the difference on the job market.”
Developing web platforms for online communicating systems and software engineering, sounds very professional as well! That means I don’t have to regret that I did not read Informatics Engineering at the university, I can learn it here! … ok, are they even aware that they mentioned this on the site?
Honestly, what kind of structures and algorithms do you need when you are writing little parts of procedural ASP code and copy paste much for small sites?
The only difference I could make in the job market after this is how to code using ASP, how to copy and paste and what a drag it is to use unprofessional tools. Guys, come on. I know how to write procedural code with ASP and PHP. I want the professional stuff! What you promise on your site!
“Benefits of an internship in Web Development
* Gain profound knowledge of program languages,
* improve your IT skills in web development,
* improve your management skills,
…
* cope with the most strict deadlines..”
I am not sure if I can improve my management skills in an environment where the manager is always right. That is no realistic situation. A real manager (and boss btw) learns how to deal with people and feels how to best approach every individual. Motivate them and get the best out of them. Not creating a situation where the boss or manager is always right.. creating an environment in which the interns are ass-kissing and always Yes nodders (while they actually mean No)..
But it was a nice power trip though .. telling others what to do without any resistance :p
Profound….profound? Where is the expert? … there is none, so no comment!
Strict deadlines, that is for sure.
“Furthermore we require knowledge and experience in following aspects:
* Basic knowledge in web development,
* knowledge of e-commerce and web design,
* profound knowledge of scripting languages such as PHP, ASP and JavaScript,
* be familiar with database design and SQL.”
They have no idea of programming using PHP, ASP and JavaScript and what is current in the web development world. There is no expert there who knows how to program with these languages and no one who is and keeps up to date with the latest technologies.
Companies usually have these experts and students will learn from them..at least that is what I expect from my intern company.
The internship-uk website for IT development has good content, if only it was the truth.
Looking back: Spending time on school internship reports
There was no time during the working hours for me to write different reports for school about my experiences as leading the IT team and my experiences as ASP coder. Working 7 days a week and sometimes more than 8 hours a day make it difficult to find time to do it.
I for example have to write what I did for certain competences to prove my skills. But there was simply no time for it because all I did was work work work! The moment I found time to write, I actually had no activities to write about that is within the level of my University.
Some interns lie about their activities here. If their University finds out, they have to return. They don’t want to return because they don’t get any money back!
I told my University how this company works and about my activities. I prefer to go back than staying. They agreed that I had to leave internship-uk to find a good company in London: Thank GOD… (no I don’t believe in God). After I received the approval of my University, I told the boss and left the building the very next day!
More readings:
Boss threatens to fire interns because of my post
I had to take down this post for a while because the boss read about it and threatened to fire a few interns I had contact with. Now they have finished their internship I put this post back online and split into different posts:
- Review: My experience with internship at Studios92 (Internship-UK)
- Review: Looking back to Studios92 and internship-UK.com
- Review: Studios92 & Internship-UK Webdevelopment internship | thumbs down
If studios92 was hell and/or disappointing for you too…
If you are one of the interns or ex-interns, please comment below or send me a message with your feedback, experience or your story. Your message will be displayed in this post and your name/email whatever will never be revealed!
Comments that seem to come from studios92 because they are obligated to write positive are not being considered.
Recent Comments