The world of Information and Technology has evolved over the years and the need for qualified human resource to keep up with this has also increased day by day. Nepal is also trying to keep up with this fast-paced growth. However, there are more vacant technology jobs in the market than ever before.
The primary assets to fill these vacant posts are fresh college graduates, who still have to complete their internship before passing out. And this is where the difficulty begins.
Observations on Internship program in Nepal:
1) Limited internship programs
Although IT companies in Nepal are springing up every year, most of them don’t have any internship programs. A maximum portion of these companies are small startups and don’t have the time & resource to teach the newbies.
And, a portion of them would rather prefer hiring people who have a bit of experience, so that they are billable. Obviously, because everyone has their bills to pay.
2) Limited seats and tough competition
On the other hand, there are those companies who do have internship programs but can only take in a limited number of students at a time. Few seats and high supply, in turn, results in a very tough competition which a normal 7th semester student will have a hard time getting through.
3) Students not ready for the real world
Most of the times the students themselves are found not taking anything seriously and end up wasting the one chance they get. In some cases, it’s not their fault either. Our academic course is so outdated that we are not teaching students what they actually need to know. We are not pushing our students to explore beyond what they are taught in school/colleges.
4) Companies closing their internship program
There are companies who used to take interns in the past but have stopped doing so because they are fed up with either their interns leaving for better opportunities once they are qualified, or they show no progress at all. After all the company expects output for the valuable time and resource they invested in.
5) Lack of a proper listing portal
Last but not least, we lack a proper listing portal similar to what we have for jobs. It would be such a relief if one could easily search for all the existing internship programs that are actually out there. However, I can understand how such portals can even stay alive without a clear revenue source.
With all this said, I believe that this will also change with time. There may not be a proper solution now, but with time, I hope more IT companies will improve this overall process and create a sustainable ecosystem.
Internship at Leapfrog
Leapfrog is a company built by interns. More than 60% of Leapfroggers come from our Internship program. We take interns 3 – 5 times a year. Our paid internship program is more like a bootcamp; within 6 weeks, we strengthen the core logic in design and programming to nurture problem-solving skills. Interns also learn the industry-standard workflow and skills of dealing with clients.
You can find more about our internship program here.
Read more about our internship projects.
About the Author
Saroj Shahi is a Sr. UI/UX Designer at Leapfrog Technology. He is a music, design and photography enthusiast and a creative arts fanatic.
About leapfrog
Leapfrog is a full-stack technology services company that specializes in SaaS products, Web and Mobile Applications, and AI.
Our world-class teams have capabilities such as product design ( UI and UX), Front End and Back End Engineering, DevOps Engineering, Product Management, Data Engineering, and Machine Learning.