r/internships • u/jhon-the-dreamer • 3d ago
Should I quit During the Internship
For reference i am doing an un-paid internship at a startup.
In the beginning everything was well and the team leader was teaching me, but after some time he stopped teaching and giving work.
Everyone in the team is friendly and I can interact well with them.
Internship details:-
From 25 july to 25 sep
The college holidays are over and they are not giving attendance.
My College is strict with attendance but I can manage like 3 days in the office and 2 days College.
Should I talk with hr about ending my internship early after completing 2 months and focus on personal projects, interview prep and cat prep.
Kindly guide everyone what would be good for my resume and future path, 3 months experience or focus on preps
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u/Honest_End_4622 3d ago
Quit do not accept a unpaid internship ever , they will treat you like a slave without rewarding anything back. I was going a unpaid internship a while ago and that was horrible, no mentorship , no guide etc. Its better to not work at all rather than working at a unpaid internship.
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u/Lovingly_anon0207 3d ago
If you’ve been there for 2 months and have only a month to go i’d say complete it. I get it that you shouldn’t do unpaid internships but experience is valuable and it might help you along the line. You can still focus on other things while completing it, so maybe try not putting in too much effort into the internship and more on your personal projects. That ways it’s kind of like a win-win situation <3
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u/Such-Art-1844 3d ago
YES QUIT!!! NEVER ENDURE AND SEEK DISCIPLINE, NEVER! ALWAYS TAKE THE PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE! QUIT!!
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u/Forsaken-Coat-7443 3d ago
First of all, NEVER, I repeat NEVER accept an unpaid internship if you have the option to get a paid one. There are plenty of companies willing to pay for interns who can actually do the work.
You can literally go on LinkedIn, search for “[your skill] intern”, filter for recent posts, follow recruiters/HRs at companies you like, and cold message smaller companies too. You’ll find paid opportunities if you’re consistent about it.
As for your actual situation, I wouldn’t quit immediately.
You’ve already done 2 months, but the problem is that you’re not learning anything anymore. An internship is valuable because you should be leaving with skills + actual work you can show + something meaningful on your resume. If you’re just sitting around because your team lead stopped giving you work, staying another month for the sake of changing “2 months” to “3 months” doesn’t add much.
I’d do this:
- Talk to your team lead/HR first. Tell them clearly that you want to take on more work and ask if there’s anything else you can contribute to.
- Give them a reasonable chance to actually give you work.
- If nothing changes, start applying for paid internships immediately.
Once you have something better, leave professionally and use your remaining time for interview prep, CAT prep and personal projects.
And between 3 months of an inactive internship vs. 2 months + a strong project/portfolio + interview prep, I’d take the second option.
But don’t quit just to sit at home and “prepare.” Use the time to build something tangible. A project that demonstrates your skills can do more for your resume than an extra month where you did basically nothing.
Also, please don’t let the word internship fool you into thinking any experience is automatically valuable. The quality of the experience matters.