The need for qualified people in IT keeps growing, and Nepal is trying to keep up. 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 Our academic course is so outdated that we are not teaching students what they actually need to know.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.
There may not be a proper solution now, but I believe this will change with time, and I hope more IT companies will improve how they run internships.
