An Internship Quandry

[EpsiIon]

So I was just offered a software development internship at the local office of a large software company. The pay isn't wonderful (my fault: I think I ignorantly lowballed them), but I think the experience will be very valuable and a few $/hr isn't going to make or break me financially. Basically, I want to take this.

Now here's the quandry: I have an appointment for an interview for a slightly-different internship lined up for Friday. The pay there will likely be better, but I really don't think the experience will be incredibly valuable (compared to the first internship). I think I'm going to accept the first position today.

So here's the question: Should I still interview simply for the experience? Or should I call the second company and inform them of my decision? It doesn't really seem fair to lead them on, especially if they need to find somebody else. But at the same time, there's been an initial investment of time and energy and it seems almost rude to nullify that. Advice from the professionals?

 

[HyTekJosh]

Networking and experience is almost everything. Go with the offer that will provide those two items.

 

Do the interview. It never hurts to get some more interview experience under your belt.

 

[FoBoT]

i would go ahead with the 2nd interview, it is good experience, and you never know, maybe they will love you so much they offer you a VP spot or something incredible

 

[rgwalt]

Do you have to give the 1st company an answer before the interview with the 2nd company? If not, then go through with the 2nd interview. No matter how convinced you are, the interview will be good experience, and you might be surprised at what they have to offer.

If you have to tell company 1 before the interview with company 2, then I would call company 2 and inform them of the situation and see if they would want to move the interview up. If not, then decline the interview.

R