I used to listen to a lot more music. In fact, my first website was music related (I won’t go into any more detail because it’s embarrassing). I guess I got a bad taste in my mouth from the shutdown of all of the file sharing websites. As new services have popped up that make it easy to listen to music for free, I’ve started to listen again. One of those services is Pandora, which uses The Music Genome Project to deliver users a radio station that is tailored to their individual tastes. It’s a simple idea, but a huge technical challenge. Not only does Oakland, CA based Pandora have to deliver different music to every user—and all at the same time—but they also have to be able to predict what kind of music you’re going to like based on songs that you tell them that you like. They do the hard part, and all you have to do is click a thumbs up or a thumbs down when they start playing a song for you.
Internships in California
Looking for more internships in California? Check out the most recent internship postings in California.
Below you'll find all of the companies that we've covered that may offer internships in California. You can also look at entry level jobs in California.
Auctions are huge online. You probably know all about eBay, but did you know that Google’s advertising platform (the one that makes them almost all of their money) is also run by an auction model? If you want to advertise on a specific keyword’s search results, you make a bid, and if your bid is the highest (with some kinks thrown in to ensure quality advertisers), then your ad gets shown. What’s really interesting is that our financial markets are also based on an auction system. This means that innovations in the financial markets can also have relevance to the online advertising markets. That’s what Sunnyvale, CA based Efficient Frontier has figured out and built their business on. Their “performance optimization platform harnesses the power of advanced modeling to optimize campaigns and forecast the impact of changing tactics.” Efficient Frontier handles over $900 million in search engine marketing spending for their clients every year, which makes them a world leader.
Believe it or not, I started thinking about retirement right after I graduated college. No, I didn’t win the lottery or have a big entrepreneurial success. I started investing and contributing to my IRA. It was a good way to stay productive and get ready to be an adult. If you start thinking about retirement in your early or mid 20s, you’re likely going to be in great shape 40 years down the line. Unfortunately, many people don’t plan that far ahead, so they end up needing help much later in life—and often they don’t have access to good advice once they realize that they need it. Financial Engines is trying to change that. It all started with Bill Sharpe, who won the 1990 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. By combining “Bill’s pioneering investment methodology with proprietary technology” Fiancial Engines is able “to provide all investors with cost-effective, expert advice and management—the kind previously available only to the world’s largest institutional investors.” Financial Engines, which is based in Palo Alto, CA with offices in Boston, MA and Phoenix, AZ, partners with both retirement plan providers and large employers to offer their services and change the way that people get retirement help.
When I came across an internship posting for Bling Nation, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I didn’t know if it would be something like Cash4Gold or an online store for pricey hip hop accessories, but it turns out that Bling Nation is something far more reasonable despite their flashy name. They’re a Palo Alto, CA based company that is building an alternate payment platform for in-store purchases. Instead of using cash or credit card, they want you to swipe a tag that is affixed to your mobile phone. It makes sense. Credit card purchases where you sign the receipt seem outdated, and merchants are getting fed up with the processing fees that they have to pay for credit card transactions. PayPal has been the de facto online payment standard for a long time (even though a lot of people hate them), but they do nothing for in-person purchases beyond offering a credit card that links to your account. It seems to me that it’s inevitable that our mobile phones will replace our wallets in the future, but I wonder whether a Bling Nation sticker on the back of the phone will be the way in which we do it.
Bling Bling
So Bling Nation has an odd name and an odd approach to alternate payment processing; however, they have something like $33 million in venture capital funding. Mobile payment platforms are going to be the future, and Bling Nation is positioning itself to be a player in that market. Interestingly enough, they’re building their platform by starting in tiny markets. Instead of attacking New York City or San Fracisco, they’re focusing on a couple of small towns in Colorado. People can get a Bling Nation account going through their local banks, and then they can use their accounts at local merchants who have been outfitted to accept Bling Nation payments. It’s the opposite of how most companies launch, but I like it—it’s an interesting marketing strategy. If you’re intrigued by it, you might want to check out internships at Bling Nation. Right now they’re looking for a Summer Marketing Intern. There’s no word on whether it’s paid or not, but you can apply here.
Links to Help You Begin Your Research
- BlingNation.com
- Internships at Bling Nation
- About Bling Nation
- Bling Nation’s Executive Team
- Bling Nation News
- Bling Nation’s Blog
Would you use Bling Nation?
Location. Location. Location. You know how important it is. Chances are that one of the major drivers in your internship search is location. It’s even more important for businesses, yet they rarely manage their locations as effectively as they manage everything else. There are all kinds of sophisticated software platforms to manage customer relationships, products, human resources, and plenty of other things, but what about managing the places where they do business? That’s what Accruent is all about. They’re a Santa Monica, CA based company that develops software to help businesses “analyze [their] real estate and facilities portfolios and implement actions to cut costs and drive performance improvements.” It may not sound like the most exciting stuff on the face of it, but when you realize that Accruent helps clients manage “over 1 billion square feet of commercial space, for which they pay over $100 billion in rent annually,” you start to realize how interesting what Accruent does actually is.
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Occasionally I’ll realize that I’ve covered a company on One Day, One Job, but that I haven’t let all of the current students know about the company’s internships. That’s the case with Eventbrite, a San Francisco based events management company. Odds are that you’ve used Eventbrite to register for some sort of event or even to put one on yourself. They make ticketing and registration stupid simple. Seriously, any idiot can put on an event with Eventbrite. If you’re putting on a free event, they’ll let you do everything for free. And if you’re charging for an event, Eventbrite will take a 2.5% cut. With over 14 million tickets sold to date, it’s quite clear that Eventbrite isn’t just some startup without a revenue model. They’re already generating revenue and delivering an awesome product experience.
Do you know what’s an awesome thing to do after you graduate? Travel. Do you know what isn’t an awesome thing to tell employers that you’ve been doing since you graduated? Traveling. Think about it from the interviewer’s perspective for a minute. You’ve been in a job for three years, and you just got a promotion. You’re interviewing new grads to fill your old job. You get 10 days of vacation a year (after another promotion you’ll get 15). You use 4 to visit your parents during the holidays. You have to take 3 days for various weddings throughout the year. You use one for a sick day, and that leaves you with 2 glorious days to actually do what you want. Now some spoiled brat is telling you about he or she spent three months on a beach in Thailand after graduation. This isn’t as big of a deal when you’re still in school and looking for internships, but keep this in mind for the future—getting hired is all about making people like you, and making them jealous isn’t helpful. Luckily, there are some employers who don’t have a problem with travel. Take NileGuide for example. They’re a San Francisco based startup (with a lot of funding) that “helps travelers discover and connect to the most satisfying and relevant travel experiences.”
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I still haven’t quite worked through all of the companies that I want to cover from the Fast Company World’s Most Innovative Companies list. It really is amazing how helpful magazine lists can be for finding internships. One company from the list that stuck out to me was Ammunition Group, which came in as the 5th most innovative design company. The reason that I’m so impressed with them is that they can claim Apple as a client. If Apple hires you to help with design, you’re doing something right. In addition to Apple, the San Francisco based product, interaction, and brand design firm has also worked to develop the Barnes and Noble Nook and some really interesting Lady Gaga headphones. Whether it’s designing products, identities, or interactions, Ammunition Group is one of the best at what they do.
When I was a little kid, I had an irrational fear of and fascination with crime. Maybe it was because I grew up an hour outside of New York City in the 1980s. Since then my fear has subsided despite the fact that I actually live in downtown Chicago, but my fascination has continued—I love reading research based articles and books on crime. I’m always amazed at how much research is done on criminals, but I guess it makes sense. There is a ton of data collected by the government on crime, and once criminals are incarcerated, they’re pretty easy to get a hold of for research purposes. The tough thing is that the sensational news always gets the attention. Local news stations don’t look to research to see what they should warn viewers about. They find the most shocking story and play it up as much as they can (this sounds similar to the problem Just Vision is facing with the Israeli-Palestinian peace process). National Council on Crime and Delinquency is an Oakland, CA based non-profit organization that “has been applying research to policy and practice in criminal justice, juvenile justice, and child welfare” since 1907. They’re trying to fight crime by taking a scientific approach, not by doing what’s publicly or politically popular.
You’d think that a company that was founded in 1998 and survived the Internet bust was started with a pretty solid idea, right? Or maybe they came up with a great idea that allowed them to adapt as the economy changed. It may be hard to judge the quality of the ideas that led to ON24, but there’s no doubt that the people behind the San Francisco based company have been persistent. According to Wikipedia they started as Newsource with a focus on being a “distribution center for Internet-based video press releases.” Then they pivoted in 1999 to become ON24, “an online financial news streaming media source.” Neither of those ideas seemed to work out, but the technology behind them seemed to be what kept the company alive. In 2003 it all finally came together as ON24 “introduced a web-based video publishing platform that enables users to self-produce live and on-demand webcasts.” The 3rd time was a charm, as that’s what ON24 continues to do to this day.
I was really tempted to cover a high frequency trading firm today after what happened yesterday (please, if you do anything today, take 15 minutes and read a couple of articles about yesterday’s events). I decided it against it, but if you are interested in HFT jobs, check out our post on Jump Trading. Instead of talking about financial markets, we’re going to stick with this week’s unintentional theme of science, kind of. AudienceScience is a Bellevue, WA based digital media company that focuses on taking a scientific approach to online marketing. Their approach puts an extremely strong emphasis on behavioral targeting and moving beyond a demographic approach to advertising.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve received e-mails from readers who say something like, “I’ve always loved (company name), but I never considered the fact that I could intern for them until I read your post about them.” The reason for this is simple: most students don’t have the right mindset or approach. If you’re looking for an internship, everything that you do should relate back to the search. If you find something interesting—a product, company, idea, or anything else—you need to make a note of it and revisit it when you’re at your computer. For example, today I came across an article on Cool Hunting about Guerrilla Seed Bombs. They’re basically little nuggets that you can toss, chuck, or drop in dirt to plant seeds and improve green spaces. It’s part of the “guerrilla gardening” movement, and I think it’s a really neat idea—Johnny Appleseed for the new millennium. One of the companies behind these seed bombs is Los Angeles, CA based Commonstudio. They appear to be a two person design firm, and they’ve developed their seed grenades to be dispensed in old gum ball machines and sold under the name Green Aid (get it… grenade).
Think that one company every day isn’t enough? Take a look at our archives. We’ve featured nearly 800 companies so far, and you can access our profiles on all of them.
Lately I’ve been getting a number of e-mails from concerned internship seekers (you can reach me at willy@onedayonejob.com). They seem to be worried about the “One Day, One Internship Effect.” In other words, they think that they have no chance at landing an internship with the companies we profile because the companies get flooded with résumés as soon as we post about them. First of all, that’s silly to worry about. Just apply and do your best and don’t worry about the competition. Second, as much as I’d like to be true, we’re not quite there yet. One Day, One Internship has thousands of readers every day, but most people don’t apply for most internships. I’m not going to give you the actual stats, but luckily there are tools that allow you to see how much traffic a given website gets. One of those is Quantcast, which is headquartered in San Francisco with another office in New York City. Their estimated data isn’t the best—they can’t even come up with an estimate for One Day, One Internship—but their data on larger sites and on sites that have agreed to share their numbers is insanely useful.
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Even if you get a full ride, college isn’t cheap. There’s a huge opportunity cost along with all kinds of hidden expenses that make higher education inaccessible to so many. When you consider that people with college degrees make nearly double the salary of those without degrees, you have to think that education after high school is pretty important (even though it’s pretty obvious that a big part of that statistic is driven by selection bias). The good news is that despite the continuously rising costs of college, the U.S. is at or near an all-time high in terms of the percentage of 25 year olds with a Bachelor’s degree. Still, there’s a long way to go, and that’s why The Institute for College Access & Success, which is based in Oakland, CA, exists. They aim to “make higher education more available and affordable for people of all backgrounds,” and they do this by “conducting and supporting nonpartisan research, analysis, and advocacy.”
Consultants are typically seen as hired mercenaries. Sometimes they get a bad rap, but at least they’re compensated well for it. I have to think that those who work at The Advisory Board Company have at least a somewhat better reputation since their company’s clients are all mission driven. What does mission driven mean? Well, most of The Advisory Board Company’s clients are in the healthcare industry (think hospitals and health systems, not insurance providers), but they’ve recently moved into working with universities too. I hadn’t heard of The Advisory Board Company until a One Day, One Job reader e-mailed me (you can reach me at willy@onedayonejob.com if you want to share a tip or success story) to tell me that he recently received a job offer from them. Apparently they do a ton of entry level hiring (along with some interns), and they’re continuing to grow well beyond the 5 employees that they started with in 1979. Since then they’ve grown to more than 1,000 employes, and they’ve served “more than 2,800 leading healthcare and higher education organizations.” Additionally, they’ve grown beyond their corporate headquarters in Washington, DC to having offices in Chicago, IL; San Francisco, CA; Austin, TX; Portland, OR; Nashville, TN; London, UK; and Chennai, India.
I swear that half of all college students want to work in sports and entertainment. Unfortunately most of the job and internship postings you’ll find in those industries are actually scam internships. Getting a position at a legitimate sports and entertainment company is not easy, but with AEG you have a shot. They call themselves “one of the leading sports and entertainment presenters in the world,” and although that sounds broad, it’s a good description. AEG operates in a number of business areas including Facilities, Sports (Teams and Events), Music (Events), and Merchandising. They own/control arenas like the STAPLES Center, Conseco Fieldhouse, and the Prudential Center, while also owning professional sports teams like the LA Kings and Los Angeles Galaxy (can you tell that AEG is based in Los Angeles?). They’ve also “promoted tours by artists including Britney Spears, Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, Christina Aguilera & Justin Timberlake, The Dixie Chicks, Yanni, Paul McCartney, Usher, Kanye West, Prince, Rod Stewart, Bon Jovi, Nickelback, and PopTarts Presents American Idol.” And that’s not even half of it. AEG is a major player in sports and entertainment, and a great place to start a career.
It’s Opening Day of the baseball season, and I’m thrilled that I’m looking at 6+ months of meaningful games for my favorite sport. Last night was disappointing in that the Yankees blew a solid lead in a sloppy game against the Red Sox, but even that can’t drown out my excitement about the hope brought by a new season. Along with a new season comes new technology. Television and online broadcasts are constantly getting better, and not just in quality. There are all kinds of new technological innovations that are making sports more fun to watch, and a lot of them are coming from Chicago based Sportvision. It all started with the FoxTrax “glowing” hockey puck (which was pretty much a miserable failure), but now we have things like the “virtual yellow 1st and Ten line™, KZone™ virtual strike zone, and the RACEf/x system on NASCAR broadcasts.” Each of these was created by Sportvision.
Not many of the companies on Fast Company’s list of “The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies” are non-profit, and not many non-profits generate over $1 billion in annual revenue, but MITRE fits both criteria. I know that many of you want to see fewer technical internships, but I’ve also noticed that most of the non-profit internships that we feature on weekends aren’t very technical. MITRE, which has headquarters in Bedford, MA and McLean, VA offers an exception. They are an “organization chartered to work in the public interest” through “expertise in systems engineering, information technology, operational concepts, and enterprise modernization.” They do this work through “four Federally Funded Research and Development Centers,” with one focused on the Department of Defense, one on the Federal Aviation Administration, one on the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, and one for the Department of Homeland Security.
I know how tough finding a great internship is, so I’m not going to pull a prank on you. It would just be mean to tell you about some awesome internships and then say that they don’t exist. Instead, I’m going to stick to what I’ve done for the last two April Fools’ Days and introduce you to some internships with a humorous side to them. Two years ago we took a look at Motley Fool, and last year it was College Humor. This year we’re going to check out The Second City, which is “the leading brand in improv-based sketch comedy.” They have theaters in Chicago and Toronto, along with Training Centers in those cities and Hollywood too. The Second City is also where famous comedians like Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, Harold Ramis (Ghostbusters!), Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey, Steve Carell, and Chris Farley cut their teeth. (My buddy Jason Seiden also did a little work at their Training Center.) It is the place for comedy, and it’s all located a mile up the street from where I live.
I don’t want to be a yuppie. I really don’t. I never intended to live in a city, and I still prefer the country. But my eating habits are about as yuppie as they get. I’m not a full fledged foodie quite yet, but I guess I’m on my way. I like going out to new restaurants, and I’ve been known to buy organic products. I’m not proud of it, but it’s something that I must come to terms with. A good way to start might be by using Foodzie. It’s a San Francisco based company/website where “you’ll find fabulous food and beverages made by small food companies.” It’s like Etsy, but for food. A variety of purveyors use Foodzie to sell their products—it may be Michigan Venison Company selling 1 lb of ground venison or Made to Crave selling Cinnamon Raisin Gluten Free Granola Bars. Foodzie is kind of like an online farmer’s market, but a really good one with everything that you can imagine, and you never need to leave your house.
Usually when you take a business and put it online, you make it better. Take the facebook for example. It used to be a book that was distributed to freshman with a headshot and a tiny profile of all of the other freshman. Now Facebook has taken that idea online and improved on it significantly. GrubHub is another example. Ordering food over the phone requires having menus, GrubHub gives you everything that you need. Even Amazon has made the process of buying books and pretty much everything else better. Yet the biggest name in online ticketing has done just the opposite. Waiting in a long line may be a pain in the butt and so is calling and getting a busy signal, but all of the extra fees and the terrible online interfaces make buying concert tickets online a huge hassle. Ticketfly is trying to change that. Right now they’re “a boutique alternative for clubs and smaller theaters” according to The New York Times, but the San Francisco based company (with a New York office too) hopes to have a much larger effect on the overall ticketing ecosystem.
Like I told you on Monday, I have a ton of new companies to feature thanks to Fast Company’s list of “The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies.” It may not have been one of the lists that I mentioned in my article 9 Magazine Lists That Will Help You Find a Job, but I’d certainly add it if I were writing the article again. Today we’re going to take a look at Man Made Music, “a unique bi-coastal music production company and Sonic Brand consultancy with an extraordinary team of young music and sound design talent, well-known composers, music supervisors, programmers, club DJ’s, musicologists and brand strategists.” By bi-coastal, they mean New York and LA, obviously, and you can’t really talk about Man Made Music without mentioning their founder and President, Joel Beckerman. He’s been in music media for nearly two decades, and he rolls with big names like John Legend, Morgan Freeman, and John Rzeznik.
It’s the ultimate premium channel. The one that separates the haves from the have nots—at least when it comes to cable packages. HBO or Home Box Office is the pinnacle of cable television. Ok, maybe I’m going a bit far, but I remember how excited I was when one day HBO was suddenly part of my family’s cable package. The cable company made a mistake, and I was now able to watch all kinds of great movies in the comfort of my own home (and without having my mom take me to Blockbuster). Of course, HBO, which is based in New York City, isn’t just about movies. Their original programming is one of the key reasons that they have more than 40 million subscribers in the US. HBO’s series past and present include Arliss, Sex and the City, Entourage, The Sopranos, Fraggle Rock, and plenty of others. Then there are their documentaries and sports coverage. It’s why people pay extra for HBO (and Cinemax, its sister station): high quality programming without commercials.