> imho major reason for targeting this age group is that they are willing to work for cheap without being insulted.
I don't find this very convincing. we get a lot of bright, motivated interns at my company, but even so, there's a limit to what they get actually get done in three months working in an unfamiliar codebase. the deliverable itself usually isn't worth what you have to pay interns in a competitive market. we do find a large portion of our entry-level hires through the internship program, which I believe is the real value to the company.
Outside of the exceptionally rare ultra high performers (I can think of maybe 2 I met like that). Interns really can't get a great deal done, even if just because they just arrived. There's a lot of onboarding for anyone joining, and productivity always takes a hit there.
I don't find this very convincing. we get a lot of bright, motivated interns at my company, but even so, there's a limit to what they get actually get done in three months working in an unfamiliar codebase. the deliverable itself usually isn't worth what you have to pay interns in a competitive market. we do find a large portion of our entry-level hires through the internship program, which I believe is the real value to the company.