Ask HN: Are there Tech Apprenticeships?

I think a good internship is the usual course of action here, although the concept is quite similar. By good, I don't necessarily mean with a successful, famous company. Rather, I mean an internship where you're sure to get some attention from engineers around you. You want someone to bounce ideas off of, someone who will review your code, someone who will force you to use keyboard shortcuts instead of the mouse. Basically, you want someone who will invest time in developing you and not someone who views you as a source of cheap(er) labor.<p>How you find that, though, isn't clear. I lucked out with my internship, and have always made it a personal point to seek out opportunities to train interns wherever I work because of that past experience. Generally, people are astounded that I volunteer for something their other engineers hate, so I'm not sure how good your odds are.<p>You can drop a line if you want and I'll help you as best as I can. I don't do much work in web-development and most of your technical knowledge seems geared towards that, but I would be glad to offer general advice as well as answer any other ?'s you might have.

I think you should totally go for it if you get the chance. I cold emailed startups and wrote very personalised (albeit long winded) cover letters. If you objective is to learn, you really have to make that point shine through because there is no greater motivation in life than the desire to learn and people can see that. So don't get hung up with the low allowance (or none) and don't get discouraged by your friends riding high in their careers, do what you need to do to get that knowledge because (cue cheese) knowledge == power.

And what I'm thinking - find a local dev in your area that is willing to take you under their wing. See how they work, learn the tricks of the trade, and the skills necessary to go from hacker to professional.