Intership choices

[Blind Man]

So I'm in the cooperative education program at my school, which - for those of you who don't know what it is - is basically an organized internship program through the school that works with you to get an internship corresponding to your major (mine being Computer Engineering). I'm going into my third of five working terms, and I have a choice to make.

My first two terms were working at a NASDAQ (stock market) data center, doing maintenance on servers and network hardware. Though I enjoyed it, I'm not going back because the gas and tolls were horrible and the pay could've been better, and most importantly I don't feel like I can learn too much more there.

My choice now lies on what to prioritize. I'm interviewing next week with three companies - Lehman Bros, Movado, and Datascope. Here's the lowdown on each:

Lehman: Very similar to what I was doing at NASDAQ, but a little more in-depth and much better pay, so I'll know sort of what I'm doing, but I may get bored with it fast since it's a lot of what I did last time. I know a bunch of people who worked there last term, and it's apparently a good job to work simultaneously on getting my CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) certification, which would look seeexy on a resume. It's also only about 15-20 minutes away from my house, but at rush hour the commute is towards NYC (it's in Jersey City), which could turn it into muuuuch longer, but no tolls (unless I decide to take the train). Another thing to consider is that since I marked on my application that I do have a car, they may not let me work at the Jersey City job. I may end up having to work at their data center, which is about 25 minutes away (I think) with tolls. However, if I work at the data center, I have a feeling I'll be totally dissatisfied and end up learning nothing new. However, I could be wrong.

Movado: This is a basic IT help desk job, but it's 15 minutes away in the opposite direction, so the commute won't be too bad, and I hear the pay is decent. I don't know all that much about this one, but it's probably my last resort.

Datascope: Completely different from my other job, this is a straight programming job (in C++). I'd very much like to take a programming job because I love programming and I'd like to see how it would turn out, but the problem is that I interviewed with them last term and they gave me a short C++ test, which I think I pretty much bombed. I know I definitely don't know enough C++ as of right now to take the job, but if I study it like crazy for the next couple months hopefully I can get up to par and I may get an offer. I hear the pay there is also good, and it's a 25-30 minute drive from my house (with minimal traffic).

So basically it boils down to whether I want to study C++ and go for that job, or chance getting a boring job or a repeat of my last term. I'm fairly sure I'll have no problem getting an offer from Lehman, but assuming I get the offer from Datascope as well, I'm not sure which I should pick. What do you guys think?

PS: Sorry this was so long, didn't have any other way of explaining the situation. lawl.

[Raditzu]

I'd say Movado first and Datascope second.

Is programming why you're in a Computer Engineering program? If it is, then you'll need to pick up a couple languages regardless, but that can be done no matter where you are. I suspect that, if you do study up on C++ and get the Datascope job, you won't get as much out of the experience while you're still new to the language. Whereas working at Movado will teach you some basic office skills that you can take no matter where you end up going afterwards.

[Blind Man]

I picked Comp Eng because I do like programming, but I wanted to get a broader set of knowledge than just computer science, so anything will do. And that's true about Movado, I think a friend of mine works there, I should ask him about it. I interviewed with them last term also and didn't get an offer, though I'm not sure exactly why. They may just not have had enough spots, or I may not have had enough general tech knowledge (of which I haven't gotten all that much more), so I guess I'll see how it goes.

As for C++, I've actually taken a couple courses, but they were both very basic. I've taken multiple basic language courses and done very well in all of them, so I think I have a knack for that kind of stuff, I just haven't learn more complex syntax and such. My roommate is really good though, so he can help me with it.