451 karma · joined June 7, 2013
It'll be a uphill battle, but I think Detroit is a serious dark horse.
The fact is, you specifically say that you "feel I need the internship experience to make transitioning out of school into a web dev position easier."
Considering this is your only offer (I assume), you don't have a ton of leverage for getting more money.
As for logistics, email or phone is fine. In-person is just awkward for what amounts to a 5-minute phone call. They'll be back and forth on their end.
1) What's with the preoccupation behind making 300k?
2) Would finding a less stressful job, even if it paid the same, make you happier?
3) It sounds like there's some other underlying issues to address here. Maybe finding some work-life balance would help you address your unhappiness with other parts of your life?
* Pool table, Xbox, pinball machines, beanbags: Whatever
* Motivational posters: I don't really care. But, if a company consciously chose not to have posters as a cost-saving measure, run. Again, stuff will be on the walls at any company.
* Beer in the fridge: Again, whatever. You could read a lot into a company's culture depending on their alcohol provisions + alcohol consumption.
* Free food (and a chef): This can be a legitimately useful perk. It saves you time, is more convenient, can be healthier, and grows team unity.
If you establish an arbitrary boundary, it won't make sense.
Take Oakland County, the largest surrounding county by population. It has the highest per-capita family income in the Midwest and one of the highest in the nation. To some extent, the rich metropolitan area had very little incentive to help out the city of Detroit.
If you look at Metro Detroit, the area's still one of the richest in the country and is thriving. In fact, the metropolitan areas in Michigan were the only parts that went blue.
I appreciate that the author specifically mentioned he/she was from the rural Midwest. It seems like we need to establish more metropolitan areas in the Midwest (also better define the boundaries of that region) so that service jobs can be created there.
Manufacturing allowed factories to be built anywhere. As it currently stands, it seems like service jobs require a large urban area.
But, its remarkable how much that ad feels like a University of Phoenix ad. Most for-profit school ads seem to push flexibility and future job earnings. University of Phoenix (and Udacity) go for a much subtler route for the TV ads I've seen. They glamorize the ending jobs and the college-student/professional lifestyle.
In my mind, the worst for-profit schools suffer from two distinct issues: bad instruction and bad credentialing. Udacity supposedly has fixed the instruction problem with strong industry ties. But, they haven't fixed the credentialing problem. A Udacity nanodegree is still worth very little, if anything, compared to any other form of education.