from Hacker News

Ask HN: What should I do with an intern who can't complete any task

by binary_slinger on 1/27/25, 9:40 AM with 6 comments

I hired a software engineering intern with a decent resume for an undergrad. I decided to give them a chance after an in-person interview. It's been about a year, and they still haven’t completed a single task in Jira. At first, I thought the tasks might be too complicated, so I assigned something simpler. I even asked about their interests and assigned a task accordingly. When that didn’t work, I started meeting with them daily, but it turned into an exercise in testing my patience.

  • by rvz on 1/27/25, 10:14 AM

    > I decided to give them a chance after an in-person interview. It's been about a year, and they still haven’t completed a single task in Jira.

    A year is a very long time for them to improve and you have given them enough time to change.

    So I would just let them go right now.

    > I started meeting with them daily, but it turned into an exercise in testing my patience.

    No hire is better than a bad hire. You will not get back that time and money you spent on that intern. Are you willing to invest more time on to someone that still cannot complete any task after hiring them a year later?

    If the answer is still No, fire them right now.

  • by gregjor on 1/27/25, 10:02 AM

    Either put the effort into mentoring the intern, or fire them. You wrote that you "hired" the intern but didn't mention if that means a paid internship or not. If you don't pay the person, or pay them very little, you should adjust expectations accordingly. A year of no completed tasks seems like way too long, indicating lack of guidance and management.

  • by jpmoral on 1/27/25, 9:55 AM

    What do they have to say about it?