design over matter

Last week I encountered two postings from separate companies looking for interns.

It got me thinking.  Is this the return of the intern?  And if so, is that a good sign?  With the economy over two years in the dumps, you can only hope the look for interns is a good thing. 

One theory is that companies are ramping up to hire new employees.  If the company is concerned about hiring, or finding qualified developers,  the internship could be an excellent way to confirm the new hire will gel with your team.  Companies could also look at unemployed developers as a source of cheap labor that will accept an internship to get up to speed before earning a "real", but lowered salary.  This is the best case scenario.

My second theory is more pessimestic.  Companies are not ready to hire.  They are so shaken by the last two years and have pushed existing employees to the max.  They need more resources and cynically are using the "intern" label to underpay people. 

The interesting thing is one internship program is being organized by a recruiter.  They are providing a week of Ruby On Rails training and then placing the developer in a startup to pair program with a Senior Developer.  At the end of 3 months, the start up has the option to hire the employee.  I'm just crossing my fingers this situation better matchs my FIRST theory and not my second one.