Hourly rate negotiation tips for paid internship
Interns are not hired to do work, they are hired so that people at the company can get a look at their abilities in a real situation (not an interview) before hiring them for real. This way instead of 30% of your new hires being a dud, it's more like 5%, because the bad ones were filtered out in the intern process. If you are self-motivated and good enough, then it's quite possible that you will start getting real work while you're at the company, as opposed to throwaway assignments that nobody cares about. Once you're in that position, it means they trust you to actually accomplish something, and you will be viewed as a hopeful hire. Assuming you like the company, getting into that position is half the value of the internship. So I'd take it as-is with one caveat - ask them about schedule flexibility ahead of time, explicitly for the purpose of making sure your class schedule works. If they're a decent place to work for they will probably grant you that point outright. EDIT: One more note. If you've got a favor to burn, save it. Use it if you like the place and need to ask them for an H1B sponsorship, or any other kind of immigration assistance. "I am not sure if I would get any benefit besides the hourly payment as   an intern. What are the benefits I can expect while working for this   company (or any other software company) Probably none. Changes from company to company but usually only full-time employees are entitled for benefits. For example, could I ask them to reimburse my bus fare or fuel costs   in addition to the hourly pay? You can always ask:-) If it's not in the offer - better ask now, you'll get paid what is written in the offer you accepted. Highly unlikely though. What kind of an ""employee"" is an intern? (Read about exempt and   non-exempt employee, but that's all very confusing) As intern you're non-exempt. As a professional (i.e.: Not part of internship) you would be exempt. Since this is the second time, since my interview, that I have   requested, and been offered a higher rate, should I continue to ask   them for a value near a $35/hr rate Have you asked them for $35? Or just for more? Anyway, I don't think that if they raised the offer from $17 to $21.75 that there's a chance for you to get $35 from them." They likely have an intern (job title) pay-scale that maxes out somewhere below $30/hr in order to meet the FLSA (that exempt vs non-exempt stuff you were seeing). As a PhD student, you could probably negotiate up into the ~$25/hr range, but from a benefits standpoint, they might not be able to pay you $35/hr without making you an exempt, full-time employee.
https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/minimum-wage/2015/home.htm  &gt;&gt;The percentage of hourly paid workers earning the prevailing federal minimum wage or less declined from 3.9 percent in 2014 to 3.3 percent in 2015.  The middle class is not reliant on minimum wage. Barely anyone is. Championing minimum wage is a PR strategy, not an economic one.   Unaffordable housing is a symptom of a housing shortage, which is most likely a symptom of bureaucracy. Right, but the point is that some professions, such as attorneys, can be paid hourly yet still not be eligible for overtime. I was responding to the blanket response that insinuated all hourly employees who are skilled are eligible for overtime - this is not always true.   And you are incorrect as to agreeing to being exempt on a contractual basis. If a non-skilled worker goes to an employer and agreed to work as an exempt dishwasher at $7.50 an hour, the employer will have trouble with FLSA whether or not it was agreed. To say otherwise would be counterintuitive to the purpose of the labor protections and would just be an unconscionable loophole to necessary worker protection laws. Will never be a Uber customer. I prefer my taxis to be a sustainable business, where drivers make an actual wage, which is above the minimum hourly rate for 17 year old kids.  Currently the most efficient Uber driver can make around 10 cents per mile, in net income. Or less than $4 an hour, even if driving non-stop. If you are a temp-to-hire, or you are asked to setup a company then you are not an employee. They expect you to fund everything from your hourly rate. This includes pay, insurance, taxes, social security, sick, vacation, holidays... The rule of thumb for an established company is 1.75 to 2.25 times the salary rate is the rate they need to charge a customer. For example: employee get paid checks for $25/hour x 80 hours x 26 times a year.: 2080 hours or $52,000 per year. Company can only bill customers for 1800 to 1900 hours of labor. They need to bill at 2 times the salary rate or $50 per hour. They will collect $90,000 (1800*50). The numbers have to be run by the particular company based on their actual costs for benefits, overhead and profits.  If they were giving you $25 an hour as a contractor. They expect you to be making $12.50 an hour as an employee. "If you're really a part-time worker, then there are some simple considerations.... The remote working environment, choice of own hours, and non-guarantee of work availability point to your ""part-time"" situation being more like a consultancy, and that would normally double or triple the gross hourly rate. But if they're already offering or paying you a low hourly figure, they are unlikely to give you consultant rates." "Here's an alternative. There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of contract engineering firms (""job shops"") in the United States, probably hundreds in California alone.  They are in the business of doing what your ""employer"" wants you to do, they know how to do it, they have been doing it for decades, working with the biggest, most-established companies in the country.  They have forgotten more about providing engineering services to clients, and paying the engineers, than you can learn in a lifetime. Call a few of them.  Set up meetings.  Budget a few hours for it.  You want to talk with the most experienced recruiter in the office, the Old Guy Who Has Been There And Done That.  Explain your situation, and tell them that, rather than go through all of the headaches yourself, you want to investigate the possibility of THEM handling all the headaches, for their usual markup of course.  (You can probably word this better than I can, but you get the idea.) The shop may or may not be willing to talk about their markup.  My personal opinion is that this is perfectly OK.  What they make off of you, after your rate is paid, is THEIR business. Also, talk about what you do, and your recommended rate.  It would not surprise me to learn that you are currently grossly underpaid. AND, mention that, if the client declines, you're going to be available immediately, and you'd certainly be open to working with them.  (You will see this again.)  In fact, if they have any current leads that you fit, you would certainly be interested in hearing about them.  (They may already have a req from another client, for which you fit, for which the client is willing to pay much more than your current ""employer"".) If it were me, personally, I'd start with Yoh, Belcan, and maybe TAD Technical.  These are three of the oldest and best. I'd also hit up CE Weekly, get a subscription, and find some other shops with offices in your area. Once you have a shop lined up, then ask your ""employer"" if, rather than you setting up a personal corporation, they'd be willing to work with an established Contract Engineering firm,  who does this kind of thing for a living, who does this every day, who has been doing this for decades.  Doing this is simpler for everyone, and, by going through an established firm, they avoid having to teach you how to do business with them.  They also avoid the risk of having you reclassified by IRS as an employee, which exposes them to all kinds of legal and financial liability. If they say ""No"", WALK AWAY FROM THEM.  Immediately.  They've just thrown up a HUGE red flag.  This is where the other discussions with the shop come into play." I think you're on the right track.  Keep it up. You are still relatively young, and it wont have an impact.  You have experience and you have a lot of education, both will be assets.    I can't comment on the region question because I have only ever worked in one region.  Are you asking from a purely economics/getting paid perspective?  One approach you can take is making a little spreadsheet with average trader salary divided by cost of living in that region. The issue is that trader salaries and bonuses vary SO MUCH in every region, that you can't make any generalizations. "Or doing work, that has value, but with an experienced employee looking over their shoulder for more total time than it would take said employee to just do the work him/herself. In which case they're learning something, and ""doing work that has value"", but at the cost of a similar amount of value from elsewhere.  That's pretty extreme, though, and at least in a field like programming where the pros get paid quite a bit...so say it takes the pro 10hrs to do something, and it takes the intern 40hrs and 5hrs of help to do the same thing. But if the pro gets paid $80/hr, and the intern only gets paid $10...haha that works out perfectly. Even if it hadn't the point stands—the intern can get paid something as long as they're doing _some_ useful work, even if it takes them an exorbitant amount of time to do it. If they actually need as much help as it would take the pro to just do it...consider another field, dude."