Tech internships aren't dead yet

Amid concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence on job markets, tech internships are showing resilience. Cloudflare has made headlines with its ambitious plan to recruit 1,111 interns in 2026, while Shopify is set to onboard around 1,000 engineering interns this year alone. To gain insight into this trend, I spoke with Indeed economist Allison Shrivastava, who provided a broader perspective on internship data. As of September 30, internship listings in fields such as Software Development, IT Systems & Solutions, IT Infrastructure, Operations & Support, and Data & Analytics represented 2.7% of all job postings. This marks an increase from 2.2% in the previous year, indicating a positive shift. Shrivastava highlighted that the rise in internship postings is particularly noteworthy during a time when overall job postings have been declining. "Typically, we see a drop in internship listings when general postings decrease, so this upward trend is significant," she explained. What could be driving this increase? Shrivastava suggests that as certain sectors have remained competitive for an extended period, employers may be opting for temporary, lower-paid internships instead of creating permanent positions. This shift reflects a strategic response to the current job market dynamics.