So its been yet another month without an update and my summer in San Francisco is almost over. Its both very depressing and very exciting.

I feel like I’m just starting to get the hang of San Francisco, I’m finally finding good sources to upcoming events, just starting to find the hidden nook and cranny spots, and just starting to feel comfortable in a city filled with so much stuff to do it would take me a lifetime to feel like I know the city through and through. I really and truly love this city, and I don’t see how anyone couldn’t. San Francisco is frickin’ awesome.

But at the same time I miss my friends from Milwaukee ever so dearly. Luckily, I’ve been pretty busy this past month. I’ve had a couple of my roommates from Milwaukee visit and my girlfriend Cassie visit again. I even went back to Milwaukee for a long weekend to go to a crawfish broil my girlfriend’s dad has every year (definitely worth it) and to find an apartment to live in when I come back. I’ve had a few small doses of Milwaukee and its definitely help me keep me sane. And I can’t wait to be back.

So now that I’m starting to look back on what I’ve done here I’ve found that I have DEFINITELY learned a buttload from this experience. I want to share it all with you, maybe if you’re considering studying abroad or making a new start in a city all by yourself this can help you out!

1. IGNORANCE IS NOT BLISS. BE AWARE. BE SAFE. BE SMART.

San Francisco is one giant pot of culture, new trends, and general ‘out-there’ness. It is easy to take one quick look at the city and think that everyone is so happy, so friendly (and probably so stoned) that they could never hurt you. NOT TRUE. If you’ve read my past blog posts you should know that I know better than anyone the moment you let your guard down, you’re likely going to be taken advantage of.

Whether you believe it or not, walking by yourself through the Mission, Market District, or really anywhere after a bar at 2AM is dangerous. It doesn’t matter that it rarely happens. The fact of the matter is that it can happen, and you don’t want to give anyone the opportunity.

Just be aware of your surroundings. Don’t carry expensive electronics around with you if you don’t have to, always hold on to your bag/purse, and don’t go out without making sure 100% you know how to get home. It’s really common sense but its easy to be taken in by the awe of the city and assume that you are safe. Just be conscience of your surroundings and never present the opportunity for someone to take advantage of you.

I <3 SF Stolen Bike Shirt from Headline Shirts

2. IT IS GOING TO BE UNCOMFORTABLE AT FIRST.

When I was getting ready to move to San Francisco I expected to come out, meet tons of people, and basically have crazy party fun time every night. Now, not to say I haven’t had crazy party fun times, but it hasn’t been as easy as I thought it would be.

When I moved out here, I literally knew NO ONE in the city. I have a relative that lives in nearby San Bruno, but nobody in the city. Going out and meeting people without having any connections can be awkward. Its really easy to plan something and back out the last minute because you feel uncomfortable or scared its not going to be what you want it to be. You really have to just put yourself out there and go DO stuff. You’ll never make friends by hibernating inside of your room. I know I’m not the only one that feels this way, but honestly just go out and do stuff, its almost always going to be worth it.

Annie Gaus (former intern, current part timer) and I representing

3. EXPLORE. EXPLORE. EXPLORE.

Find the resources as soon as possible for you to get the pulse on what’s going on in the city. Here are a few of the places I check for events in San Francisco.

• Twitter: Follow as many people as you can in the city. You never know who’s going to have a spur of the moment meetup or who’s going to tweet out an event you’d enjoy.
• Daily Newspapers: There’s a daily newspaper that I grab everyday on my way to work on the bus. There’s listings for at least 4 or 5 events EVERY DAY. You’re bound to be able to find something you like.
• Social Networking/Event Websites (SFist, Thrillist, Yelp, Facebook, Going, Last.fm, Etc.): Find the websites that broadcast events that are close to you. I have yet to find the one definitive place to find everything I want in one place, so your bound to need to do some deep investigating to find the websites that you’ll want to look at. I found lots of websites through Google Reader’s recommendation blogs, but a lot of the other websites is just through searching and exploring the internets.
• Local Postings: Keep your eyes open when you’re on the streets for signs, little pamphlets, and bulletin boards where you can get find many hidden gems In fact the coffee shop I’m at right now has a bulletin board I’m going to need to check out before I leave!

And hey, if you somehow manage to not be able to find anything, just GET OUT! Grab your camera and just walk, take the bus, anything to go explore the city. Its rewarding, trust me

4. MAKE CONNECTIONS.

Whenever you DO get out and go do stuff. Introduce yourself to people and make connections with them. Get their twitter username, add them as friends on facebook, whatever you can do to stay in contact with them. Even if you don’t know them very well or feel stupid doing so, connect with them. You never know when an opportunity might arise to go hang out with them again.

From a Cali Lewis/Geekbrief meetup I went to

5. FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE.

If you ever do get down, and chances are that you will, don’t dwell on it. It was especially very easy for me to get down when I was reminded everyday by my girlfriend of all the stuff I was missing in Milwaukee. You can’t let the reminder of what you’re missing at home ruin the experience you are having. I really did have to sit myself down sometimes and just say out loud all of the positive things I had going on for me. “Ryan dude, you’re in San Francisco, working for REVISION3, you’re life is frickin’ awesome!” Just don’t let homesickness take over, because its easy to let it.

6. ITS EXPENSIVE.

Before I came out here I calculated how much money I would need based on my rent ($900/mo for a place in SoMa), food expenses (like $200/month), car payment ($300/mo), and random purchases I wanted to make out here. I was pretty close but I really thought that I was overestimating how much I was going to spend, but I ended up spending about a grand more than I thought I would. You’re going to want to have money for special events, going out to eat, going out for drinks, etc. If you want to do whatever you want, be prepared to spend a LOT of money.

7. WORK HARD!

If you’re going to be doing an internship or something, you’ve got 3 months to show the company what you’ve got. When I started at Revision3 I was officially working like 20 hours a week. I still came in every day of the week from 9-5. I just wanted to be there and LEARN. I wanted to work there just for the fun of it. When you really care about your job, it shows. And these are the sorts of things you want to be remembered for. And don’t forget to have fun too! If you have the chance, go out with co-workers after work, stay at the office late and help out if you can, get involved in more projects. Part of the reason I was upgraded from part time to pretty much full time at Revision3 was because I put myself out there and started asking if I could help around the office. Ron saw my eagerness to help out and once the other intern quit I got the job no questions asked. Pure awesomeness.

Whatever… Comic Book Store

Well, hopefully that was mildly interesting and helpful. See you all in Milwaukee on after August 18th!

Original Post

While Tyler had gave me an introduction in the post for the Farewell of the Summer Interns, I haven’t touched this blog at all. There hasn’t even been one post about the 2008 Fall Internship at Revision3. Since this is my last hour here at Revision3 as I finish up my internship term today, it wouldn’t feel right to leave without giving my 2 cents of my experience.

As a late 2nd Generation Intern (Summer Intern for a week) as well as a full 3rd Generation intern (Fall Intern), I had a great ride with Revision3. Not only was I able to share the same beneifits being an intern @ Revision3 as AJ Vaynerchuk did in the summer, I experienced a lot more than I thought I ever would.

I was able to appear in shows such as popSiren and Scam School, as well as have my own post roll and got into other company sponsored antics.

However, what made this fall internship more unique from the summer internship was the “Company Restructuring during the ecnomic turmoil.” One of my mentors told me during that time of uncertainty and chaos that “this is the time when you would probably learn the most,” and she was right. During that time I got to see how a company bounces back on its feet and continues foward. However what was more gratifying was watching the people affected by the layoffs at Revision3 moving forward as well.

While I learned a great amount of the infurstructure of a start-up, I also got to meet an abundant amount of people within the Tech world. Not only from Revision3, but from Digg, Smashface, Rocketboom, TWIT, and many other great people that share the same passion about technology as I do.

In the end, I owe a lot to Revision3 and will miss working with everyone there. Yet somehow I think Mau is the only one that misses me, because all the beer I hand out on Fridays.

Follow me on twitter: Bobojojo

Interning at Revision3 is awesome. We get to do work that actually gets noticed/published. Unfortunately for some of my friends, they aren’t so lucky. Why do companies think it’s cool to blog into space?

I wrote a post about it at HackCollege. Check it out: Blogging: The New Shit Job for Interns?

I wrote a post for another blog that I write for that draws from my experiences at Revision3 thus far. Check it out:

Summer Internships - Making the Most [via HackCollege]

Let me know what you think in some comments!

A little background

My parents live in New Jersey, my brother lives in New York, and I go to school in Boston. So when it came to choosing my internship you would think I would be choosing between the great cities of New York and Boston. Wrong.

I went to San Francisco

Why did I go to San Francisco? To expand my horizons. Moving out here as been a wonderful experience, and I am not sure if I would have been able to take this opportunity in any other circumstance. Remember, interning gives you a lot of flexibility. One, it is short term. Two, you are only responsible for yourself. Three, if it turns out to be a mistake, it is easy to fix. So even though I am loving my time out here, I would have had an exit plan if things turned out to be less than ideal.

What I am enjoying

The entire vibe of the west coast is so much different than the east coast. In general, the people are friendlier and open-minded out here. Evey thing is a little more relaxed, and people keep things in perspective and balance. Everyone that I know and have met out here has been so great in terms of helping me maximize my experience. Everywhere I go people are teaching me about the city and making sure that I am comfortable and having a good time. I’m couch-surfing this trip, and nearly every time I bring that fact up, another couch if offered to me - people are that inviting.

Mind you there are great opportunities in both New York and Boston

There is a lot of tech going on in these two wonderful cities, so that didn’t play a role in my decision. I figure that when I am done with my time in San Francisco it will be far easier for me to venture into opportunities in either city. As much as I love San Francisco I probably see myself staying east coast after school. I credit my family, and the New York Jets (and Knicks) for my decision

I have a secret and for a while, I’ve been embarrassed to admit it. My Facebook profile is missing a piece, my Twitter account has yet to comment and at every mention of New York (a city I’ve never even visited before) I have to bite my tongue to avoid divulging this personal bit.

I watch Gossip Girl. And I like it.

I find myself rationalizing this immature fondness much more than my pretentious coffee hobby, my iPhone ownership or even my brief “Toxic” obsession. But in my Gossip Girl rationalizations, a pattern has emerged: I’m convinced that the show is actually good. So, here I am, sharing a testament to its wisdom.

A lot has changed since episode 13, but for a while, there was a strict pecking order separating middle-class Jenny and moneyed-up Blair. Blair was atop a social group that Jenny was eager to join. Jenny would do anything to fit in, but it was usually these little demeaning favors: grabbing some coffee, dropping off library books, making ice cream sundaes for the director… wait a minute – that’s not from Gossip Girl! That’s from my one-month stint as a Production Assistant! What is happening? Have we entered televisionland?

I spent this May in Prague, working as a Production Assistant (PA) on the new GI Joe movie which comes out in about a year. As I caught up on my Gossip Girl viewing, I realized the parallels between the underhanded relationship in the show and the ones I was building on the set of GI Joe. But it’s much more insidious – it was for Jenny also. Everyone grins and bears it because it’s the standard for entry-level work, and most of the crew approves. It’s “paying your dues.” It’s the we-all-had-to-do-it-too story. Indeed, these are the same excuses for making a bunch of freshmen run through the Tenderloin late at night after guzzling a bottle of laxative. And it wasn’t until Jenny actually called it “hazing” – she actually said the word “hazing” in the show – and that’s when I realized what I was doing.

But being a PA isn’t exactly the same as earning your place on the football team. As a PA, you are getting paid and you are trying to get access to an incredibly exclusive industry. It’s a way of developing and demonstrating your work ethic. So, there’s nothing really wrong with it. You just get to prove your passionate commitment to… making lattes.

Don’t get me wrong – I met some incredible people in Prague – some who disagree with the “hazing” tendency of PA work, some who don’t. I’d even consider returning to the PA life for its stress-threshold-increasing virtues, but for now, it’s not for me.

That’s why I love interning at Revision3. It’s a collaborative methodology with a positive atmosphere. I might make a few photocopies while I’m here, but at least they’ll serve a purpose beyond showing my loyalty to Blair.

photo credit

The internship and culture

The most important aspect of an internship is the knowledge and general experience you walk away with at the end of your stint. If you fail to learn a thing, and at the same time hate your time spent with the company, then your internship was a complete and utter failure.

The co-workers

Within my first week here at Revision3 I have hung out with all of my fellow interns and have gotten to know nearly every employee within the company. Each and every individual working at Revision3 is super friendly and open to helping out. This connection within the company makes the whole internship program a more personal experience. If I were separated and disconnected from the rest of the group the experience would be far less enjoyable.

Opportunity

A big difference between a great internship and a horrible internship is opportunity. The fact that I feel as if my ideas and suggestions are actually listened to is a major plus. Rather than having my emails deleted or my voice muted, Revision3 makes sure to listen to and provide feedback. Living proof of this concept? This blog!

Outside of the office

Playing off of the enjoying the company of your co-workers, team chemistry building is another aspect of a wonderful internship. After work this past Friday a heap of the Revision3 crew (those 21+) went to a local bar to grab some beer and hang out. This weekend I grabbed dinner with two fellow interns and went out to a party with a few other full-time employees. The relationships within the office are not restricted to the office.

I want to work

The fact that I woke up this morning and was more than excited to get to the office is a clear sign that this is the type of internship that I will be getting value out of. If you love your work, then it really isn’t “work.”

What do you think?

What makes a great internship? What kind of things make a great culture?

About AJ

AJ Vaynerchuk is a web/marketing and business development intern at the Internet Television Network Revision3. He loves his family and enjoys sports and business (+1 if the two combine). You can follow him on Twitter or email him at ajv [at] revision3 [dot] com.