Hello everyone.

As described in the title, I feel useless as an intern. For obvious reason I will not disclose the specifics of my internship but for context I will say that I am a polytechnic student who just began their internship journey a few weeks back.

Is it normal to feel useless as an intern in a tech company? I’ve been asking my colleagues for help on my work, not without initial attempts and efforts of course, but I feel that I am asking too much from them. I worry that I make others think of me as incompetent.

To be frank, I would call myself a slow worker, but I always try to make up for it by putting extra effort such as having to work past working hours. I’m unsure whether my colleagues will see my efforts or see me as an added burden, but having to deal with the thought of not being up to their expectations gives me constant stress and anxiety.

So once again, is it normal to feel useless as an intern? Are high levels of stress and anxiety experienced by new interns to be expected? How do I know if I am doing just fine or doing poorly?

I’m genuinely hoping to make my internship journey a positive one and I’ll appreciate everyone’s answers and opinions as I am looking for ways to ease my mind off of this topic.