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Laws of supply and demand apply. If the person is in demand, and the supply of identical applicants is low (or, zero, if they really want this one person), the

Laws of supply and demand apply. If the person is in demand, and the supply of identical applicants is low (or, zero, if they really want this one person), then the applicant can command way more than most people expect. If you are a college student applying for an intership, I would tend to believe the opposite applies. Supply is massive. I think asking for any compensation for time will be met with a quick end to the process.

emodendroket 10y ago
If the supply is so massive why are all these companies paying so much for tech interns?
- iaw 10y ago
  Supply of potential candidates is high, supply of highly qualified candidates is low.
  - Apocryphon 10y ago
    If only there was a way to convert potential candidate into highly qualified candidates without relying on universities or bootcamps.
    - iaw 10y ago
      Sorry, let me elaborate what I mean by "potential." I don't mean candidates that have potential to do the job extremely well, but candidates that apply for positions with adequate signals but without the capabilities to do the job well. Bootcamps and Universities don't convert potential candidates into highly qualified ones in this model, they convert non-candidates to potential candidates. The highly qualified component comes from more than just education, I knew a lot of people that got excellent GPAs through diligent hard work but didn't comprehend what they were learning in a way that would allow them to leverage the knowledge. I've met C students that were so fascinated with the topics they studied that they screwed off on school work to cover more breadth (building cars, satellites, etc.) A bootcamp/university wont take someone that is diligent and transform them into someone that's passionate. It can take someone that's passionate and give them the qualifications to get to interviews though.
- tcgv 10y ago
  Because the vast majority of the supply doesn't meet the company's standards. It is a selection (of few) process. If applicants are plenty it may not be economically wise to pay for everyone's interviewing hours.
- joezydeco 10y ago
  Probably because everyone else is paying interns crazy amounts of money? Every other business I've ever been in, interns got minimum wage or we would pull them through Manpower and they got some basic scale that way.
  - emodendroket 10y ago
    You're halfway there. Now why is "everyone else" paying those amounts?
- caminante 10y ago
  By "all these companies," you're actually referring to a sub-group at the top of the tech sector. Pick any sector and the top companies pay interns well. A 99th percentile candidate doesn't have much leverage if the alternative is a 98th percentile candidate.
anigbrowl 10y ago
The whole point of having a society is to have counter-cyclical structures that protect us from the vagaries of supply and demand such as famine and other economic disruptions. Not paying interns just means you select for relatively well-off kids that don't need to pay rent. It's a cultural rather than an economic choice.

emodendroket 10y ago

If the supply is so massive why are all these companies paying so much for tech interns?

iaw 10y ago
Supply of potential candidates is high, supply of highly qualified candidates is low.
- Apocryphon 10y ago
  If only there was a way to convert potential candidate into highly qualified candidates without relying on universities or bootcamps.
  - iaw 10y ago
    Sorry, let me elaborate what I mean by "potential." I don't mean candidates that have potential to do the job extremely well, but candidates that apply for positions with adequate signals but without the capabilities to do the job well. Bootcamps and Universities don't convert potential candidates into highly qualified ones in this model, they convert non-candidates to potential candidates. The highly qualified component comes from more than just education, I knew a lot of people that got excellent GPAs through diligent hard work but didn't comprehend what they were learning in a way that would allow them to leverage the knowledge. I've met C students that were so fascinated with the topics they studied that they screwed off on school work to cover more breadth (building cars, satellites, etc.) A bootcamp/university wont take someone that is diligent and transform them into someone that's passionate. It can take someone that's passionate and give them the qualifications to get to interviews though.
tcgv 10y ago
Because the vast majority of the supply doesn't meet the company's standards. It is a selection (of few) process. If applicants are plenty it may not be economically wise to pay for everyone's interviewing hours.
joezydeco 10y ago
Probably because everyone else is paying interns crazy amounts of money? Every other business I've ever been in, interns got minimum wage or we would pull them through Manpower and they got some basic scale that way.
- emodendroket 10y ago
  You're halfway there. Now why is "everyone else" paying those amounts?
caminante 10y ago
By "all these companies," you're actually referring to a sub-group at the top of the tech sector. Pick any sector and the top companies pay interns well. A 99th percentile candidate doesn't have much leverage if the alternative is a 98th percentile candidate.

anigbrowl 10y ago

The whole point of having a society is to have counter-cyclical structures that protect us from the vagaries of supply and demand such as famine and other economic disruptions. Not paying interns just means you select for relatively well-off kids that don't need to pay rent. It's a cultural rather than an economic choice.