6 ms·

This flow chart seems to leave out quite a few "work for free initially" scenarios I've seen happen to friends, etc, that eventually led to companies being form

This flow chart seems to leave out quite a few "work for free initially" scenarios I've seen happen to friends, etc, that eventually led to companies being formed, productive connections, etc. While nobody should work for "nothing", there are far more subtleties to this than are expressed by this flowchart. I'm sure there are more than a few HNers who can attest to this. Many here have worked on side projects with friends (or even strangers) with hardly any hope of profit or payback. It's not always exploitative.

fleitz 16y ago
Agreed. I pretty much got my start in programming by working for 'free' by programming stuff for the company in my free time (no not my 'free' time at work, my free time at home off the clock). If you have nothing to offer in terms of experience then it could be very beneficial.
ElbertF 16y ago
If you do free work for a company that hasn't been formed yet you should be part of the startup and share the wealth/risks. Only getting compensated for your work if (and only if) they ever become successful is completely unreasonable.
Mz 16y ago
Any hope of a quick run down of these other examples? (Or at least a few of them?)
- jeremydavid 16y ago
  How about any internship? You work for free in exchange for the opportunity to learn something and broaden your skills and experience.
  - KaeseEs 16y ago
    What crazy world are you from where a coding internship is unpaid?
- chris11 16y ago
  I have one. I was trying to get an internship with a local engineering firm. Well, I knew one of the engineers there and he managed to get me an interview. Unfortunately through traveling and not checking my phone I managed to miss the phone call. So I never interviewed. But the firm offered me an unpaid internship anyway. Well, I was interested in working there and knew missing the interview was my fault, so I took it. Although a couple weeks into the internship they started paying me.
angrycoder 16y ago
You can work for free on your own to gain experience. The only way working for a company for free makes any sense is if they are providing mentorship in the form of code reviews or teaching. Except those kind of positions are typically called internships and are paid positions as well.
- jamesaguilar 16y ago
  Also I would argue that you'll learn about as much from doing it on your own as you will learn from the internship . . . you discover a lot of things about large project management from necessity not by example.

fleitz 16y ago

Agreed. I pretty much got my start in programming by working for 'free' by programming stuff for the company in my free time (no not my 'free' time at work, my free time at home off the clock). If you have nothing to offer in terms of experience then it could be very beneficial.

ElbertF 16y ago

If you do free work for a company that hasn't been formed yet you should be part of the startup and share the wealth/risks. Only getting compensated for your work if (and only if) they ever become successful is completely unreasonable.

Mz 16y ago

Any hope of a quick run down of these other examples? (Or at least a few of them?)

jeremydavid 16y ago
How about any internship? You work for free in exchange for the opportunity to learn something and broaden your skills and experience.
- KaeseEs 16y ago
  What crazy world are you from where a coding internship is unpaid?
chris11 16y ago
I have one. I was trying to get an internship with a local engineering firm. Well, I knew one of the engineers there and he managed to get me an interview. Unfortunately through traveling and not checking my phone I managed to miss the phone call. So I never interviewed. But the firm offered me an unpaid internship anyway. Well, I was interested in working there and knew missing the interview was my fault, so I took it. Although a couple weeks into the internship they started paying me.

angrycoder 16y ago

You can work for free on your own to gain experience. The only way working for a company for free makes any sense is if they are providing mentorship in the form of code reviews or teaching. Except those kind of positions are typically called internships and are paid positions as well.

jamesaguilar 16y ago
Also I would argue that you'll learn about as much from doing it on your own as you will learn from the internship . . . you discover a lot of things about large project management from necessity not by example.