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> I think unpaid internships being socially acceptable is one of the roots of this insidious habit. Literally _everyone_ who says this doesn't understand what

> I think unpaid internships being socially acceptable is one of the roots of this insidious habit. Literally _everyone_ who says this doesn't understand what an unpaid internship is, including you. An unpaid intern is essentially an entry-level newhire who never leaves the onboarding and training phase. (Unless they are subsequently hired.) They are there to learn something about the job, the company, and the people there. Most importantly CANNOT perform work that meaningfully contributes to the company's goals. Because this is HN, here's an example of how it would look in a software company. Let's say Timmy is in college and wants to see what a real dev shop looks like, so he applies for (and is accepted) for an unpaid internship at FoobarDev. Here are some of the things Timmy could be asked to do: * Learn the programming language(s) in use at the company * Set up a personal development environment according to the company's tech stack. * Implement a toy feature that will never ship with the product. * Fix a minor tooling or build bug that might be an annoyance but never seriously impacted developers or the product. * Chat with developers, managers, and others in the company about their background and experience. Here are some things that Timmy could NOT be asked to do: * Implement a new product feature. * Tackle a bug from the backlog. * Clean the office * File paperwork * Make a coffee-run for the full-time hires Companies who abuse unpaid internships are _violating_ their agreements with education institutions and are probably breaking labor law. The idea with an unpaid internship is that the intern gets a peek inside the Real World at no risk. Don't underestimate the value of this... Getting ones bearings in a field puts you well ahead of your peers and the networking is absolutely invaluable. (Linked-In is not even close to a substitute for actually meeting people.)

minikites 6y ago
>Companies who abuse unpaid internships are _violating_ their agreements with education institutions and are probably breaking labor law. Do you think the abuse of unpaid interns doesn't happen because it's against the law? And for the educational institutions, they need the companies more than the companies need them, so why would they cause a fuss?
tshaddox 6y ago
> Literally _everyone_ who says this doesn't understand what an unpaid internship is, including you. This looks like a massive conflation of “is” and “is supposed to be.” I’m pretty sure tons of unpaid interns are either doing real work for the company or menial tasks that would otherwise be compensated (like getting coffee for people). The latter is a constantly-recurring plot element in depictions of modern workplaces. You later claim that these cases are illegal. Even if that’s the case, it’s pretty clear that: A) this is ubiquitous, B) interns generally don’t have any recourse other than just not doing the internship, and C) people in this conversation aren’t actually confused about what internships are.

minikites 6y ago

>Companies who abuse unpaid internships are _violating_ their agreements with education institutions and are probably breaking labor law. Do you think the abuse of unpaid interns doesn't happen because it's against the law? And for the educational institutions, they need the companies more than the companies need them, so why would they cause a fuss?

tshaddox 6y ago

> Literally _everyone_ who says this doesn't understand what an unpaid internship is, including you. This looks like a massive conflation of “is” and “is supposed to be.” I’m pretty sure tons of unpaid interns are either doing real work for the company or menial tasks that would otherwise be compensated (like getting coffee for people). The latter is a constantly-recurring plot element in depictions of modern workplaces. You later claim that these cases are illegal. Even if that’s the case, it’s pretty clear that: A) this is ubiquitous, B) interns generally don’t have any recourse other than just not doing the internship, and C) people in this conversation aren’t actually confused about what internships are.