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Who gives a crap? Honestly: If you do not like the idea of being an unpaid intern, then don't be one. What's not a worthwhile opportunity for you might be an
by gm 14y ago
Who gives a crap? Honestly: If you do not like the idea of being an unpaid intern, then don't be one.
What's not a worthwhile opportunity for you might be an opportunity to someone else.
Am I missing something? Seems like unpaid internships affect me and my job/economy as much as someone else eating a donut affects my weight.
- eli_gottlieb 14y agoWho gives a crap? Honestly: If you do not like the idea of being an unpaid intern, then don't be one. Unpaid internships undermine the entire legal and moral principle that workers are supposed to be paid. There's a reason we have minimum-wage laws, and of course, anti-slavery laws.
- gm 14y agoBullshit. A requirement of slavery is to both be forced to work and not have a choice of where you work (google it). And don't get me started on moral principles. Moral principles are each person's own. Certainly you do not want to be held to _my_ moral principles, right? Why should anyone else be held to someone else's? If the moral principles are strong enough turn them into law. The only question that is genuine is the law. So if the law allows unpaid internships, why whine about it? For the record, I would not be where I am if I had not had a chance to do for free what I now do for a living. But that's just my experience.
- eli_gottlieb 14y agoAnd if internships had the relevant laws actually enforced, you would have been paid to do what you now do for a living. For God's sake, how could you call yourself a moral person if you take 100% of the product of another person's labor, leaving them nothing to live on?
- drumdance 14y agoIt's not the idea that offends, it's the practicality. I had to turn down an unpaid internship in my early twenties because I couldn't make ends meet otherwise. I ended up going into a completely different field. I'm happy with my current profession, but I occasionally wonder "what if..."
- gm 14y agoYeah, that was your choice. In my case I stuck it out and am really happy with my choice as well. That's the whole point: Choice.
- Kylekramer 14y agoSounds to me like drumdance didn't have a choice. The whole point is unpaid internships are by nature not even an option for many.
- j_baker 14y agoHonestly, if you don't like reading articles that complain about interns who aren't paid, don't read them. What's not a worthwhile opportunity for you might be an opportunity for someone else. In all seriousness, unpaid internships benefit no one other than the employer who gets free labor and the few students who have enough money to not care whether they get paid or not. They're not good for paid workers who now have to start salary negotiations with the other side upset that they even have to pay them at all. Nor are they good for the economy, which needs more consumer demand. And they certainly aren't good for students who are well-qualified, but can't afford to not get a pay check. Help me understand how unpaid internships aren't a mechanism to keep the rich rich and to keep the poor from becoming productive members of society. Seriously.
- gm 14y agoA good unpaid internship is the beginning of an apprenticeship: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apprenticeship http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apprenticeship If the internship does not lead to future employment at the same organization, then it might at another organization. A bad unpaid internship should go unfilled because the intern is not gaining anything from it.
- sliverstorm 14y agoThe main "how this affects me" argument is establishing a culture of unpaid interns encourages the practice, which will snowball to the point of virtually requiring X years as an unpaid intern to get a job, anywhere. Of course this doesn't affect senior employees with twenty years of experience under their belts, but that doesn't mean it isn't a concern for the greater good.
- codexon 14y agoIf Zynga figures they can get free labor, your salary may take a drop, or at least stagnate.
- gm 14y agoZynga _could_ get free labor if they wanted. People from all over are continually interested in working here.
- codexon 14y agoThis isn't about getting random volunteers from the internet. This is about every new hire coming in the door at $0 and thus lowering the cap on your salary progression.