Never work for free, unless it is for yourself. If you want a trial by fire education, go on elance or odesk or whatever people do to freelance now and pick up

Never work for free, unless it is for yourself. If you want a trial by fire education, go on elance or odesk or whatever people do to freelance now and pick up some small projects that you feel comfortable that you can complete. Do that for 4 months and you'll be far better off. If they expect you to work for free they're not a real shop where you'll learn anything meaningful anyhow. If anything... tell them you will take a 16 month contract for $55k but they have to pay you from day 1. Mathematically it is the same but I guarantee they will tell you to pound sand, and then you'll know who you're dealing with