Unfair Internships

Ok, I'll admit it, we've had unpaid interns.

When we first started out (i.e. when we were based out of my living room, and were funded by my line of credit+credit cards) we couldn't afford to buy the fancy kind of ramen noodles, let alone pay anyone salaries. So we posted a job for an unpaid internship and were able to get three students to work with us for 4 months.

The students were all freshmen and barely had enough knowledge beyond the "hello world" level. Over the course of the internship they were exposed to several languages (Python, Objective-C, C, C#) as well as frameworks and libraries (Django, OpenGL, Unity3D... bunch of others.) We pushed them hard, but not in a "work harder or we'll beat you" kind of way, rather in a "we're all working towards a common goal, and you'll get paid when we get revenue" kind of way. By the end of the term they all had several serious projects they were able to showcase (a couple of iPhone apps, web work, a browser plugin...) and experience with proper programming practices as taught to them by top notch engineers. And by the end we were actually able to scrounge together about $2k apiece to give them as a thank-you for their work.

The following year when these guys had finished their 3rd semester and were looking for their next internship they all got between 22-25 interviews - with Google, Microsoft, Apple, Qualcomm, RIM etc. And all of them got highly prestigious internships that normally only go to senior students in their last semester.

We still use those guys as references for when we hire interns because they have nothing but great things to say about their experience with us.

Today we're funded and we have revenue, so we're able to pay our interns somewhat more reasonable rates ($18-25/hr.)

Anyway, my point is that not all unpaid internships are created equal and in many cases it ends up being in the interests of both the company and the student.

I'll bite. I believe people who say "why can't they work for free if they want to?" aren't seeing the big picture. What's been happening in some areas (not IT), like people working on culture (museums mainly), is that the company will avoid paying at any cost. This means they will keep you working for free as an intern until you decide to leave or they are required to give you a work contract. Then, when you leave, they just get another intern and this goes on and on.

So you'd ask "why are people falling for this?" and the answer is quite simple: there's too many people who'd like to work on culture but it's not a gold mine for companies so they can't pay even if they wanted to. So you keep accepting internships to get a better CV but it never stops. I can't count the number of friends I have in this situation for years and years. I'm not kidding: more than ten years trying internships and with amazing CVs living with parents because you can't afford living by yourself.

I can imagine this happening in IT too since there's so many people wanting to work on this area. People need to qualify and I'm not talking about a degree, you need to practice and learn by yourself so you can have a real advantage over everyone else and escape the never ending internships.

1 Natural Law Point (Freedom of Contract) + 1 Government Observation

---NATURAL LAW POINT--- Thomas Jefferson used natural law theory to justify what has become arguably the most recognized sentence in American English contained within the United States Declaration of Independence regarding our inalienable rights "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Natural law was not only an influence in the Declaration, but also in the Constitution--starting with Freedom of Speech.

"Freedom Of contract along with the right to own property were core elements in the American vision of personal liberty . . . The American constitution scheme places contract liberty well above common law status; it is a guaranteed personal right. Liberty of contract is recognized not as power delegated by the sovereign, but as power originating in and guaranteed to the people." --Brian A. Blum and Juliana B. Wellman, "Participation, Assent and Liberty in Contract Formation," Ariz. St. L.J. (1982), 901, 907-08.

While internships are coming under fire in the U.K. with this HN Link, the same case about breaking minimum wage or any other attack could and has just as easily happen(ed) here in the U.S. The reality is, like others have said, is that it is not the fault of the companies, rather those who choose to work for them.

I had a choice when in University to work as an intern (paid or unpaid) through the school's "co-op" program or find my own co-op experience that had to be relevant to my studies. While many took the route of going through the school, I chose to find my own which paid triple that of the average paid intern through the school program and obviously much better than unpaid--not to mention my experience seemed to have been better as most other interns complained about doing "grunt work".

---GOVERNMENT OBSERVATION--- It is our choice to make and shouldn't have the government mettle in this type of affair. Take a look at what happened in New York circa 1902 when government went to far into labor laws and practices: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lochner_v._New_York

Regarding the above, basically, New York State law was passed in 1897 stating "No employee shall be required or permitted to work in a biscuit, cake, or break bakery or confectionary establishment" for more than 10 hours per day. What? Lochner was a baker and he was fined for allowing employees to work more than 10 hours a day or "violating the state law limiting the number of hours his employees could work."

The government of New York tried to justify this ridiculous law by saying it was to protect the health, safety, morality and welfare of bakers in New York.

Thankfully, the Supreme Court sided with Lochner that the New York State law was unconstitutional, although their reasoning is a little poor. Unfortunately, the Lochner law was reversed in 1937 under the guise of upholding a Washington State law setting minimum wage.

Like anything, freedom and restrictions and governing can be abused, and anyone can argue either side of the situation easily, but it is the choice of the people to side with our natural rights as citizens, including our right "to be free in his person and in his power to contract in relation to his labor."

Frankly it isn't surprising that we're even paying attention to something like this. How many businesses are handing out big bonuses, salary increases, and raises? I can't imagine many businesses are, as they're doing their best to keep the penny pinching going on during a down economy. Unpaid internships are just another business decision that you can more easily get away with today since the competition is so fierce that they're able to offer $0 / month just for the chance to get work experience.

One of my friends is currently struggling to get a job working in CAD. It's so bad in that sector of the economy, jobs he's been tentatively offered have been taken away by people who called in after their interview saying they'll work for less than the advertised wage. It cannot be that surprising to think that a college undergrad with ZERO work experience would work for free when he has to compete against so many with years experience that they're willing to underbid him on price, on top of having a shinier resume to boot.

> They have some surprising statistics such as 90% of students work for free and 60% say the experience is not beneficial

That is indeed surprising. Why would the 60% for whom the experience isn't beneficial offer to work for free? I'm afraid you can't outlaw people working against their own best interest (or statistics misrepresenting them).

And the same goes for outlawing internships. If somebody wants to do grunt-work for free "to get a foot in the door" or whatever, I think they're for the most part stupid, but who am I to stop them?

Also, where is the line between unpaid intern and volunteering? Why is it OK for me to work 3x8 hour shifts at a festival for a free ticket when it's not OK for a student to work afternoons at CoolCo Inc. which, when on the resume, will open doors?

How can it be unfair if people volunteer for it? I agree that work should be paid for, but how about taking on some responsibility in negotiating one's own price?

At least if claiming it is unfair, one should explain why people are forced to do unpaid internships. Pointing at individual companies doesn't cut it.

Ubuntu seem to be aware of these kinds of arguments:

http://www.jonobacon.org/2010/03/23/ubuntu-community-team-op...