Thoughts on unpaid internships

One afternoon, pre-COVID, I received a call at my office and something possessed me to answer it^[1]. Normally a call on this line is someone trying to sell me on a new fiber connection, recruiting services, or the latest and greatest software tool that will make my teams much more productive. I digress.

Instead, a young woman asked for a few minutes of my time. She called me because she'd seen a job posting for a front-end developer and wondered if we would consider a part-time role for a student. She explained that she was getting an EE degree at the nearby university, but needed a job and wanted to get into web development.

I told her I admired the hustle but needed someone full-time with senior-level experience. Her response surprised me. "I'll do it for free."

I politely declined. It's not that I didn't want to help the young woman. If I had the resources to mentor her, I would have loved to figure something out, including reasonable pay. One of the hardest things I find in management is knowing I can't give everyone a job and that new hires impact productivity. At the time, we were short-staffed (thus my need for a senior developer) and an intern would extend the timeline further while being of little benefit to her.

An unpaid internship is seldom worth it. A company with money pays its interns for legal reasons and to help with retention. One that doesn't is either poorly run, short on capital, or both. They're barely hanging on, ignoring labor laws, and making insane demands of interns and juniors to "work a bit harder" to "save the company".

A common rebuttal I've heard is "$famous_person did an unpaid internship and now they're worth a gazillion dollars!"

While that may be true^[2], the reality is that launching a unicorn is hard and there's no evidence an unpaid internship gets you any closer. The thing that does launch companies is being born into a wealthy family with access to the best schools and a network of resources. So if you're born with a trust fund and mom and dad will pay for you to live with 20 dudes in a stinky San Francisco apartment for six months, maybe you'll create the next Facebook.^[3]

If you don't fall into that category, read on!

Why you should take an unpaid internship

I want to be fair and recognize there is a very narrow set of criteria where taking the internship might be worth it:

1. You're shadowing an industry expert and not producing work on your own.
2. The internship is with a visible, well-known brand (i.e. NASA or Google).
3. You receive some sort of stipend paid by your school or the organization to cover basic essentials like housing and food.
4. You receive course credit.

The first is the key because if a company asks you to produce any work product at all, then it's probably not legal. The second shouldn't be optional. Your resume won't benefit much from an internship at "Mom and Pop's Software".

Some might say that having one of #3 or #4 is good enough but I'd argue it's only worth it if you receive all four.

Why you shouldn't take an unpaid internship

The cons outweigh the pros. There are ways to receive the same benefits without being exploited.

1. It's probably not legal. If the company uses your work as a product offering or as a way to gain investors then it's unlikely^[4] to be on the up and up.
2. By working for free you're making a statement that you don't value your time. Trust me, they won't either. You can expect increasing demands to deliver work to them "for the good of the company" so they can present some sort of value to investors.
3. Such an arrangement won't work. It almost certainly won't work. If a company is turning to unpaid labor they're on the edge of failure. If by some miracle they do survive there's only a tiny marginal chance they'll give anything back to you. Most start-ups never go big anyway and even if they somehow manage to, any equity they offer you will likely be so diluted you'll never see a return on your "investment".
4. You won't learn much because they're trying to survive. There isn't going to be anyone who has time to teach you.

Things you can do instead

Another rebuttal might be that someone should take a bad unpaid internship over no internship. I disagree because there are things a student can do instead:

1. Contribute to a large Open Source project. While you won't have someone to guide you, you'll still learn things, you can collaborate with others, and you can put it on your resume. All while working on your terms with no specific commitment.
2. Find a problem and build a solution. This is less desirable but still something you can show off in a portfolio. The main thing is that it needs to be a real problem, not a coding exercise like fizz-buzz.
3. Take additional coursework if available. This is a good idea if you feel uncomfortable with self-direction. There's no harm in learning something else.
4. It's somewhat unconventional but look into an IT or helpdesk job. MSPs and sometimes even universities have openings because people move on from it quickly. I credit my time working at the helpdesk as a way to gain insights into user behavior. Twenty-five years later it still informs my product design.
5. Do something else entirely. Use the time to pick up a hobby, form new relationships, or to take care of yourself. Being a student can be stressful and there's nothing wrong with "you" time.

As of this writing in September of 2024, the job market is pretty weird, especially in tech^[5] but not every opportunity requires an internship. There's a big emphasis in the community on getting into the Big-N companies and while that's amazing if you can do it, plenty of people have successful careers working for less glamorous companies. In many cases, someone can spend a year or two at a less glamorous company with a decent salary and still use the experience to make the jump.

Good luck out there.

1. Probably boredom. Going to the office every day was a real drag.
2. I looked but couldn't find concrete evidence of major tech personalities who did an unpaid internship.
3. I'm glad you're here but reading my blog isn't helping your hustle!
4. While I'm pretty certain this isn't legal I'm not a lawyer and you should consult one before making business decisions.
5. Sigh. Believe me, I know.