Seriously, How is This Still Legal?
For the past three summers, I have been an intern at three different companies. I will gladly tell you that those companies are Code.org, Tableau, and Cognia. I will also gladly tell you that each one of those places paid me at a rate of $20 an hour. As a computer science major, this is typically considered low. But this wasn’t software work so I never felt too bad about it. And at the very least, the pay rate was always enough to help me pay for rent and food each month while I was away from home.
But something that I rarely tell or have never told people is that I did an unpaid internship for a while earlier in 2021. It was for a new non-profit organization and that’s as much as I’ll share about them. I thought that maybe it could be fun just to do something closer to what I cared about and just get some experience. Low stakes ya know?
Boi was I wrong.
Because the thing about something like an unpaid internship is that there will always be an imbalance of gain for each party. The employers are truly getting at its core free labor while the workers get… experience? And some will argue that this experience is valuable in its own right and is a good resume builder. To that I will say, bitch it’s not that useful if I can’t even live while I’m working. Let’s take internships at the White House. Every summer during my undergrad years I would see the postings to intern at THE White House in D.C. To me, that seemed like a dream. It seemed like a fun and valuable experience where I could learn a lot. BUT BITCH IT WAS ALWAYS UNPAID. The White House did not even want to pay their interns like what the actual fuck? How the heck am I supposed to pay for food and rent while I move to D.C. huh? Apparently, that was my own problem to figure out.
And this really sucks because we live in a world that values internships so much. Before college students graduate, people say they should have an internship or two under their belt. Because once you graduate, that pool of opportunity dries up to a few drops. So my friends and I have stressed every year about getting an internship on top of the normal stress of being a student because employers in the future want to see that experience. We just don’t have much choice. We are desperate for that experience. I have had friends who are about to graduate with a Bachelor’s degree contemplating unpaid internships just so they can get some experience. How does that seem fair to us? Why are we having to choose between relevant experience or the basic necessities to live (that not everyone has still but that’s another post)?
I just don’t see a good argument for unpaid internships. It feels like a giant disrespect to people who are just trying to start their careers. It just takes advantage of either rich people who don’t care as much or desperate people who have so few options. I think the rule of if you don’t have enough money to pay them, don’t hire them is a solid rule. Because you cannot be calling us the future workers and leaders and hyping us up to take those roles and just absolutely trash on us at the same time. We shouldn’t have to take this.
As for the unpaid internship I worked at? I quit. Something not everyone can afford to do.
Holy shit I just looked it up and even child workers got paid or at least got food and housing.
