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Vent: Went to a tech meetup in Austin and the speaker's advice made me mad
I was at a panel talk in Austin last week, and this one speaker kept telling everyone to just 'work for free to get experience.' He said it like it was the only way to start. I saw a lot of young folks nodding along, and it just felt wrong. How are you supposed to pay rent while working for free? Has anyone else heard this kind of advice lately and pushed back on it?
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owens.cameron19d ago
That advice is genuinely harmful. Telling people to work for free just sets them up to be taken advantage of. It's how bad companies get away with not paying anyone.
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hollyc9219d ago
I get why you say it sets people up to be taken advantage of. In my case, I did a single free project for a local non-profit to build my portfolio when I had zero paid work. That one project led directly to my first three paying clients because I could show real results. The key for me was being very picky. I only did it once, for a good cause, with a clear agreement on what I was getting out of it. It wasn't an open door to free work for companies that could pay.
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irismartinez19d ago
But what if that one free project is the only key to unlock a paid career?
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