Ask HN: Unpaid Internship Options

I have an internship opportunity in Glendale, California working on games for a Viacom company, but it is unpaid and they do not pay for housing. I am currently on the other side of the country, and have a paid internship from last summer working on Android applications for a defense contractor. I can do the unpaid internship with the fairly well known Viacom company using a $4000 dollar stipend from my university, or stay in my lesser state writing Android apps for pay. The Android work is actually very interesting, but doesn't have the allure of working for a well known company in California across the country.

Will the unpaid internship be worth the experience?

I think if you try a bit more (considering you have experience building Android apps), you can get similar setup which pays too. So I will suggest try other places.

There should be only and only one reason for you to do that unpaid internship, that is if you are going to learn something very unique which you will not learn anywhere else even if its paying a lot.

Is money an issue for you? if yes then i think the the answer is probably to go with the one that pays. If not then go to the one that you think will benefit you most in the long run, and there are a lot of factors that could play into that decision which i dont think anyone on here could tell you the answer to.

What kind of work do you want to finally end up doing? How much responsibility will you be given at each? Will you make better connections at one or the other? Which work environment do you like more? Are you passionate on interested in the work they are doing? Which one will provide you with a better learning experience?

There are so many personal factors that weigh into a decision like this, and money may or may not be a large factor for you. But thats up to you to decide. Ultimately i think it comes down to where you'll be happier, and which will help you the most down the road. Answer those to questions and i think you will probably come to your answer.

When weighing this, also consider the fact that professional game developers get paid relatively little, especially per actually-worked-hour, due to an enormous oversupply. The opposite is true for defense and Android developers.

Get a paid internship. Paid internships exist (all over the place). Game development paid internships do too. You have more options than those two, those are just the ones you've found.