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Translators Wanted at LinkedIn. The Pay? $0 an Hour.

nytimes.com

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Re: Translators Wanted at LinkedIn. The Pay? $0 an Hour.

#3
Welcome to the free market. If there are people that want to do this for free for LinkedIn and LinkedIn is happy with the translation they do, then why should anyone else care?

If you want to revolt against people working for free when they should be paid, come see what some of the "interns" in NYC have to do in journalism and fashion (and even more industries now there are no jobs out there)

Re: Translators Wanted at LinkedIn. The Pay? $0 an Hour.

#4
I love clueless product managers who have no idea about communities that they reach out to. This shit is not hard, folks.

If you are going to try to crowdsource something, you don't wave it in the face of the paid professionals. It's like asking the AIGA board if they'd like to do spec work on a redesign of MySpace.

If I was the PM, and I wanted to to take advantage of the fact that LinkedIn knows it has thousands of translators, I would have queried the pool to recommend someone else to translate. That's a process story that Facebook (or Twitter or whoever) can't match.

Re: Translators Wanted at LinkedIn. The Pay? $0 an Hour.

#5
post #3

Welcome to the free market. If there are people that want to do this for free for LinkedIn and LinkedIn is happy with the translation they do, then why should anyone else care? If you want to revolt against people working for free when they should be paid, come see what some of the "interns" in NYC have to do in journalism and fashion (and even more industries now there are no jobs out there)

Interns get the benefit of experience. They get to meet people. They get to try out an industry without actually committing to a full-time job.

The LinkedIn translators wouldn't have gotten any of that. It's one thing to sample a career without pay, and another to do a job for free.

Re: Translators Wanted at LinkedIn. The Pay? $0 an Hour.

#7
post #5
post #3

Welcome to the free market. If there are people that want to do this for free for LinkedIn and LinkedIn is happy with the translation they do, then why should anyone else care? If you want to revolt against people working for free when they should be paid, come see what some of the "interns" in NYC have to do in journalism and fashion (and even more industries now there are no jobs out there)

Interns get the benefit of experience. They get to meet people. They get to try out an industry without actually committing to a full-time job. The LinkedIn translators wouldn't have gotten any of that. It's one thing to sample a career without pay, and another to do a job for free.

Ok, so don't contribute? No one is forcing you.

Are you just as upset about people fostering rescue animals for free? Why aren't people outraged that they aren't paid.

How can you decide the motivations for someone who wants to volunteer their time to do this?

Re: Translators Wanted at LinkedIn. The Pay? $0 an Hour.

#10
post #3

Welcome to the free market. If there are people that want to do this for free for LinkedIn and LinkedIn is happy with the translation they do, then why should anyone else care? If you want to revolt against people working for free when they should be paid, come see what some of the "interns" in NYC have to do in journalism and fashion (and even more industries now there are no jobs out there)

Welcome to the free market. If there are people who want to sell drugs, and people who want buy drugs are happy with it, Why should anyone care?

1. Because its unethical. 2. Because its bad for society. There is a reason minimum wages and employement laws exist.

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