201–210 of 424 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Super Bowl doesn't pay the halftime performer. How are they worth anything?
So who are the nobodies who had their breakout because of the Super Bowl?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you elaborate how this is exploiting? I am a SWE engineer with photography as a hobby. If a tv show contacted me to do a wedding shoot, I'd be excited for the coverage and I wouldn't feel exploited since doing shoots is fun for me. I could see how there are parallels to the "background actor" industry where, by law, you have to pay all of the talent on screen, even if its a nominal amount and the actor would of w…
I hope you can see the difference between doing something for free when it's your hobby, vs. doing something for free when it's your career. If a TV show contacted you do create a web app, would you do that work for free? Would you give up other opportunities to get paid to do so?
No, because it is not fulfilling.
I do use my career skills to teach under privileged students how to program for free.
The US continues to support unpaid work in a pretty major way. I think unpaid internships being socially acceptable is one of the roots of this insidious habit. They've been illegal up here in Canada for a while and it hasn't really caused any economic disasters. It'd be a good change to advocate for down there as well. And, honestly, internships aren't free for companies unless there is literally nothing of value be…
>I think unpaid internships being socially acceptable is one of the roots of this insidious habit. When I worked with interns they were all paid... but every one was more time and expense to work with than any value they provided. In weeks they accomplished what I could do in an afternoon, and we spent WAY more than an afternoon of work with them. Amazingly many seemed to have a very high opinion of their productivit…
We had good success with incremental training (getting people pursuing CS, who had at least passing knowledge of what programming is), spending a few initial hours on the bare minimum mechanical tasks that one would need to start working on tasks (e.g. how to enter and style static content, how to google, copy-paste from stackoverflow, the works), then gradually supplementing with actual meaty training via lunch-and-learn format, with the intent to bring everyone (including other full time employees) up to speed with the latest and greatest techniques and best practices.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If a Netflix subcontractor didn’t pay their actors, writers, etc, they would catch a well deserved deluge of criticism. Of course it wouldn’t happen because those workers are organized to prevent these abuses.
They aren't really subcontractors of Netflix. They're a separate company selling a product to Netflix (a complete TV show). If Netflix buys a laptop from Apple and Apple does something wrong, you don't blame Netflix for it, you blame Apple.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
So what? Let the market decide. Or would you rather dictate what consenting adults can agree to because you are so much wiser?
The parent's comment was uncalled for, but many regulations are made specifically to "dictate what consenting adults can agree to". That's why minimal wages exist after all. The problem is that if the task doesn't require a highly skilled workforce you'll always find somebody desperate enough to undercut the competition. Then it's just a race to the bottom.
It’s five days. No one is being compelled to do the gig. This guy is just mad that someone else may have a different perspective on value than he does. So what? Not every job is appropriate for every person. For someone else this could be what they need to get the door open to future work down the road. It’s wonderful this photographer has a body of work and reputation that can sustain him. How privileged of him to cast judgment on others who may not have his same level of privilege.
It seems like someone would be much more likely to get hired for a good paying job if they had previously worked for a popular tv show. Much more so than if they made $20/hr working for a company that no one has heard of. I would be willing to endure short term personal hardship (ie, living with parents for an extra year) for a chance to put something eye catching on my resume. It will simply pay off more over the long term.
No one should be counting on an entry level job to pay all of their bills. When I was young, internships were considered a source of extra money and not a means of supporting yourself as a full time career.
The US continues to support unpaid work in a pretty major way. I think unpaid internships being socially acceptable is one of the roots of this insidious habit. They've been illegal up here in Canada for a while and it hasn't really caused any economic disasters. It'd be a good change to advocate for down there as well. And, honestly, internships aren't free for companies unless there is literally nothing of value be…
>I think unpaid internships being socially acceptable is one of the roots of this insidious habit. When I worked with interns they were all paid... but every one was more time and expense to work with than any value they provided. In weeks they accomplished what I could do in an afternoon, and we spent WAY more than an afternoon of work with them. Amazingly many seemed to have a very high opinion of their productivit…
I managed interns for years in my role as a UI development manager. The main reason to hire interns was as part of our hiring pipeline. It basically served as an extended interview. Any actual work they produced was a bonus.
We were also able to keep interns on through the academic year (part-time), which made the time commitment even more worthwhile. The lack of productivity wasn't because they were interns - it was because they were new to the job. This did require flexibility around their school schedule, so instilling good communication habits early was necessary.
I think the scale of the 'Exposure' does matter here (please don't just downvote, hear me out). Exposure = Advertisement, right? Wouldn't you pay for advertisement? Now, if you invest very little for advertisement, you might get very little in return. Say, your investment is doing a free 'exposure' gig for a return of 20-30 potential customers. This might not be equitable to your time/equipment/team/etc. Now, in the…
Some great musicians busk for spare change or the odd youtube subscription for years, while others (arguably less talented or creative) have been arbitrarily 'discovered' and delivered into financial success.
Exposure from the club downtown is one thing. But, telling a busker they shouldn't take a free opportunity for genuine national exposure because it 'devalues gigs' feels a bit like a cruel joke-- game theory notwithstanding.
I think the scale of the 'Exposure' does matter here (please don't just downvote, hear me out). Exposure = Advertisement, right? Wouldn't you pay for advertisement? Now, if you invest very little for advertisement, you might get very little in return. Say, your investment is doing a free 'exposure' gig for a return of 20-30 potential customers. This might not be equitable to your time/equipment/team/etc. Now, in the…
I'm willing to bet money precisely nobody is going to seek out those photographers because they found them in the fineprint of some probably cringeworthy netflix show. The best they can hope for is having additional munition to convince a potential but hesitant customer. Also, some people need money this month, not maybe-money 2 years down the line.
No one? That’s a pretty bold assumption.
As for the money this month vs later - this is the gig for them. Again, just because it’s not a an appropriate gig for all photographers doesn’t mean that it’s a gig that might not be exactly what a different photographer could benefit from.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>I think unpaid internships being socially acceptable is one of the roots of this insidious habit. When I worked with interns they were all paid... but every one was more time and expense to work with than any value they provided. In weeks they accomplished what I could do in an afternoon, and we spent WAY more than an afternoon of work with them. Amazingly many seemed to have a very high opinion of their productivit…
This has to be the fault of the organization. _Every_ intern!? I've worked at places where the onboarding was generally terrible and I'd still say 80% of the co-op interns we hired were value-positive. Although, when I do reflect on it, I suppose there was a lot we did right: - always willing to help newcomers - answering their questions - knowing when not to answer questions and let them learn through failure instea…
But that's for a Senior or Principle dev - for intermediary devs I wouldn't expect positive gain for the company for a good two months and junior devs tend to be more expensive with that training phase lasting for something like six weeks.
Interns are a loss for companies - but please don't stop hiring them, you'll get some great employees out of the process and you're also investing in developing better communication and mentorship skills for your long term employees. As someone working at a company that was teensy tiny when I started this latter point is quite important - I actively invest in my skills to keep up with the curve and make sure I'm still providing as much value as is reasonable for my position. If I had been locked away to dev code in isolation when I was hired I'd be super rusty at a lot of skills that provide my employer real value.