It's the younger designers in school or fresh grads that are building their first portfolio that are being commoditized even more than they already are, which is why I tell them to do pro bono work for non-profits. Designing for non-profits is like programming on open source projects - you can simultaneously gain experience on real work, build your portfolio and give back to a worthy cause.

They'll get more respect and true client interaction than with the minimum wage grunt work on crowdsourced competition sites, even if they pay rent by being a barista until they get their foot in the door somewhere in the industry, like as a low-level production artist at an ad agency.