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A comment on Ask HN: Is it acceptable not to pay interns?.

Re:Ask HN: Is it acceptable not to pay interns? by Mz on Saturday November 28, 2009 @09:30PM (#965818)
FWIW: I read somewhere that for some industries, unpaid internships are becoming The Norm for getting your foot in the door for certain types of things and it is becoming difficult to make it into some of the more powerful jobs (in certain industries) without having this on your resume. The piece I read criticized this practice as being a new fangled way to keep the upper class in power because the people who can afford to take a full-time job which pays nothing at all are generally going to come from a rather privileged family background. It was cited as a sneakily exclusionary practice, a la Jim Crow laws.
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Re:Ask HN: Is it acceptable not to pay interns? by jackman002 on Saturday November 28, 2009 @10:27PM (#965864)
I have had that experience with many companies. Often times in financial companies it will be up to the discretion of a partner to decide if they would like to pay interns.

I interviewed with two different offices of a large brokerage (shall remained unnamed but they were purchased by BoA). One office told me I would get school credit for filling orders. The other office offered to pay me for doing market analysis. It seems the difference lies in how much they value an interns service.

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Re:Ask HN: Is it acceptable not to pay interns? by Mz on Saturday November 28, 2009 @10:47PM (#965894)
Often, people don't see the long-term consequences of such choices. That lack of broader perspective always reminds me of the Aswan Dam. It accomplished all of its stated goals and was, therefore, a "success" as measured by the stated goals. But it had a few minor little unexpected side effects, like causing a schistosomiasis epidemic, increasing the amount spent on fertilizer for farms by like 600%, etc. ad nauseum.

I get labeled a bleeding heart idealist by a lot of people. I remain frustrated at my inability to adequately explain that my views are typically rooted in something deeply practical. A short explanation: I basically believe in "karma" -- but I don't think there is necessarily anything mystical to it. Just because people frequently can't trace the effect back to its root cause doesn't mean there is no such relationship in reality.

<crossing my fingers and hoping that doesn't sound like some unrelated meandering rant>

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