Timeline for How should I respond to requests to work "for exposure"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
19 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Nov 19, 2020 at 18:42 | comment | added | Scott | Good point.... :) | |
| Nov 19, 2020 at 18:41 | comment | added | Peter M | @Scott I know what internships are supposed to be about, but what they actually are about can be different. | |
| Nov 19, 2020 at 18:38 | comment | added | Scott | @PeterM Internships are not supposed to be about "exposure". They are supposed to be about "learning on the job". The point of an internship is to practice the skills you learned during education in real-world scenarios so one gains practical experience. Exposure is rarely the point of an internship, in fact, just the opposite. | |
| Nov 19, 2020 at 18:28 | comment | added | Peter M | After reading your answer, it made me think of the comparison to unpaid internships, where you effectively work for free for the "exposure". It may be that the requests to work for exposure are influenced by the existence of such internships. | |
| Oct 13, 2020 at 22:42 | comment | added | reirab | I would disagree somewhat with saying that this indicates a "bad client." Though, it's not the 'bad' part I'd disagree with, but rather the 'client' part. ;) I don't think someone asking for a hand-out really counts as a 'client.' | |
| Oct 12, 2020 at 23:27 | comment | added | Scott | It's unlikely any client asking for free work, at least those I've encountered, would entertain any barter deal whatsoever even for a moment. Most will balk instantly as if it were a gag reflex. | |
| Oct 12, 2020 at 23:25 | comment | added | Flater | @Schwern: I get that point, but then you're still giving a discount in response to being haggled for no money offered at all. That's not really conducive to making this sort of behavior stop. They're still getting a discount and will assume that offering exposure first caused it. | |
| Oct 12, 2020 at 23:24 | comment | added | Scott | I don't disagree, @Flater . My point was.. if you were to ask them for an relatively equal "freebie" on their part, chances are they will immediately feel you are overstepping and asking for too much. A legitimate barter deal would be negotiated. | |
| Oct 12, 2020 at 23:24 | comment | added | Schwern | @Flater It's not meant to be a real offer. It's meant to get the person to realize how rude asking someone to "work for exposure" is. | |
| Oct 12, 2020 at 23:22 | comment | added | Flater | The thing is that in general, concrete stuff is less useful than money. Okay, the odds of something else happening to you whereby you get plenty of dog food (e.g. some lottery winning a lifetime supply) are tiny, but the general principle is that even for an astronomically small chance of this happening, $6000 in cash is still a non-zero amount better than $6000 in dogfood. But here's where you make your own decision. If you really want the commission, accepting dog food instead of money might matter enough for you (considerations like that hinge on how much other work you have availlable). | |
| Oct 12, 2020 at 23:18 | comment | added | Scott | By using a what you would pay for dog food, you are giving the client, presumably, a discount. Because they, in all likelihood, pay wholesale, while you pay retail. Ultimately you earn what you would spend in dog food. 😀 Now storing $6k worth of dog food may be another matter. | |
| Oct 12, 2020 at 23:13 | comment | added | Flater | Note that when you ask for something tangible in a barter deal, take into account that they purchase their goods at a lower price than they sell them. If you ask for $6000 of that dog food, it would still be a discount for them. I don't know what the margins on dog food are, but some products may have massive margins and getting stuff at market-price would still be a massive discount for them, not you. Then again, it also depends on whether you're free anyway and happy enough with market-price dog food. If you're free and looking for work, maybe you're happy enough with the market-price deal. | |
| Oct 12, 2020 at 19:42 | history | edited | Scott | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Oct 12, 2020 at 10:43 | history | edited | Scott | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Oct 12, 2020 at 10:14 | history | edited | Scott | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Oct 12, 2020 at 9:50 | history | edited | Scott | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Oct 12, 2020 at 9:43 | history | edited | Scott | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Oct 12, 2020 at 9:34 | history | edited | Scott | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Oct 12, 2020 at 9:29 | history | answered | Scott | CC BY-SA 4.0 |