
Should I Work for Free? - marcinj
http://shouldiworkforfree.com/
======
sbisker
When I clicked, I was hoping this was going to be one of those web pages with
nothing but a big, bold Helvetica NO on it. (And in the event of a total
collapse of the economy, only then might it change to YES.)

Apparently Jessica (the author) is a nicer person than I am.

That said, whipping up a flyer pro-bono might be faster than whipping up a web
design pro-bono (which is the situation I find myself in) - so I suspect this
chart needs to be scaled to the time required to perform one's profession. I'd
be curious to see what the "hey, can you make me a website?" version of this
looks like.

------
woodall
I have an interview Monday with some randoms and I am a bit worried; non-paid,
equity only. Is it even worth the drive? Should I be wasting my time? Will
they even be successful?

Well I'm unemployed, can't find work- I'm even in Google Security Hall of
Fame, interned at the District Attorney's office and two classes shy of my CJ
degree- and really need something to get me started... so why not? Not saying
this path is for everyone, but you have to risk something if you ever want to
gain anything.

~~~
sbisker
It's worth it if it's a lot of equity. And if you have your lawyer look at the
equity contract before you start.

Get your equity contract drawn up before you do a thing. Set up a schedule for
your equity to be awarded as your work progresses, not all "at some point in
the future" - to ensure that even if you get canned quickly (or they raise
money and decide to squeeze you out) you still get _something_ for your
trouble.

If they're not willing to give you a very strong equity offer (in writing),
try to get them to agree to a deferred salary agreement. Again, in writing,
where if they raise money, they're actually going to give you some of it. Only
do this if you feel fairly confident they will in fact raise some amount of
cash someday (or you like the project enough that you're willing to take the
risk.)

If they won't agree to either of these things, _run._

------
MostAwesomeDude
I don't see an option for working for the open-source community. This chart
doesn't answer the question, "Should I continue to open-source my unpaid work
if I don't get any compensation?"

Of course, this is HN, so everybody's concerned with making money.

