
Flowchart : Should you work for Free? - r11t
http://jhische.com/workforfree.html
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moultano
I dislike the "non-profit or charity" section. There is a HUGE difference
between a non-profit and a charity. For instance 62% of hospitals are non-
profit. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-profit_hospital>

If they don't rely on volunteers to survive, if they have revenue other than
donations, then you should be paid.

Ask the person emailing you/calling you if they themselves are a volunteer.

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lukeschlather
I'm a volunteer. I get a $450/month stipend plus room and board. The non-
profit I work for has revenue other than donations.

But we definitely rely on volunteers to survive, and that includes real
volunteers, though most volunteers do at minimum get room and board. So yes,
the non-profit picture is more complicated than the flow chart. But
personally, I don't need a stipend to do what I'm doing. A warm room and good
food in some of the most beautiful country on Earth is good enough for me.

Incidentally, if any Christian hacker types are interested in spending some
time (3+ weeks) in the Cascades, I might have some "volunteer" work for you.

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pavel_lishin
At which point does you stop being a volunteer, and start being underpaid?

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lukeschlather
I don't know. I've got all the necessities and plenty of luxuries, so I'm
content. Money is a pretty poor way of describing my quality of life.

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statictype
I like how every branch from "Is it for a legit business" ends with "NO".

Could have just short-circuited all the decision nodes after that, though that
might have been less entertaining.

~~~
mechanical_fish
Unfortunately human logic does not work like that. A general principle is
often not enough. Your thought process is astonishingly capable of being
derailed by well-practiced salespeople.

To resist sales pitches, you need training. You can't just train your mind,
you must also train your reflexes. You must condition yourself such that when
you hear specific phrases _your hand hangs up the phone all by itself._

~~~
jerf
Salespeople are human beings. But when they're selling, you're not talking to
a human being, you're talking to an affected persona. That affected persona is
no more human than my computer, and hardly any more intelligent, usually.
Click.

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Maciek416
This flow chart seems to leave out quite a few "work for free initially"
scenarios I've seen happen to friends, etc, that eventually led to companies
being formed, productive connections, etc. While nobody should work for
"nothing", there are far more subtleties to this than are expressed by this
flowchart.

I'm sure there are more than a few HNers who can attest to this. Many here
have worked on side projects with friends (or even strangers) with hardly any
hope of profit or payback. It's not always exploitative.

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Mz
Any hope of a quick run down of these other examples? (Or at least a few of
them?)

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jeremydavid
How about any internship? You work for free in exchange for the opportunity to
learn something and broaden your skills and experience.

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KaeseEs
What crazy world are you from where a coding internship is unpaid?

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run4yourlives
This is surprisingly good, actually.

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roadnottaken
Now I feel bad for charging my mom $$$...

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ZhannaSchonfeld
This reminds me of when I see ads on Craigslist for a logo designer, with a
budget of $20.

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andrewcamel
You could save us a lot of time by just putting a "NO" next to the "legitimate
business" question. To be fair, though, your humor is very much enjoyed.

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joshcrews
I _so_ loved having many different ways to end up a no for the 'legitimate
business' track. It really drove home the 'No'. And you get multiple
objections covered ("but its a startup...") And you get get separate reasons
for the 'No' based on the tree too.

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elvirs
I am ordering high-res print of this. A friend of mine would definitely make
use of it.

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rorrr
would be more readable in a tree form

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mpk
The root is a cycle, so that wouldn't work.

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rflrob
So you could have the root be "Is it for", and the options being the different
people, instead of just yes/no.

That said, it seems like the tree would be more likely to waste a bunch of
whitespace. If the goal is actually to have a working flowchart, that might
not be a problem, but I think in this case it's more of an "entertain and
amuse" kind of production, so I actually prefer the compact arrangement.

