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Comment by s73v3r_ | Hacker News Reader

Working for free devalues the entire profession, and disrespects us all. It reenforces the idea that people should have to work for free to "prove themselves", which shuts things out to only those who can afford to work for free (people from rich families, people who don't have a family to support)

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I agree with you but in reality you do what you have to do.

Btw Buffett's mentor did not hire him even though Buffett wanted to work for free. He later offered him a paying job.

Without context, working for free requires careful thought. But in the context of this conversation "free" means without monetary compensation, but you're still receiving the benefit of the mentorship (and thus not free).

TLDR; No one's advocating working for free. The Warren Buffett approach is "trade money for time with a good mentor."

The person above literally said "work for free". Those were the exact words said.

And I don't know about you, but I can't buy food or pay rent with "time from a good mentor."

I think you're missing the point, but maybe I'm missing yours.

Perhaps I could use some mentorship from you. =)

I'm saying that, when working for free becomes the norm to advance, the only people that can do so are those who can afford to work for free. If you're someone who isn't already rich, or someone who doesn't come from a wealthy family, you can't afford to work for free. You still have to pay for rent and food.

Um. Can't the same be said about college?

As someone who comes from a poor family, couldn't afford college, and went the mentor-with-free-work route instead, your comment is particularly and hilariously myopic. :)

No, it can't. For one, college has massive amount of financial aid that can come along with it.

And tell me, how did you eat while going the "mentor-with-free-work" route? How did you put a roof over your head? If the answer to those is "family", then you're not one of the people that my comment was about.

I moved into an overpriced shithole apartment at 19 while working at a NOC in the city. Before moving out, I was doing a 5hr/day commute and paid rent to my parents. Pretty sure I'm one of the people you're talking about.

Are you advocating against mentorship as a principle?

I'm advocating against free work. If you do work, you should be paid for it.

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