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Comment by KG1 | Hacker News Reader

I appreciate the response. I plan on living in my van for the first several months until i get established. The reason i asked to work for free is that its been so hard to get a job and my background is not in the tech space i felt this would be the best way to get my foot in the door. I am hungry and willing to prove myself to a great team.

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If you really want to get into the tech sector, work for free for yourself and then get a paid job. Teach yourself iOS or Android development, build an app, and then promote it yourself. The app probably won't go anywhere, but seeing an actual polished app that's actually being promoted and maybe even used by a few people looks really good to any potential employer. Then get a job at market-rate wages instead of selling yourself short.

If you value yourself at nothing, chances are your employer will value you at nothing too. They'll extract whatever free work they can out of you and say goodbye as soon as you start asking to be paid.

That's a great idea. I will def do that. Its not that I don't value myself at nothing I was just trying to get in any way I can. I worked in the music industry for 5 years (large record labels) and that's how I got my foot in the door so I was just trying to do the same. Thanks for the great advice

I also came to the tech sector having previously worked in a field where the only way to get established was by working for free (publishing in my case) and was surprised to find I couldn't do the same to get a programming job.

Tech is different, and the fastest way to get an employer to stop taking you seriously is to ask for less than you appear to be worth.

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