Title: From the smallest startup, to Google, almost everyone I&#x27;ve ever interviewed with has required unpaid project work.<p>I rarely, if ever, get feedback on these projects.  In later rounds, it&#x27;s obvious most interviewers haven&#x27;t seen the project or even know you did it.<p>Why is software engineering the only industry I&#x27;m aware of that requires you to prove that you know how to do things you&#x27;ve been doing for years and years? Your projects on Github, degree in your field, and resume don&#x27;t matter and are rarely discussed.<p>Unpaid projects, over and over.<p>Companies are too lazy to do their own work and we are all getting screwed.<p>How many hours of free work have you had to do, only to get ghosted, denied without feedback, or see your work turn up in their product later?<p>It isn&#x27;t that hard of a problem to fix:  stop being cheap and pay people for their time.<p>&quot;But we can&#x27;t afford it...&quot; - nonsense!  Esp. big companies.  Poppycock.<p>If it&#x27;s &quot;too expensive&quot;, you need to have a better funnel upfront before the project stage.<p>Properly compensating for interviews would be a huge differentiator for recruiting.<p>Great engineer A: &quot;I interviewed at Company X, and didn&#x27;t get it.  But they paid me $1000 for a day&#x27;s work.  It was pretty cool.&quot;<p>&quot;Rockstar&quot; engineer B: &quot;Wow, that sounds neat. Too bad you didn&#x27;t get it!&quot; (Maybe I&#x27;ll interview there too...)<p>vs. ill-will from unpaid<p>Great engineer a: &quot;Yeah I interviewed with company X and they made me do a 3 day unpaid project.  I didn&#x27;t get any feedback and they made me do a technical interview AFTER I had already submitted the project, where they just asked unrelated trivia.  One line rejection e-mail.&quot;<p>&quot;Rockstar&quot; engineer B: &quot;Yeah that sucks.  They sound awful.  You dodged a bullet&quot; (continues working where they are)<p>If I do work for you, pay me for it.
If I do work for you, give me feedback.
If I do work for you, respect my time.
Upvote: