[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

RE: [ProgSoc] Idea



> > it sounds like a great way for someone to volunteer all
> > their free time and energy to benefit people who are 
> > already doing well (e.g. the small businesses on George St). 
>
> That's a lame argument. The idea that you shouldn't help 
> someone who is "doing well" to "do better" is ridiculously
> small minded.

I don't know if this is really the best place to jump in with my comment,
but here goes...

Actually, I did think your idea was very interesting to hear, John.


However, I wanted to bring up something I've felt is a little odd about UTS.
At UTS, I keep hearing lots of talk of people doing work for free, lots of
requests on start.it.uts.edu.au for volunteer undergrad work because it
'looks great on the resume'. I understand that some students may want to
help out a legitimate charitable cause, and that is fair enough. But, when
real companies are expecting free work from talented and trained/training
students, it strikes me as very odd. Little cafés never ask for free workers
for 'resume experience' (even though it could presumably be a starting point
for a career in hospitality).

Again, I don't really understand why this seems so prominent at UTS
(compared to my experiences as an undergraduate at a different university).
I remember thinking that, as an IT student, anything less than $20/hour was
for suckers.

If you are serious about the idea, I think everybody would be a lot happier
if you did treat it as though it were a more serious business idea that
actually paid people money. $25/hour or more sounds reasonably generous for
a student (it is better pay than McD's or a little café), but is still a
HUGE bargain compared to the competition. $15/20/25/hour isn't that much in
the scheme of things to most small companies, but it can make a HUGE
difference to the quality of life (and motivation) of a student struggling
to make ends meet. If the idea doesn't fly even at a measly $15/hour, it
probably wasn't worth much to the business community anyway.

(A related rant by designers/artists: http://www.no-spec.com/ ) 

-Ben



-
You are subscribed to the progsoc mailing list. To unsubscribe, send a
message containing "unsubscribe" to progsoc-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
If you are having trouble, ask owner-progsoc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx for help.