• monkeyman512@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    23
    ·
    1 month ago

    I think an important detail is likely missing. My experience as a software engineer intern included getting paid well and full benefits as an employee. So legally I was an hourly employee and I think the label of “intern” was to set expectations work/performance/responsibility.

    • BertramDitore@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      14
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 month ago

      Yeah totally, that’s an important distinction. Paid interns are definitely different than unpaid interns, and can legally do essentially the same work as a paid employee.

      The way the distinction was explained to me is that an unpaid intern is essentially a student of the company, they are there to learn. They often get university credit for the internship. A paid internship is essentially an entry-level job with the expectation that you might get more on-the-job training than a ‘normal’ employee.

      This article doesn’t say if the intern was paid, but it does say the company reported the behavior to the intern’s university, so I’d guess it was unpaid.

      • Infynis@midwest.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        1 month ago

        The university I went to told us not to bother with unpaid internships, because it’s just a sign the company doesn’t care about you. Paid internships pretty much always still give college credit.

        • sugar_in_your_tea
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 month ago

          Yup, we only do paid internships, but they don’t get full-time benefits, only whatever is required for part-time employees (because they are part-time, we only have them for 20-ish hours/week).

    • dan@upvote.au
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 month ago

      Yeah, same at the company I work at - interns are paid and have benefits, including housing provided by the company.