I have a game development website and just recently I’ve started receiving e-mails from students wanting placements with a studio.
Unfortunately I am in no position to fund other staff… However what if I built up my game studio using the internship approach where I hire unpaid interns to work for me and if the studios projects take off then I could actually start paying them.
It seems dodgy and morally wrong but don’t other big industries do this e.g. fashion.
Do you know anyone who has worked as an intern or a game studio that uses this form of ‘free’ labour?
What are your thoughts on ‘free’ internship powered development is it a financial trap?
We had a guy send us a email applying for internship and we decided to go for it, 10 weeks unpaid, he needs the weeks for his degree so it’s win win that way. He will be making a new level for us, he is pretty good, keen to learn but very green so I need to learn him everything from light probes to lightmaps etc. If you think you can just hire a intern and let him work on his own you are in for a disappointment
It’s better register your studio to the student career service centre of universities in your location, and let them manage the contract if you are not familiar with personnel.
I never said anything of the sort. I asked if you bother researching before starting a discussion. While I don’t expect you to constantly be aware of the laws for your country I definitely would expect you to do preliminary research before starting a discussion.
Before I started my own company I was employed at a consultant company, they had both in-house managed and customer managed projects, in the latter the consultant was hired as a resource and was sitting at the customers premises. The in-house projects was mostly formed out of people directly from the university and maybe one senior programmer. Sometimes there was 5 juniors on one senior and sometimes complete projects without any senior. I was a senior myself so never worked in-house but one summer between two projects I worked in one of those in house projetcs and it was a complete mess. I choose to scrap it all and begin on from a clean slate because the state of the code base was not usable.
Anyway my point being, you cant just let these interns alone and think you will have a maintainable product.
Haha, interns need to be supervised. I remember there was a disaster happened in long time ago, one intern from the neighbour team accidentally(or intentionally?) removed the whole pvcs mirror, that was a showoff from a dean’s list student, while the intern didn’t has the access privilege to the system. Have to admit some interns are smart, fast, creative and hard working, but still need to be supervised.
Every year I have at least one intern in my company. Internship is 3 months. I let them develop a prototype of a game that I have in mind. They learn a lot of things and i see my idea as a game…
Taking on interns is a service to the interns and the industry not to your company. You show them what the industry is like, give them something vaguely useful to do, and in general try to ensure they learn and enjoy themselves.
That isn’t an internship, that is just collaboration. Most internships are through academic organizations, and in addition to experience, the get some form of academic credits. No organization like this will recognize a hobbyist looking for free labor as an actual credible value.
No, they don’t. Interns are not “free” labor. Unpaid internships cannot displace paid positions, and the employer may not receive any benefits from the activities of the intern, it is only training. In other words, unpaid interns cannot perform any actual “labor”. Paid interns can, but there are guidelines for pay. But as above, in both cases, internships are largely for academic credit/requirements, and the institutions offering those credits scrutinize employers offering internships.
So, bottom line, no, you cannot legally offer “internships” as a source of free labour. You can try to scam people into working for you free, but that isn’t the same. And if you can’t actually afford staff, you probably can’t afford legal fees/fines for violating labour laws.
I’m also in the UK and have run a business before so I thought you might want another opinion.
Firstly, I would like to clarify as to whether you even have a registered business with Companies House? because just having a website does not make you a business entity.
Secondly (assuming you do have a business already registered - private limited companies are pretty easy to setup), there is the route of a volunteer
“You do not have a contract of employment as a volunteer, so you do not have the same rights as an employee or worker.”
https://www.gov.uk/volunteering/pay-and-expenses
You are not paid for your time as a volunteer, but you may get money to cover expenses. This is usually limited to food, drink, travel or any equipment you need to buy.
There would still be paperwork to deal with and I can’t exactly vouch for what you need to do in those circumstances (never “hired” volunteers myself).
Morally, it doesn’t really matter. If you make your expectations/the terms of volunteer work very clear, then both parties could get something useful (you - work and assets you might not have been able to make yourself, them - experience working with others and possibly credits if you publish a game)
but it all hinges on if you even have a registered business otherwise it’s moot.
insofar as the legality, just phone HMRC or the business support helpline
“You can contact the government’s Business Support Helpline for free advice.”
Has anyone built a studio on internship style free labour?
Not anyone who wants something half-decent to get made, I would imagine. Have you ever hired a cheap freelancer? Was it a great/easy experience? Now imagine trying to get 10x better results from someone with 0 incentive.
Students/beginners like to intern at reputable, established companies filled with experienced people who they can learn a lot from, or exciting startups made up of exceptional people pursuing exceptional goals. Failing this, they either want to be paid, or they want to do the minimum required to have something in their resume. They are not interested in interning, much less doing a great job, for anybody and everybody who will take them.
I think there are three ways to make headway in the tech/software industry:
Go and work for a company like most people do;
Have fun crusading on your own with limited resources;
Prove yourself worthy of working with capable people who could easily do 1) or 2), but just for fun would rather crusade with you with shared, semi-limited resources to do something they wouldn’t be able to otherwise.
Maybe not a hobbyist, but we are a company of 2 with a relative small budget, atleast compared to the AAA studios. And thats enough for institutions like you mentioned to actually recognize you as actually credible value (I guess it depends on your IP too)
Highly illegal in my jurisdiction (Australia). If a person works on a commercial project, they must be paid award rates. Volunteers can only be used for non commercial projects (ie like cleaning up a local neighborhood playground). If interns are unpaid, they must be fully supervised. To the point that the intern + supervisor cannot accomplish more work then the supervisor could by himself. As soon as the intern adds any value to your project, they must be paid.
Interns are great resources. They are much cheaper then fully fledged professionals. And they often have the basic skills of a professional. But they are not free.
