My enthusiasm for doing free work for you
- Rather watch Anime 30
- Imagine a Zombie Apocalpypse 12
- Who are you again? 27
- None 10
- Go Away!. 21
Don't ask me to work for free
Often times people ask me to work for them as a favor or to ‘get exposure’. Sometimes they will want to pay as little as $5 which in my books is worse than free. If a client pays anything, they feel entitled to revisions and a certain quality of work which isn’t deserving of just $5.
A majority of clients / friends will make you work for them saying it will look good on your resume, and frequently I see designers and programmers who continue to do free work with allure of getting exposure, receiving payment later when possible and making connections with friend’s or client’s rich friends who might see your work.
It’s annoying and demeaning when someone asks for free work. I feel belittled and often times angry that doesn’’t my work have any actual monetary worth.
Don’t ask me to do what I do for a living for free and I will not ask you to diagnose my illness, drive me to railway-station, shave my beard or fuckin anything else you do for living for free.
Now, when I tell same thing to some people, they argue that it will only take me few hours to do what they are asking. You have to realize that, yes, it will take me few hours, but to be able to do it in few hours I’ve spent 6 years studying and 3 years of working on it to become this proficient.
My enthusiasm to do free work for which you will earn serious moolah can be understood by following pie chart:
There are still instances where I will work for free:
1. If you are my really close friend and we get in touch at least once every week.
2. If you are a non-profit and will not profit-off of my work.
3. If you are Google, Microsoft, Facebook or any of fortune 50 company.
4. If you are in a position where working for you will give me leverage for a permanent paid position or guaranteed paid work in near-future.
SO PLEASE! If you value our relationship, do not ask me to work for free.
P.S.: The code for pie-chart can be found at my codepen:
http://codepen.io/ashwinsaxena/pen/jWWMEd
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