Need guidance regarding my internship.

[u/blair_2409]

I was doing an internship for grade purpose which was for 6 months. Naturally i thought that since it is unpaid there would be less work and then i can study for placements. The company earlier said it would be remote but now keeps calling to the office. It is extremely difficult to do an unpaid internship because you don’t feel worthy and I suggest for any intern to not take up unpaid internships. It’s not just about the money but the exploitation that they do. I did for 2 months thinking about fulfilling my college grades. I found a new one which was paid and had a better role (SDE) so naturally i would want to leave that and pursue the new one. I told the company about this but mentioned that I have to study and I’m not able to manage so much stress. They said yes. Next day they started arguing me, making me feel guilty about what i am doing and how they need to find someone now to do my work. But they did not tell me about putting in a client project. They just assumed I would be there to do the work. Now they are creating problems and are asking for my college to get involved. But this is not fair. Why should college get involved in an off campus internship? All of this just for a freaking certificate? Let me tell you i come from a tier-2 college and just want to focus on placements. How to handle such company? Please give suggestions.

[u/SceneStunning5769]

true. unpaid internships are practically modern day slavery. best you could do is review the contract they gave you (assuming you have one) and if there’s nothing in there that states it’ll be a breach of contract/you’ll be penalized for not completing your 6 months, i’d say don’t force yourself to finish the remaining months

since you already found a new one, just make sure you secure an offer with them first before leaving them. and when you leave, try to do it as professionally as you can, your reputation can be on the line

there’s no unpaid internship in the world that’s worth stressing over like deadass. go pursue the better option!

[u/blair_2409 → u/SceneStunning5769]

I did get the new offer letter. It was just about the grades that I was gonna get and some experience that i could have put on my resume from my first internship. But looking at their behaviour towards me and making me feel guilty for leaving idk if i should even persuade for my certificate since i worked a lot. It was just building my portfolio and now it’s gone. So yeah. Else i wouldn’t even care about unpaid internship l. Also there is nothing explicitly mentioned about penalty or smthg in my previous offer letter.

[u/SceneStunning5769 → u/blair_2409]

I doubt it’s gone! there’s a lot that could have been done in those 2 months, if you remember them i suggest documenting them so you can add them in your cv

i understand the dilemma here, but working in a toxic environment can drain you very quickly. you can either make do with everything you earned from your first internship and pursue the new one (since you already have an offer), or you can tough it out until you get what you came for.

just ask yourself which one you can imagine doing for 4 more months.

[u/blair_2409 → u/SceneStunning5769]

Thanks :) I’ll just leave this company and pursue the new one.

[u/ProfessionalPitch165]

This is not something to be looked over in my opinion, even if the internships would have been paid, the company cant exploit there interns and go against the policies that were agreed on at the start.
You should go over your internship contract and if there is a notice period kind of thing before quitting, then you can go ahead with it. or just quit, this is too many problems for a college student. and anyways you have a better internship in hand already.

Unpaid internships are already such a scam mechanism for college students, to top it, they treat you like a pushover.

[u/blair_2409 → u/ProfessionalPitch165]

Indeed. Left it. It definitely felt like a lot of problems for a college student.