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I did an unpaid internship for about a year, in the very early 1990s. I've probably talked about it in the past on here. I had left a fairly high paying job for entry level work, because I knew it was the wrong path for me. I was lost in life just as I was kind of beginning. I ended up going to grad school, soon afterward, which was really just another way to put off decisions while I figured myself out, because I had a fellowship to do it.

This was in between. It was a magazine that had a structured internship program, which was actually pretty competitive in terms of people wanting to work for them for free. Maybe it was the idiosyncratic NYC thing you are saying, but I think it was common enough by the early 1990s.

I am really glad I did it. It opened some doors for me, yeah, but way more importantly for how things turned out for me, it was just FUN. . . . it is hard to explain without explaining the particular magazine and what it was like working there and how they treated me, and I just don't want to give details. But I can tell you that several other people who did internships there around the same time I did, went on to do much bigger things in magazines than I ever was going to do, two for example who are New Yorker staff writers, so it was probably a good choice for them.

My problem, though, was that I needed to pay my expenses, which was a non-qualifier for the kind of internship they offered. Which is the rub you're talking about. The way I worked it out: I was working for a small publisher, editing text books and laying them out and working with the egghead authors to get them in print on time and on sale, so they would be available for college courses. I needed to work on site mostly, because of the necessary equipment, software, etc. The place was remarkably digital for the time, but we were still creating camera-ready copy for printing. I worked independently 99 percent of the time, and what I was doing was kind of project work, so it really didn't require me to punch a time clock if I used my time well. Since the owner trusted me, and wanted to keep me pumping out text books, we worked it out. He didn't care when I worked or how I worked, just that I met my deadlines and did good work. And he paid me well enough to live. He was remarkably accommodating, and it really worked out for both of us. That allowed me to work a full day at a magazine for 2 or 3 days a week, and a lot of what I ended up doing had me being the intern during off hours. Yes, I was hustling and working a lot, but at that age, it makes you feel like you are doing something grand.

The magazine wasn't that keen on me being a part-time intern, because it limited what they could expect from me, so they said no. But I was persistent and talked them into letting me in the door on the terms that worked for me. It turned out great, because while their other interns were essentially doing what you'd expect, grunt editorial work (but also learning a lot), I sort of became a "special projects" intern. At first, it was "What can we do with him?" But because of the nature of the magazine, and my personality, it quickly became, "Oooh, we can have him do. . . ." For this magazine, that meant some crazy, unorthodox assignments (many without a roadmap, which allowed me to try to be creative) that I wish I was comfortable getting into, because it was some of the most fun I have ever had in my life.

You can argue the value of that internship, and whether I "should" have been being paid because of the value I was bringing. But I was VERY OK with it (which is all that should matter), and actually I found something I enjoyed doing at a time I was lost and couldn't figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up. I definitely got a sense of the kind of people, and a place where I could thrive in, which was valuable for me. That seems like a mutually beneficial thing, doesn't it?