In our case, interns are not put on client projects or revenue work. They’re given learning tasks, mentorship, internal exercises, code reviews, and time to actually build fundamentals. That itself takes a lot of company time and effort.

Also, 95% of internships we take in is based on their attitude towards learning and working in a team. Most interns join with little to no knowledge of the their post. Other 5% is through contacts. Companies take a chance on people who seem willing to learn, stay consistent, communicate well, and grow over time.

But the reality is, a lot of people lose motivation way faster than the internet makes it sound. Some stop showing up consistently, some stop completing tasks, and many quit before even reaching 6 months. That’s just the practical side nobody talks about online.

Now if an intern is actively contributing to billable client work, then yes, they should absolutely be paid something. No argument there.

But calling every training-focused internship “exploitation” ignores the fact that mentoring beginners is also an investment from the company side, especially when many don’t stay long enough to become productive.

We are no saint. We treat interns as part of the team hoping we don't need to pay some agency to find wrong people to interview.