This article laments the deplorable circumstances of the intern, yet I see no evidence that the author spoke with a single intern to find out what those circumstances might be like. Juilin, you say you needed experience to become marketable. Working for free for a month led to a paid position. From what you said, it looks like things worked out well. It is as if you "paid" a month of salary to get the experience you needed to qualify for a paid position. You didn't work for nothing. Now you have a salaried position. Every month someone is buying your time, effort, and talent. Why do you have a "feeling of irrelevance and disposability"? Thanks if you can help me understand internships from an intern's point of view, something this article failed to do.