Here are my thoughts on the recent Chief of Staff to Deepinder Goyal role publicized by the Zomato CEO:

• Do not be wary to pay for an education, even later in life. Think of it as an investment. Also remember, not all investments have a positive RoI. Do not invest blindly.
• Unpaid roles are fine. The modern workplace is constantly changing and everyone isn’t going to be prepared to contribute from Day 1. It’s a good thing to have unpaid roles for getting your foot inside the door – even unpaid roles require a non-zero amount of investment from the employer. Unpaid roles are justified when the opportunity cost of not accepting will be zero anyway.
• If you do accept an unpaid role, the clock is ticking for you to soak up as much knowledge as possible. The sooner you can prove to your employer that you’re able to add value, the sooner you can ask for monetary compensation. As a rule of thumb, this window should not be any longer than 6 months – after this time, either you should have got everything out of the role, or you should have a concrete case for monetary compensation.