r/Riipen

I received an invoice yesterday, but both of the other girls on my team received a notification that their deliverable is incomplete and cannot process payment? We all uploaded the same exact powerpoint and obviously a reflection too. Work was very even, and reflection was submitted. Unsure what the issue is.

Is this normal? I feel so bad that I have an invoice created and they don't. Any advice I could give them?

Not gonna lie, some of these Riipen Level UP projects are wilding😭

You click on a project thinking it’s a student learning opportunity, then suddenly the company wants:

market research, competitor analysis, social media strategy, branding plan, customer acquisition plan, implementation roadmap, final report, pitch deck, reflection, and probably a handwritten apology to their Q4 revenue.

Like bro… this is not a “student project” anymore, they just doing cheap labour cause payment is capped at 23/hr or around that and no overtime
😭

I’m not saying every company is bad. Some are actually fair. But some of these project scopes feel like companies discovered a student labour cheat code.

Anyone else seeing projects with like 8–10 deliverables and thinking, “wait… am I getting experience or am I being outsourced?”

Advice on getting project, im making well crafted applications and am skilled yet no responses. Also very few project open now.

is there any use to applying to jobs that have nothing to do with my major? would i get selected because i don’t wanna keep wasting my time when i keep getting rejected

Hello, I completed advanced ontario feb-apr on april 10 . I also completed Level up March-May on may 8. I just received my invoice for Level up yet my invoice for advanced ontario is nowhere to be found, is this normal??

I'm a bit of an unc who has work experience before going back to grad school. I was in Riipen Labs in March, and I got into FuturePath and Level UP.

Looking at the job postings, they are exploitative. They're from obscure companies or startups looking for cheap labor. The projects relevant to my industry are way beyond the competencies for a new grad, let alone a student still in school. They want deliverables with a workload of a team or at the very least someone experienced in a short time frame. Even for a rush job the compensation for expedited work is expected to be higher.

Labs doesn't provide actual work experience but at least it was low commitment. I want to put it out there especially for younger students to carefully look at the job description, what they're expecting, research the company and consider if that’s worth the money being offered. Your well being is worth more than a measly 1k-3k job for the summer. You wouldn't have the same labour protections as a person employed as this is a contract or subcontract job.

Personally, I'm not applying to the postings as they don't look worth it.

Hey, I finished the Labs April cohort project on April 17th, and some of my teammates have received their invoices already, but I am still waiting. Is anyone experiencing the same thing and have you reached out to them? thanks

So I was stupid and didn't realize they capped the applications you could send to only 4. I was just wondering how long it usually takes an employer to respond to your application? I don't want to miss out on applying to some of the other projects that I find really interesting and want to do.

Also, will more projects be posted from now until May 22nd, or is that everything already available?

In the invitation email it said May 11th well get accepted, so anyone know what time?

What’s usually the likeliness of getting accepted to a future path project and how long does it usually take for a project to respond to you and has anyone got an offer yet?

I wanted to share a few things I personally check to avoid bad or low-quality employers:

• I avoid employers with more than 20 feedback, since in some cases it looks like their entire “startup” is being built using free interns, so there won’t be much professional experience to learn from.
• I skip job postings that look clearly AI-generated or don’t have a clear scope of work.
• I always check the employer’s LinkedIn.
• Employer feedback from previous students isn’t always reliable since students may hesitate to leave honest reviews, especially when payment depends on final approval from employers.

Would love to hear if you have any other tips for spotting good vs bad employers?

Hey guys I was just wondering I finished my project on April 17th it says the pay out will be may 15th on the email I got after I submitted my final deliverable. But no invoice has been created should I be worried??

Will they add more projects for the may cohort? They have like 200 less projects that usual and im wondering if they consistently add more projects as time goes on.

Also anyone else notice levelup is so heavily geared towards business and software? I was looking for my friends what options they have for engineering to get a ballpark of what projects they list and theres like 3 engineering projects

hey guys, recently got accepted into the levelup program. i just have some general questions that i wanted to clear up if you guys know the answers. how many people take part in a cohort? there's about 300 projects, and each person can apply to 4 at a time. for tech (software/data/ai/ml) related projects, is there any interview after applying before you can get accepted? if so, is it technical/live coding? or more of a chat with the recruiter to get familiar with your tech stack and whether you'll be a good fit. how long do recruiters take to reply to your applications? what happens if you dont get accepted into any projects you applied to?

Did anyone get the email from FuturePath to access the platform ? I have successfully verified my docs and also did the course in order to get accepted, but still nothing from them. Thanks

[UPDATE] : Ive received the confirmation email (” Hi, Officially, you are in the Riipen FuturePath Spring 2026 Cohort! 🎉We will send you an invitation to the platform onMay 4th, 2026**.** “). Ive received it at 18:30. This is not the email with the invite, we will get them by may 4th.

I know it says by the 31st, but does it usually take less time than that? I finished my deliverables about 2 weeks earlier and got my feedback around then as well for context.

I finished the lab April 17th actually submitted everything on the 16th and there is no update on my account regarding when I would get paid, or anything. There’s even no feedback as well. Just wondering if anyone from this cohort has heard anything back yet or has gotten paid, I’m worried because Ive seen some stories on here about people not getting paid for whatever reason. I’m going to email them today though.

I’m applying to Future Path companies and keep noticing that most roles are in software engineering, AI, or business/marketing… fields far from my Criminology major. I’m getting rejected for lacking relevant skills, which is fair, but it makes me wonder: should non STEM students even bother applying?
Have others in unrelated majors faced the same issue?