Ask HN: Why do people work at evil megacorps?

6 points by tjstebbing 4 years ago | 13 comments

Recently read a tweet from a person complaining that most FB engineers studied for months to pass the interview, and how 'that didn't sit right'.

It made me think 'But working for a company accused of huge violations of personal privacy, as well as actual harm to vulnerable demographics.. does sit right?'

Do you work at or aspire to join a company like Meta, Alphabet, etc, and if so how do you reconcile that desire with their problematic histories.

Are you hoping to be the change? Is it about money and recognition? Or is it just not something you think about?

No judgement, I'm genuinely interested.

flamesofphx 4 years ago |

I really do believe the old wivetales that everyone can be bought (Whether it be by money, power, or with fear). it's just there are some people out there willing to accept a pat on the back by those with power thinking they can avoid fear. For them its better to be a passenger on the train heading toward oblivion, then tied to its track. Then there are the egotists, who think they can work there way into a position or power, instead of remaining a cog. Finally there are those naive enough who think that miracles occur all the time, and they alone can enact some change in something already lost.

ThrowawayR2 4 years ago |

The truth is more banal: nearly nobody has even heard about which corporations a few noisy people think are "evil" and even fewer would care if they did. Ask yourself: how much revenue did Amazon pull in last year? Microsoft? Meta?

Don't mistake the blather on social media, including HN, for the real world.

ldjkfkdsjnv 4 years ago |

Well its between financial comfort (making 400-500k), and a life of wage slavery. If I make enough, I can retire and do what I want in life. If I dont make enough, I will live the only time I have alive a slave

GianFabien 4 years ago | |

In most cases, people on high incomes spend far more and save very little. In spite of initial good intentions, they end up not retiring until much later than initially planned. Concurrently they accrue various aliments which further impacts upon their quality of life.

In practice people are slaves to their egos and aspirations. The option to live in a low-cost area, doing lesser paid, but fulfilling work is to many a less appealing choice.

richliss 4 years ago |

Being unemployed in a large expensive city where you have friends etc. is expensive and depressing.

I once burned through approximately $35K waiting for the right job to come along out of moral conviction during my first experience of tough financial times.

You might think "no problem" but it will massively delay how early you can get a mortgage and significantly reduce your pension pot.

Also you know what? Most people you know who you think would judge you would and most likely will take jobs for morally questionable companies at some point.

Jensson 4 years ago |

Every large company and most small companies are evil, it is really hard to avoid them all. What about government work? The government is for sure evil, just look at how they spy on everyone, so that is off the table as well. What about other government agencies that doesn't spy? Well, that is like working at other departments of a company, you are evil by association even if your work isn't evil.

ironmagma 4 years ago |

I honestly believe that parents have somewhat of a duty to work whatever job will provide their children the best outcome in life. I worked at some evil companies (ultimately left, eventually) that paid amazingly, and the workers (parents) who worked their asses off there? Can't blame them one bit.

GianFabien 4 years ago | |

And in doing so, those parents have normalized the idea of working in an evil company for their children. Isn't that an less than ideal outcome in their lives?

ironmagma 4 years ago | | |

Is it really the parents who have normalized this, or the investors that supported said business, the CEO for hiring them, the customers for paying them money, the courts for allowing the business to exist, etc.? The parents are simply maximizing a function made available to them. The function is provided by all of society, so we can hardly blame the parents for the whole thing.

cable2600 4 years ago |

The evil megacorps tend to pay more and have good benefits. But they will downsize in a hurry when they lose profits. I had a friend who worked at Microsoft for 10 years and they laid him off. I have friends who went to California Silicon Valley and it ate them up and they burned out. Just a job they see.

yuppie_scum 4 years ago |

Follow the money, Lebowski

fuzzfactor 4 years ago |

You mean it isn't the evil aspect that attracts them to the companies in the first place?

What are the people who are seeking out evil supposed to do?

What other kind of megacorps would you want anyway?

simplicialset 4 years ago | |

The main problem is the "mega" part which is mostly a side-effect of seeking profit without wondering whether that's the best way to structure an organization that seeks to "connect everyone" or "organize the world's knowledge". Neither of those missions should be subordinate to profit motives but at the moment the companies that claim it's their mission to "organize the world's knowledge" or to "connect everyone" are actually doing something else entirely: trying to make as much money as possible.