Ethical question: would you work for one of the tech titans for the money they offer? Remember they're involved in lots of shady shit ;)

yes. Pride and morals don't pay the bills.

And I like money.

@AleCx04 Fair reply xD They do offer some fat compensations yeah :P

Depends on the titan

@Plasticnova Let's say the usuals, so Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon etc.

hell yeah!

I don't give a fuck about their shady shit.

If I like my job and the pay is worth it, fuck ya I am. agrressive morals are a hindrance for some of y'all.

I’d work for a titan like ibm or hpe, but not those that you specifically mentioned.

The smaller companies are often no better. They just haven't got the means to pull off what the big four do - doesn't mean they wouldn't if they could.

It wouldn't hurt to try, even for a certain amount of time.

It's not like they will teach you how to ruin user privacy on the first day a la Training Day.

And after a certain point you could be like "I had enough" and go for a less savage company.

Hell, with all the things you learned you could even create your own less evil competing company in some area.

No, I already have and earn enough money

For GAFAMO: no

If I got no money, no experience, no market value and they want to hire me definitely yes cause it would be a prove for other companies and good place to build my future.

Like right now ? I like where I am, earning similar money, less rules, more free time and can live and work where the hell I want so nope, thanks for corporate rules I’d be happy to be contractor and do same things without stupid rules.

By the way those shady things are probably handled using contractors that even don’t know they’re working for those giants.

@jennytengsonM totally agree, but working only for 3 weeks may not be seen as a good sign by certain recruiters, especially if the fault is not theirs

Microsoft: 1 Billion Euro/CHF a year
Facebook: 15 Billion Euro/CHF a year
Amazon: 5 Billion Euro/CHF a year
Google: 50 Billion Euro/CHF a year
Apple: 1 Trillion Euro/CHF a year

Cash, and not a Cent/Rappen less.

Since you specified this as *ethical* question, I'll assume free choice. IOW pressure to pay bills (@AleCx04) or keep my belly full (@shoop) is out of scope.

Given that choice: Depends, and most well-known giants are out of the question.

- I will not participate in shady business. Period.
- Most tech titans' working conditions are horrible. Dev battery farm at Facebook HQ: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/14/...
- "Tech titan" usually means deep management hierarchies, which implies even worse working conditions. "Kiss up kick down". Red tape. Too many meetings, and still no transparency what "the top brass" actually do or want. Unfair salaries (-> "top brass").

My life, my health, my sanity, my happiness are all invaluable to me. You literally cannot buy "more life". So why would their money be worth it?

@TheItalianGuy hell no. I already turned down Google and Facebook recruiters in the past a few times, the last time I did was actually last week with Google Zurich

I'm just not interested in joining a cult, I guess. Also when I turned down Facebook I said the reason was purely ethical so that they don't contact me again. Of course I worded it much nicer :)

Lmao, iffahear say I no go work Microsoft😂

Nope, my morals are not relative.
Plus if you are experienced and good enough, you can get more money working as a freelancer over Toptal
Here!, my referral link: https://toptal.com//...

Hell no. I don't like to work in a big company where an individual employee has literally no say in anything.

If it would be the choice between that or starving to death, I'd work there until I could find something new, otherwise hell fucking no.

I'd never work for a mass surveillance (integrated) company out of free will.

For experience and a wicked company on the good old CV, count me in.

For long term: probably not.

Cool to see both sides of reason :) I personally stand in favor of avoiding these giants as there's much better places to gain extremely valuable experience and to get well compensated too. I bet the salary they offer can be tempting for some, but for our line of work it's not hard to find well-paying jobs overall (at least on an international level).

I won't work for a bunch of companies that have been seen countless times recently destroying public trust, like Facebook and probably Google.

But there are some companies that from my eyes seem to be working to improve people's lives.
Having spent a decent time on Microsoft's campus. I haven't really seen anything that I found alarming. The culture under Satya Nadella has been a lot more about inclusion and working with partners and other companies, as well as giving back a ton to it's communities. Certainly not the best company in the world, but at least they are building trust and improving people's lives these days....

Minus those Windows updates...

Liberty exists at the boundary of what tech is capable of.

So for example, strong privacy laws were written into the laws of the u.s. (well the constitution or whatevs), but why?

In practice, pervasive spying was unenforceable.

Now?

Not so much.

Technology and morality, at the limit of organizations (and not merely individuals), exist at the boundary of what is feasible, the incentives too great not to lead to practical violations where violations are practical..until at which time 'new normals' are established and no one gives a fuck anymore.

And so it goes.

We're a mercenary species, our lot. Probably doomed from the start.

Take the money or don't. Someone else will.

No one will care you 'sold out' in a thousand years, like no one cares ghangis khan raped, looted, and murdered tens of thousands of people. It's just a footnote in the brains of historians somewhere.

All the happenings of the world are dust and boogers between the pages of history books