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Is there any trend currently for young people or new college grads to avoid these huge manipulative companies like Facebook or Google? I honestly have no idea,

Is there any trend currently for young people or new college grads to avoid these huge manipulative companies like Facebook or Google? I honestly have no idea, I haven't talked to a student or recent grad in awhile, but after the events of the past 24 months I wonder what a 20 year old pondering internships thinks about all this? When I graduated in '98 the most "cool" thing was to work for the biggest name possible (so Microsoft or IBM at the time), but I imagine things have changed.

marnett 9y ago
Not any meaningful trend that I have realized. Most kids still flock to the large companies. Working for them for the prestige and pay is always the aim for the super ambitious, but, with the fat checks they get, working for Facebook is just the beginning of compromising ethics.
jonathanyc 9y ago
I have observed a dangerous sort of fashionable cynicism based on the (claimed) belief that things are so bad in general—in politics, in industry, and in society—that surely working for such a company, or on Wall Street, isn’t such a big deal. In other words, that this is just how things are. In fact it seems like some sort of perversion of the Protestant ethic where instead of undeserved salvation being witnessed by material success through hard work, so-called intelligence and maturity—“ironically” acknowledged to be the fruits of privilege and good fortune—are evidenced by holding reactionary (“centrist”) views and by taking these sorts of jobs. This accounts for many of the upper middle class new grads I see (kids who couldn’t guess how much their family earned within 100k and wouldn’t see that as unreasonable). When it comes to lower income or many international students, there is definitely an advantage to the Google/Facebook brand on your resume, magnified when you are talking about using your resume overseas. And of course in that case or if you expect to have to pay medical bills for aging parents soon it is a grand sort of luxury to turn down such a job offer. The consequence, ironically, is that both the fashionable cynics as well as the idealistic new grads who turn away from Google/Facebook thus end up being mostly affluent and (debatably) largely white. Go to the careers page of some social-good startup and check out their photos! That covers the pull factors I’ve seen. In terms of push factors you have to also account for Google/Facebook just having an order of magnitude more recruiting money and brand recognition.
discr3t3 9y ago
I'm currently a CS senior graduating this semester, and there's definitely still a draw for CS students to go work for the "Big N" and other large tech companies. That said, there are still students (me included) that don't want to work for those companies for various reasons, including not wanting to contribute to these companies' goal of "surveillance capitalism".
siruncledrew 9y ago
This is purely personal experience based on what my university colleagues tell me, but I think the solidarity gets surprisingly diluted as money is thrown in their faces. Tech aside, money is really the game changer in getting people to cave on their personal values. As long as these companies have huge salaries to throw around, people will take it, even if it means biting their tongue and closing their minds. It's depressingly ironic how many students will vocalize their anti-Facebook or anti-Google sentiments, then turn around and interview with those same companies because who doesn't want to make $200k+ with cushiony perks after living off fast food and dealing with college debt. Then if they leave after 2-3 years, the next batch of hired help comes in to run the machine, and it's just rinse and repeat for Facebook and Google.
nvarsj 9y ago
I think the allure of working at Google/FB is too great. Facebook pays insane amounts to new grads. Then there is the google recognition, where simply having google on your CV seems to open every door around. Startups advertise their companies as being founded by “googlers” more than they actually try to sell their business ideas half the time. The brand recognition is powerful.

marnett 9y ago

Not any meaningful trend that I have realized. Most kids still flock to the large companies. Working for them for the prestige and pay is always the aim for the super ambitious, but, with the fat checks they get, working for Facebook is just the beginning of compromising ethics.

jonathanyc 9y ago

I have observed a dangerous sort of fashionable cynicism based on the (claimed) belief that things are so bad in general—in politics, in industry, and in society—that surely working for such a company, or on Wall Street, isn’t such a big deal. In other words, that this is just how things are. In fact it seems like some sort of perversion of the Protestant ethic where instead of undeserved salvation being witnessed by material success through hard work, so-called intelligence and maturity—“ironically” acknowledged to be the fruits of privilege and good fortune—are evidenced by holding reactionary (“centrist”) views and by taking these sorts of jobs. This accounts for many of the upper middle class new grads I see (kids who couldn’t guess how much their family earned within 100k and wouldn’t see that as unreasonable). When it comes to lower income or many international students, there is definitely an advantage to the Google/Facebook brand on your resume, magnified when you are talking about using your resume overseas. And of course in that case or if you expect to have to pay medical bills for aging parents soon it is a grand sort of luxury to turn down such a job offer. The consequence, ironically, is that both the fashionable cynics as well as the idealistic new grads who turn away from Google/Facebook thus end up being mostly affluent and (debatably) largely white. Go to the careers page of some social-good startup and check out their photos! That covers the pull factors I’ve seen. In terms of push factors you have to also account for Google/Facebook just having an order of magnitude more recruiting money and brand recognition.

discr3t3 9y ago

I'm currently a CS senior graduating this semester, and there's definitely still a draw for CS students to go work for the "Big N" and other large tech companies. That said, there are still students (me included) that don't want to work for those companies for various reasons, including not wanting to contribute to these companies' goal of "surveillance capitalism".

siruncledrew 9y ago

This is purely personal experience based on what my university colleagues tell me, but I think the solidarity gets surprisingly diluted as money is thrown in their faces. Tech aside, money is really the game changer in getting people to cave on their personal values. As long as these companies have huge salaries to throw around, people will take it, even if it means biting their tongue and closing their minds. It's depressingly ironic how many students will vocalize their anti-Facebook or anti-Google sentiments, then turn around and interview with those same companies because who doesn't want to make $200k+ with cushiony perks after living off fast food and dealing with college debt. Then if they leave after 2-3 years, the next batch of hired help comes in to run the machine, and it's just rinse and repeat for Facebook and Google.

nvarsj 9y ago

I think the allure of working at Google/FB is too great. Facebook pays insane amounts to new grads. Then there is the google recognition, where simply having google on your CV seems to open every door around. Startups advertise their companies as being founded by “googlers” more than they actually try to sell their business ideas half the time. The brand recognition is powerful.