4 ms·

It's so easy to slowly compromise your values over time when your day to day is "fix this bug, implement that feature, shepherd a few deploys". Good to take a s

It's so easy to slowly compromise your values over time when your day to day is "fix this bug, implement that feature, shepherd a few deploys". Good to take a step back sometimes and think: Is my work making a positive impact on the world? If not, is it something I can stomach? How does it align with my values? (Am I literally helping tear families apart? https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/crying-toddler-border-viral-photo-john-moore-getty-photographer_us_5b277ec6e4b0f9178a9edc31 https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/crying-toddler-border-v...) If you have the financial independence and career privilege to not contribute to making the world a worse place, that's a wonderful gift, and I hope people will not squander it.

mc32 8y ago
What’s the difference between ICE using Azure, GCE, etc., or rolling their own Dell servers? If they went in-house would the call be for Dell to not sell to them, and if so do we then ask Ford or Toyota not to sell vehicles to them and so on? What about Cisco, Apple and Microsoft selling to kingdom of Saudi Arabia, China, etc... let’s not fly Boeing or Airbus because their other units sell to govts we don’t like.
dominotw 8y ago
> Good to take a step back sometimes and think: Is my work making a positive impact on the world? Good thing here that Trump is making people do this now. ICE was doing this during Obama times[1], afaik but no one cared back then which corps ICE is working with. So perhaps this is a silver lining of trump presidency? Hope media doesn't go a back to being quite when "their guy" is in office. 1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/obama-administration-placed-children-with-human-traffickers-report-says/2016/01/28/39465050-c542-11e5-9693-933a4d31bcc8_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/obama-administration...
- aaronbrethorst 8y ago
  Check out today's episode of The Daily. They don't see Obama as having been "their guy."
  - dominotw 8y ago
    Not sure why I didn't hear about child separation before last week then? To be fair, I didn't pay any attention to news couple of yrs ago, but I feel like i would've heard about this if it was reported like it is now. Just hope they don't regress, that would be the real test. Regarding "their guy" , I was thinking of MSNBC's tweet saying Opera was "their president" or something.
    - rainonmoon 8y ago
      "Nothing but respect for MY President" is a popular meme. A joke. They retracted the tweet after explaining as much. Further, news sites covered ICE plenty during Obama's administration (a cursory Google reveals [0] and [1]) but things have undeniably gotten worse under the Trump administration[2]. [0] https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/parents-deportation_n_5531552 https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/parents-deportation_... [1] https://www.thedailybeast.com/deportation-is-ripping-families-apart-and-obama-is-doing-nothing-to-stop-it https://www.thedailybeast.com/deportation-is-ripping-familie... [2] http://theconversation.com/immigrants-deported-under-obama-share-stories-of-terror-and-rights-violations-74212 http://theconversation.com/immigrants-deported-under-obama-s...
  - mc32 8y ago
    The Daily isn’t representative of all media. It’s like saying, well the WSJ is economically literate, so therefore all media are good with economics.
- dragonwriter 8y ago
  > ICE was doing this during Obama times No it wasn't substantively. The facilities for children were used for unaccompanied minors; the Obama administration largely did not criminally detain parents crossing with minors (if illegal crossing was the only charge), so the family separation issue did not exist. There's a reason it only became an issue with the Trump “zero-tolerance” policy, and that's because the practice substantively did not exist before that.
ng12 8y ago
It's also easy to assume that other people have the same values and worldview that you do. The problem with moralizing your work is that morals are not black-and-white.
- r00fus 8y ago
  Viewpoints are different, but there's also some stuff that's just bad PR as well. If my job to promotes something that I find uncomfortable or is bad for company PR - I try to avoid. If it's pretty clear it's over the line.
hotdog97 8y ago
Maybe let the voters decide policy and the tech companies deal with the tech?

mc32 8y ago

What’s the difference between ICE using Azure, GCE, etc., or rolling their own Dell servers? If they went in-house would the call be for Dell to not sell to them, and if so do we then ask Ford or Toyota not to sell vehicles to them and so on? What about Cisco, Apple and Microsoft selling to kingdom of Saudi Arabia, China, etc... let’s not fly Boeing or Airbus because their other units sell to govts we don’t like.

dominotw 8y ago

> Good to take a step back sometimes and think: Is my work making a positive impact on the world? Good thing here that Trump is making people do this now. ICE was doing this during Obama times[1], afaik but no one cared back then which corps ICE is working with. So perhaps this is a silver lining of trump presidency? Hope media doesn't go a back to being quite when "their guy" is in office. 1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/obama-administration-placed-children-with-human-traffickers-report-says/2016/01/28/39465050-c542-11e5-9693-933a4d31bcc8_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/obama-administration...

aaronbrethorst 8y ago
Check out today's episode of The Daily. They don't see Obama as having been "their guy."
- dominotw 8y ago
  Not sure why I didn't hear about child separation before last week then? To be fair, I didn't pay any attention to news couple of yrs ago, but I feel like i would've heard about this if it was reported like it is now. Just hope they don't regress, that would be the real test. Regarding "their guy" , I was thinking of MSNBC's tweet saying Opera was "their president" or something.
  - rainonmoon 8y ago
    "Nothing but respect for MY President" is a popular meme. A joke. They retracted the tweet after explaining as much. Further, news sites covered ICE plenty during Obama's administration (a cursory Google reveals [0] and [1]) but things have undeniably gotten worse under the Trump administration[2]. [0] https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/parents-deportation_n_5531552 https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/parents-deportation_... [1] https://www.thedailybeast.com/deportation-is-ripping-families-apart-and-obama-is-doing-nothing-to-stop-it https://www.thedailybeast.com/deportation-is-ripping-familie... [2] http://theconversation.com/immigrants-deported-under-obama-share-stories-of-terror-and-rights-violations-74212 http://theconversation.com/immigrants-deported-under-obama-s...
- mc32 8y ago
  The Daily isn’t representative of all media. It’s like saying, well the WSJ is economically literate, so therefore all media are good with economics.
dragonwriter 8y ago
> ICE was doing this during Obama times No it wasn't substantively. The facilities for children were used for unaccompanied minors; the Obama administration largely did not criminally detain parents crossing with minors (if illegal crossing was the only charge), so the family separation issue did not exist. There's a reason it only became an issue with the Trump “zero-tolerance” policy, and that's because the practice substantively did not exist before that.

ng12 8y ago

It's also easy to assume that other people have the same values and worldview that you do. The problem with moralizing your work is that morals are not black-and-white.

r00fus 8y ago
Viewpoints are different, but there's also some stuff that's just bad PR as well. If my job to promotes something that I find uncomfortable or is bad for company PR - I try to avoid. If it's pretty clear it's over the line.

hotdog97 8y ago

Maybe let the voters decide policy and the tech companies deal with the tech?