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I have worked in ad tech. It was fun. These types of ads were a funny joke. I have also worked for US defense related companies. It was also fun and the tech w

I have worked in ad tech. It was fun. These types of ads were a funny joke. I have also worked for US defense related companies. It was also fun and the tech was top notch. Most people's jobs in the world seem to come at someone else's expense if you think deeply enough. Quite a shame.

joaodlf 7y ago
Most people here are incapable of understanding this. HN is full of people who's work is purely good and ethical :). I would love to be able to see the world through those eyes.
TeMPOraL 7y ago
> Most people's jobs in the world seem to come at someone else's expense if you think deeply enough. Quite a shame. It is true. There are degrees - some of the jobs don't hurt others, and some that do don't do it on purpose or as a primary outcome. A company making screws and nails likely exploits only its employees. Some are taking advantage of their customers but still deliver a basic need. Think grocery stores that like to screw with food quality to the limit allowed by laws and social tolerance. You don't get exactly what you think you paid for, but it won't otherwise hurt you either. Some jobs can involve hurting people, but at least have a somewhat plausible justification for it. E.g. some of the defense work can be justified by just protecting your borders and deterring attacks, and the hurt isn't realized until some external party tries to test your defenses. Then there are jobs that are purely about exploiting other people, without giving them much of value. A lot of advertising is this. Chumboxes, telemarketing, e-mail spam, native advertising, retargeting... I could go on. It all essentially boils down to treating human beings as exploitable resources - bags with money that you get to squeeze out by applying psychological pressure. It does feel very much like factory farming. (Yes, this post is sorted in descending order of what I think about occupations. Yes, I think defense companies can be morally superior to advertisers. The former help maintain a bubble of law and order in which we can happily live. The latter exist to screw our lives up.)
- joaodlf 7y ago
  Whatever makes people sleep at night :).
  - TeMPOraL 7y ago
    Well, I don't work or plan to work at a defense contractor, so it's not like I'm having trouble sleeping. So far, the worst thing I can say about the work I did in the past is that some of it was probably a waste of time and resources to work on.
- empath75 7y ago
  Quite a bit of the modern capitalist system revolves around hiding exploitation, violence and slavery from the people who benefit from it. Arbitraging evil, in a way.
tomp 7y ago
Also used to work in adtech (not military tech, yet). Now I work in finance, for a hedge fund. For all the bad things you can say about finance, at least people are voluntarily chosing to participate in it (in contrast with ads, which are pushed onto users involuntarily - maybe not online ads, but most certainly real-life ads).

joaodlf 7y ago

Most people here are incapable of understanding this. HN is full of people who's work is purely good and ethical :). I would love to be able to see the world through those eyes.

TeMPOraL 7y ago

> Most people's jobs in the world seem to come at someone else's expense if you think deeply enough. Quite a shame. It is true. There are degrees - some of the jobs don't hurt others, and some that do don't do it on purpose or as a primary outcome. A company making screws and nails likely exploits only its employees. Some are taking advantage of their customers but still deliver a basic need. Think grocery stores that like to screw with food quality to the limit allowed by laws and social tolerance. You don't get exactly what you think you paid for, but it won't otherwise hurt you either. Some jobs can involve hurting people, but at least have a somewhat plausible justification for it. E.g. some of the defense work can be justified by just protecting your borders and deterring attacks, and the hurt isn't realized until some external party tries to test your defenses. Then there are jobs that are purely about exploiting other people, without giving them much of value. A lot of advertising is this. Chumboxes, telemarketing, e-mail spam, native advertising, retargeting... I could go on. It all essentially boils down to treating human beings as exploitable resources - bags with money that you get to squeeze out by applying psychological pressure. It does feel very much like factory farming. (Yes, this post is sorted in descending order of what I think about occupations. Yes, I think defense companies can be morally superior to advertisers. The former help maintain a bubble of law and order in which we can happily live. The latter exist to screw our lives up.)

joaodlf 7y ago
Whatever makes people sleep at night :).
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  Well, I don't work or plan to work at a defense contractor, so it's not like I'm having trouble sleeping. So far, the worst thing I can say about the work I did in the past is that some of it was probably a waste of time and resources to work on.
empath75 7y ago
Quite a bit of the modern capitalist system revolves around hiding exploitation, violence and slavery from the people who benefit from it. Arbitraging evil, in a way.

tomp 7y ago

Also used to work in adtech (not military tech, yet). Now I work in finance, for a hedge fund. For all the bad things you can say about finance, at least people are voluntarily chosing to participate in it (in contrast with ads, which are pushed onto users involuntarily - maybe not online ads, but most certainly real-life ads).