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A few months ago I was in the job market and got a call from a recruiter at Amazon. I flatly told them that I wasn't interested in working for Amazon on ethical

by _bxg1 7y ago

A few months ago I was in the job market and got a call from a recruiter at Amazon. I flatly told them that I wasn't interested in working for Amazon on ethical grounds. At the time it was purely out of principle, but apparently it was a good decision for my self-interest as well. I wonder how long they can keep this stuff up before they start seriously damaging their desirability as a workplace, the way Facebook has?

kitanata 7y ago
I've turned down Amazon with a "hard no" twice citing exactly these reasons. As technology workers we have an ethical responsibility to not work for such a company. When enough of us boycott working at Amazon and organize in solidarity with our fellow workers they will be forced to listen. We run the world, folks. We need to start understanding the power we have in the workplace and use our voices to effect the right kind of change. We need to form a union.
folkhack 7y ago
I've shot down both Facebook and Walmart citing ethics - I'm surprised it didn't get me on a blackout list because FB keeps hitting me up bi-weekly even with COVID. I think this is going to get more popular as time goes on... I'd rather work for a company that's not abusing it's workers/the government.
tren-hard 7y ago
I quit Amazon last year on ethical grounds. I stayed for 3years. After year 1 I was miserable but stayed because tech interviews are something awful (what a crazy sentence to even write). The thing is, as long as you're on dat kooliad diet it's easy to look past all of Amazon's transgressions and unlawful, unethical, behavior because it's happening somewhere else so it's easy to rationalize why Amazon would act the way they did. Most employees that I worked with cared about one thing, the money, and the stock is hitting ATHs in a global pandemic. So how long can they keep it up? Pretty damn long and I don't expect anything to change unfortunately. PS, Remember, it isn't a faceless corporation, it's full of HN readers
aj_g 7y ago
Props to you. I am incredibly far away from the world of SV/FAANG, so tell me, is FB really becoming a less desirable place to work? It seems to me like it's a pretty small minority of people that would refuse a $1XX,000 paycheck on grounds of being a ethically dubious snowflake in the avalanche that is Facebook.
- _bxg1 7y ago
  I think the effect is small, but real. If nothing else it gives the comparable FAANGs an edge. That said I'm not in The Valley and don't know anybody who works at a FAANG.
- mav3rick 7y ago
  Don't gauge the real.world based on Hacker News. 99% of keyboard warriors will sign 250k USD+ total comp offers in a jiffy.
  - _bxg1 7y ago
    The way I see it, in the right city somebody with our skillset can step outside and trip over an offer with a very comfortable salary. In that context, I don't think there's much excuse for going out and choosing to make the world a worse place, even if you'd get paid 2x that very comfortable salary.
    - mav3rick 7y ago
      People always want more.
      - _bxg1 7y ago
        I'm not saying you're wrong, just saying it's morally unjustifiable.
    - folkhack 7y ago
      You can still find incredibly good compensation in our realm without working for a FAANG. Yeah - they have resources to pay out the nose but there's a lot of places to land that don't have huge public-facing ethics issues hanging over your head. Maybe I'm being an idealist punk for feeling this way but I'll take less pay to be able to live with myself... Especially in regards to the places that I've given a hard-no: Walmart and Facebook as these companies are actively hurting my country every day.

by _bxg1 7y ago

kitanata 7y ago

I've turned down Amazon with a "hard no" twice citing exactly these reasons. As technology workers we have an ethical responsibility to not work for such a company. When enough of us boycott working at Amazon and organize in solidarity with our fellow workers they will be forced to listen. We run the world, folks. We need to start understanding the power we have in the workplace and use our voices to effect the right kind of change. We need to form a union.

folkhack 7y ago

I've shot down both Facebook and Walmart citing ethics - I'm surprised it didn't get me on a blackout list because FB keeps hitting me up bi-weekly even with COVID. I think this is going to get more popular as time goes on... I'd rather work for a company that's not abusing it's workers/the government.

tren-hard 7y ago

I quit Amazon last year on ethical grounds. I stayed for 3years. After year 1 I was miserable but stayed because tech interviews are something awful (what a crazy sentence to even write). The thing is, as long as you're on dat kooliad diet it's easy to look past all of Amazon's transgressions and unlawful, unethical, behavior because it's happening somewhere else so it's easy to rationalize why Amazon would act the way they did. Most employees that I worked with cared about one thing, the money, and the stock is hitting ATHs in a global pandemic. So how long can they keep it up? Pretty damn long and I don't expect anything to change unfortunately. PS, Remember, it isn't a faceless corporation, it's full of HN readers

aj_g 7y ago

Props to you. I am incredibly far away from the world of SV/FAANG, so tell me, is FB really becoming a less desirable place to work? It seems to me like it's a pretty small minority of people that would refuse a $1XX,000 paycheck on grounds of being a ethically dubious snowflake in the avalanche that is Facebook.

_bxg1 7y ago
I think the effect is small, but real. If nothing else it gives the comparable FAANGs an edge. That said I'm not in The Valley and don't know anybody who works at a FAANG.
mav3rick 7y ago
Don't gauge the real.world based on Hacker News. 99% of keyboard warriors will sign 250k USD+ total comp offers in a jiffy.
- _bxg1 7y ago
  The way I see it, in the right city somebody with our skillset can step outside and trip over an offer with a very comfortable salary. In that context, I don't think there's much excuse for going out and choosing to make the world a worse place, even if you'd get paid 2x that very comfortable salary.
  - mav3rick 7y ago
    People always want more.
    - _bxg1 7y ago
      I'm not saying you're wrong, just saying it's morally unjustifiable.
  - folkhack 7y ago
    You can still find incredibly good compensation in our realm without working for a FAANG. Yeah - they have resources to pay out the nose but there's a lot of places to land that don't have huge public-facing ethics issues hanging over your head. Maybe I'm being an idealist punk for feeling this way but I'll take less pay to be able to live with myself... Especially in regards to the places that I've given a hard-no: Walmart and Facebook as these companies are actively hurting my country every day.