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Am I the only one who read this thread and got a little sad? Technology really does have the potential to change the world for the better, and I still believe t

Am I the only one who read this thread and got a little sad? Technology really does have the potential to change the world for the better, and I still believe that. It's just sad to see so many people who just want to use their talents to make money and that's it. Anyways I can understand why people get to where they are in terms of believing that there is no meaningful work out there in software which also makes enough money to live on. We live in a pretty discouraging world. The marketplace misprices a lot of things and there are many things with high social value which are public goods that can not be sold at a high price (or at all). https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/public-good.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/public-good.asp There are things that have many negative externalities that can make a profit even though they are just a cost to society overall. https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/051515/how-do-externalities-affect-equilibrium-and-create-market-failure.asp https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/051515/how-do-exter... I am hopeful that over time we as a society can identify and correct these imperfections in the market. It will take a long time though. Just wanted to send this message out there to people who still believe that the future is going to be better than the present and that software will play a role in making that happen.

matt_s 5y ago
A lot of folks on here think the most sought after companies for SW engineers are FAANG. Base for major profits at these companies: FB - advertising Apple - hardware company with software/services Amazon - ecommerce Netflix - entertainment content streaming Google - advertising Ranking those as far as companies to make the world better, I would rank Apple at the top since they actually produce something of value to a lot of humans. If you helped build features in the Apple Watch that cause someone to see a doctor for a condition and prevent a potential major medical issue, wow - awesome! Tech or any other industry isn't going to change the world for the better. Maybe one exception of Renewable Energy, literally could help our planet. That isn't "tech" though.
- sjg007 5y ago
  Amazon = AWS >= ads > ecommerce
- dontreact 5y ago
  I agree with you that technology can be used for good, neutral, or evil purposes. I also agree with you that the largest tech companies are not all good. They are desirable because they pay well, but not to everyone. I left a job at Google, for example. (Ironically... you mentioned health, and I was lucky enough to work on health while I was there). The weird thing is that we are the tech industry. Almost everyone I know in tech reads Hackernews. If we are cynical about our own industry, it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. The idea that no industry can change the world for the better seems overly pessimistic to me. If you take a broader view going back to the 1500s vs. now, it's clear that industry has played a role in making the world better. I expect this long term trend to continue. There is definitely a growing trend for green technology, I don't see why you think that, for example, Tesla isn't a tech company that will play a role in helping the planet. There are plenty of problems besides climate change, even though that is a huge one. As I mentioned in my post before, a lot of the reasons we face these problems is related to the fact that the market does not properly price things. So of course there is going to be a mismatch between work that pays well and work that benefits society. Is this mismatch permanent? I don't think so. Is it uniform to all work? I also don't think so.
  - matt_s 5y ago
    Tesla is a car manufacturer. They operate in the luxury segment which is ~5% of all cars and they only have a slice of that. Nothing they have done, yet, has made a change in the climate that can be measured. You can believe in their mission statement about changing the world but what I've stated are facts based on data. The classification on the stock market has them in the "Consumer Cyclical - Auto Manufacturers" industry segment. If Tesla helps push major manufacturers further into EV then that is good. The mismatch on salary has always been there. For instance, teachers and emergency responders get paid very little compared to a lot of other professions. Even accountants make substantially more, probably double. Rewind history to when automobiles were coming out. People thought horses were going to be the mode of transport forever. Is the world better because of automobiles alone? Everything seems interconnected so that is where I was going with not a single industry is going to change the world. Take medical devices and Tech together and you will see more change than Tech alone. Tech can amplify other industries but alone is mostly just automation of existing things.
- ElectricMind 5y ago
  You nailed it. FB and Google are just advertising companies. I am not sure what so fuss about "I am Ex-FB or I am Ex-Google". They might as well say I am Don Drapper :)

matt_s 5y ago

A lot of folks on here think the most sought after companies for SW engineers are FAANG. Base for major profits at these companies: FB - advertising Apple - hardware company with software/services Amazon - ecommerce Netflix - entertainment content streaming Google - advertising Ranking those as far as companies to make the world better, I would rank Apple at the top since they actually produce something of value to a lot of humans. If you helped build features in the Apple Watch that cause someone to see a doctor for a condition and prevent a potential major medical issue, wow - awesome! Tech or any other industry isn't going to change the world for the better. Maybe one exception of Renewable Energy, literally could help our planet. That isn't "tech" though.

sjg007 5y ago
Amazon = AWS >= ads > ecommerce
dontreact 5y ago
I agree with you that technology can be used for good, neutral, or evil purposes. I also agree with you that the largest tech companies are not all good. They are desirable because they pay well, but not to everyone. I left a job at Google, for example. (Ironically... you mentioned health, and I was lucky enough to work on health while I was there). The weird thing is that we are the tech industry. Almost everyone I know in tech reads Hackernews. If we are cynical about our own industry, it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. The idea that no industry can change the world for the better seems overly pessimistic to me. If you take a broader view going back to the 1500s vs. now, it's clear that industry has played a role in making the world better. I expect this long term trend to continue. There is definitely a growing trend for green technology, I don't see why you think that, for example, Tesla isn't a tech company that will play a role in helping the planet. There are plenty of problems besides climate change, even though that is a huge one. As I mentioned in my post before, a lot of the reasons we face these problems is related to the fact that the market does not properly price things. So of course there is going to be a mismatch between work that pays well and work that benefits society. Is this mismatch permanent? I don't think so. Is it uniform to all work? I also don't think so.
- matt_s 5y ago
  Tesla is a car manufacturer. They operate in the luxury segment which is ~5% of all cars and they only have a slice of that. Nothing they have done, yet, has made a change in the climate that can be measured. You can believe in their mission statement about changing the world but what I've stated are facts based on data. The classification on the stock market has them in the "Consumer Cyclical - Auto Manufacturers" industry segment. If Tesla helps push major manufacturers further into EV then that is good. The mismatch on salary has always been there. For instance, teachers and emergency responders get paid very little compared to a lot of other professions. Even accountants make substantially more, probably double. Rewind history to when automobiles were coming out. People thought horses were going to be the mode of transport forever. Is the world better because of automobiles alone? Everything seems interconnected so that is where I was going with not a single industry is going to change the world. Take medical devices and Tech together and you will see more change than Tech alone. Tech can amplify other industries but alone is mostly just automation of existing things.
ElectricMind 5y ago
You nailed it. FB and Google are just advertising companies. I am not sure what so fuss about "I am Ex-FB or I am Ex-Google". They might as well say I am Don Drapper :)