I don't think it's particularly hypocritical. I even think you can do both, and, I think it's fine to do so if you need to reconcile what it is you work on with

I don't think it's particularly hypocritical. I even think you can do both, and, I think it's fine to do so if you need to reconcile what it is you work on with your personal morals. I spent a decade in public digitalisation in Denmark and I did a lot of good for the welfare of our country through that work. That was part of why I did it for a much lower pay than what I now earn in the private sector. Right now I work in what is essentially an investment bank. We use investor money to build or renovate solar plants for a nice profit. Both of these areas would likely be seen as "evil" by some people. But to me, they align with my personal morals. In the public service I tried to make sure as much of the budget went to people who actually provide welfare. In the investment bank I'm not motivated by making the rich, even richer. It is a place I get to work on green energy, however, and that's something I care about. I guess I could do that in other places, but as much as green NGO's have a good impact on our business, by things like opening financial incentives when companies like Meta "buy climate indulgence" it's not necessarily building the stuff. We've build over 600 solar plants around the globe, however, and that wouldn't have happened without the investor money. Is that hypocritical? Maybe it is to you, but it sure isn't to me. It's just how the world works. I think I would take a similar stance on defense tech. On one hand I think it's sort of natural to feel bad about building something which might kill people. On the other hand the world has always sort of functioned on a "might makes right" principle, no matter how much we don't like to admit it. If whatever culture you're part of doesn't maintain it's "might" then it will likely be subdued by those who do. Is that great? No, and maybe it would be better to work on something that related to changing the status quo, but it would also be sort of naive to turn the blind eye to how the world is going to be for the foreseeable future. So I can certainly see how people can reconcile working in the defense industry with their personal morals without being hypocritical.