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> No one works for any BigTech company because they think they are making the world a better place. I'm sure there are plenty of people who work at big compani
by bsimpson 2y ago
> No one works for any BigTech company because they think they are making the world a better place.
I'm sure there are plenty of people who work at big companies for precisely this reason (or at least, with that as _a_ reason among many).
Yes, much of the prestige has worn off as the old guard retired and current leadership emphasizes chasing AI buzzwords and cutting costs. But still, big companies are one of the few places where an individual really can point out something they worked on in day-to-day life. (Pull out any Android phone and I can show you the parts that my work touched.)
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- int_19h 2y agoCan confirm that this is definitely the case. Working at BigTech company to "make the world a better place" can actually feel like it makes some sort of sense because - especially if you're on a team that ships a highly visible product - you have a lot of customers, so even small improvements have an outsized effect. And it takes a while for a young dev to register that the goals that the larger organization pursues are going to win out in the end anyway.
- scarface_74 2y agoIf you are working at either Google or Meta, you’re involved in adTech. Not exactly making the world a better place.
- int_19h 2y agoI'm not saying that this is objectively wrong, but it's not always so clear-cut. E.g. supposing you're at Google, but you're working on the Go compiler or libraries. Does it mean that you are "involved in ad tech"? Kinda sorta, since what you do makes other Google employees more productive at writing ad tech. But there are millions of Go users outside the company using it for all kinds of things, so one can reasonably conclude that whatever benefit Google itself derives from their contribution to Go, it's dwarfed by the public benefit from the same.