5 ms·

List successful companies you would not define as evil.

by newsoftheday 7mo ago

fsflover 7mo ago
Pine64. ("Successful" doesn't have to mean "a megacorp".)
jjice 7mo ago
Costco maybe?
mirekrusin 7mo ago
37signals, vanguard, costco, proton, fastmail, mullvad vpn, framework, automattic, valve, patagonia, lego, linear, hetzner, tarsnap, ...
- antonymoose 7mo ago
  Valve has been making money hand over fist by getting kids addicted to gambling…
  - throwaway85825 7mo ago
    The snowball of government intervention has started rolling on them.
- bombcar 7mo ago
  There are those who attribute evil to Lego, and they may have a case (historically or now). Automattic has apparently gone insane, but that's not the same as evil. Valve might be the closest to a HN-agree on "good company" - and even that has a comment below mine attributing gambling to them.
- ivell 7mo ago
  "You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain" It is only a matter of time...
  - mirekrusin 7mo ago
    People can’t wait to make heroes villains.
- HDThoreaun 7mo ago
  Valve takes 30% of revenue from developers because they have cornered the distribution market. Their margins on the steam store are probably second only to the apple store's, another heinously immoral product.
  - mirekrusin 7mo ago
    If everybody does it wrong and you know the right way - sounds like you’re sitting on a million dollar idea.
    - HDThoreaun 7mo ago
      Consumers have no incentive to switch because they don’t care that devs are being taken advantage of, that’s what makes the scheme evil.
- tombert 7mo ago
  Ok, and when you apply for and get rejected from all those companies, what do you do then? Suppose you give me a list of literally every company you think is ok, and I were declined by all of them, then what? This isn't a theoretical question for me. I've applied to and been declined from all the companies you listed (except tarsnap because I didn't see a careers page). What exactly do I do then? Do I then just decide that food is overrated and be content with not having paycheck?
  - mirekrusin 7mo ago
    Create your own company.
    - tombert 7mo ago
      Ok, great. Let's say I agree that that's a good response. I would still likely need investor money, which I don't even know how to get but even if I did then I have a similar problem of having to make sure that I only have ethical investors. I'm not saying that they don't exist but I'm not exactly fond of the big institutional VC firms. Let's not also forget that most companies go broke, and realistically most of us don't have any ideas that are likely to make a sustainable business. I'm not saying that you shouldn't try and find an ethical place to work for or start a business, I'm just saying that it's not as easy as "just apply to places that don't suck".
mrguyorama 7mo ago
Just starting with "Not totally abhorrent and aiding the destruction of democracy in the US" would be fine. Instead of working for Zuck or Google or Larry, you can work for Garmin, Shopify, Visa and Mastercard, most banks (they are soulless but some aren't always evil), grocery chains, pretty much any local business, car companies, non-weapon or surveillance based government work, IDEXX, hell even Apple imo and I dislike Apple, nearly every business that isn't "Tech" Basically just stop pretending that the industry is only Google, Facebook, AWS, Microsoft, and Oracle. There's something like millions of jobs that aren't in those companies.

List successful companies you would not define as evil.

fsflover 7mo ago

Pine64. ("Successful" doesn't have to mean "a megacorp".)

jjice 7mo ago

Costco maybe?

mirekrusin 7mo ago

37signals, vanguard, costco, proton, fastmail, mullvad vpn, framework, automattic, valve, patagonia, lego, linear, hetzner, tarsnap, ...

antonymoose 7mo ago
Valve has been making money hand over fist by getting kids addicted to gambling…
- throwaway85825 7mo ago
  The snowball of government intervention has started rolling on them.
bombcar 7mo ago
There are those who attribute evil to Lego, and they may have a case (historically or now). Automattic has apparently gone insane, but that's not the same as evil. Valve might be the closest to a HN-agree on "good company" - and even that has a comment below mine attributing gambling to them.
ivell 7mo ago
"You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain" It is only a matter of time...
- mirekrusin 7mo ago
  People can’t wait to make heroes villains.
HDThoreaun 7mo ago
Valve takes 30% of revenue from developers because they have cornered the distribution market. Their margins on the steam store are probably second only to the apple store's, another heinously immoral product.
- mirekrusin 7mo ago
  If everybody does it wrong and you know the right way - sounds like you’re sitting on a million dollar idea.
  - HDThoreaun 7mo ago
    Consumers have no incentive to switch because they don’t care that devs are being taken advantage of, that’s what makes the scheme evil.
tombert 7mo ago
Ok, and when you apply for and get rejected from all those companies, what do you do then? Suppose you give me a list of literally every company you think is ok, and I were declined by all of them, then what? This isn't a theoretical question for me. I've applied to and been declined from all the companies you listed (except tarsnap because I didn't see a careers page). What exactly do I do then? Do I then just decide that food is overrated and be content with not having paycheck?
- mirekrusin 7mo ago
  Create your own company.
  - tombert 7mo ago
    Ok, great. Let's say I agree that that's a good response. I would still likely need investor money, which I don't even know how to get but even if I did then I have a similar problem of having to make sure that I only have ethical investors. I'm not saying that they don't exist but I'm not exactly fond of the big institutional VC firms. Let's not also forget that most companies go broke, and realistically most of us don't have any ideas that are likely to make a sustainable business. I'm not saying that you shouldn't try and find an ethical place to work for or start a business, I'm just saying that it's not as easy as "just apply to places that don't suck".

mrguyorama 7mo ago

Just starting with "Not totally abhorrent and aiding the destruction of democracy in the US" would be fine. Instead of working for Zuck or Google or Larry, you can work for Garmin, Shopify, Visa and Mastercard, most banks (they are soulless but some aren't always evil), grocery chains, pretty much any local business, car companies, non-weapon or surveillance based government work, IDEXX, hell even Apple imo and I dislike Apple, nearly every business that isn't "Tech" Basically just stop pretending that the industry is only Google, Facebook, AWS, Microsoft, and Oracle. There's something like millions of jobs that aren't in those companies.