Earlier quoted context omitted.
Working for FB itself during this controversy won't tarnish your resume anyway.
How sure are you about that?
When has it ever happened before?
Facebook Employees Are Quitting or Switching Departments Over Ethical Concerns
31–40 of 258 posts
Re: Facebook Employees Are Quitting or Switching Departments Over Ethical Concerns
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes. Silicon Valley is turning on Facebook. Employees are realizing this and do not want a tarnished resume. If you actually believe this is for ethical reasons then you're not equipped for the world.
Working for FB itself during this controversy won't tarnish your resume anyway.
I will pass on a resume that includes Facebook.
Re: Facebook Employees Are Quitting or Switching Departments Over Ethical Concerns
#33I wonder how many new hires pass up Facebook because of ethical concerns. Whats scary is if even internally people are moving departments because of ethics, that basically filters so that the least ethical people are on the teams with the most ethical concerns. If there's a real net effect on their hiring, they'll have to increase salaries to lure people in, which will take in even more unethical people (of course, n…
I find this issue much more pressing in the defense industry. I (thankfully) have the freedom to choose where I work. I will never willingly work on weapon systems. There are those that do though. Engineers who design things to kill other people. What the actual fuck.
That's great that you've got a set of principles that you live by, and are able to stick to them. However, your principles are not everyone's principles, and what you consider moral and ethical is not universal. Grellas had a great comment on working for the military industrial complex a few days ago, that I think is worth a read:
Re: Facebook Employees Are Quitting or Switching Departments Over Ethical Concerns
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes. Silicon Valley is turning on Facebook. Employees are realizing this and do not want a tarnished resume. If you actually believe this is for ethical reasons then you're not equipped for the world.
Working for FB itself during this controversy won't tarnish your resume anyway.
I think you greatly underestimate certain people's ability to overreact...
Re: Facebook Employees Are Quitting or Switching Departments Over Ethical Concerns
#35This is sort of surprising information, from my view. The information about their business model and data practices which people seem to be so surprised by was/is common knowledge among people who work with these technology stacks. Going to work for Facebook seemed like it would have meant supporting and abetting those practices; they were very clear about what they were doing, and the roles were in no way ambiguous.…
> The cynic in me wonders if these employees are just responding to how others are starting to view their positions, more than ethical or moral quandaries.
I think you hit the nail on the head. I doubt it has to do with moral qualms as employees. More to do with your friends and family giving you crap for working at a company that's getting bad press.
Re: Facebook Employees Are Quitting or Switching Departments Over Ethical Concerns
#36This is sort of surprising information, from my view. The information about their business model and data practices which people seem to be so surprised by was/is common knowledge among people who work with these technology stacks. Going to work for Facebook seemed like it would have meant supporting and abetting those practices; they were very clear about what they were doing, and the roles were in no way ambiguous.…
Facebook is a huge organization and although to the outside world it's perceived as one, internally it's basically hundreds of separated teams and companies. So to your point, yes probably some are aware of all what's going on around the company, but there's probably an equal amount that are not. I work for a Fortune 50 company and I get much of the information about the company from the news, despite having a relati…
>I work for a Fortune 50 company and I get much of the information about the company from the news, despite having a relatively senior level role.
I think your parent's point is that all of this information has been out there even in the news.
As he said:
>they were very clear about what they were doing
Re: Facebook Employees Are Quitting or Switching Departments Over Ethical Concerns
#37I wonder how many new hires pass up Facebook because of ethical concerns. Whats scary is if even internally people are moving departments because of ethics, that basically filters so that the least ethical people are on the teams with the most ethical concerns. If there's a real net effect on their hiring, they'll have to increase salaries to lure people in, which will take in even more unethical people (of course, n…
I find this issue much more pressing in the defense industry. I (thankfully) have the freedom to choose where I work. I will never willingly work on weapon systems. There are those that do though. Engineers who design things to kill other people. What the actual fuck.
I grew up in Maryland, which probably has the most defense contractors in the country and I decided in college that I didn't want to work in defense for ethical reasons. But there is another side of it, some people genuinely believe that the work they are doing is helping to keep the country safe.
Re: Facebook Employees Are Quitting or Switching Departments Over Ethical Concerns
#38That was one employee? Articles like these have brought journalism over time, step-by-step.
Re: Facebook Employees Are Quitting or Switching Departments Over Ethical Concerns
#39This is sort of surprising information, from my view. The information about their business model and data practices which people seem to be so surprised by was/is common knowledge among people who work with these technology stacks. Going to work for Facebook seemed like it would have meant supporting and abetting those practices; they were very clear about what they were doing, and the roles were in no way ambiguous.…
Exactly.
And I doubt it's a mass exodus either.
If you read "Surely you're joking Mr Feynman", the author clearly states that when making the bomb, they had a lot of fun. Lots of budgets. Only smart people. Working on the coolest projects. He even plays with the censorship and security practices.
They never really thought too hard about the ethic part of it: they need to end the war, and that's it. They really said "oh we fucked up" once the bomb exploded.
And we are talking about brilliant minds with very positive personalities.
While skilled, I doubt than more than a small fraction of FB work force is close to Feynman's IQ. And they have a very arrogant culture. Somehow I doubt FB is going to bleed talent anytime soon.
Re: Facebook Employees Are Quitting or Switching Departments Over Ethical Concerns
#40This is sort of surprising information, from my view. The information about their business model and data practices which people seem to be so surprised by was/is common knowledge among people who work with these technology stacks. Going to work for Facebook seemed like it would have meant supporting and abetting those practices; they were very clear about what they were doing, and the roles were in no way ambiguous.…
> The cynic in me wonders if these employees are just responding to how others are starting to view their positions, more than ethical or moral quandaries. I think you hit the nail on the head. I doubt it has to do with moral qualms as employees. More to do with your friends and family giving you crap for working at a company that's getting bad press.
The best way to summarize FB employees, from @numair from 8 months ago:
> Having known so many people involved with Facebook for so long, I have come up with a phrase to describe the cultural phenomenon I’ve witnessed among them – ladder kicking. Basically, people who get a leg up from others, and then do everything in their power to ensure nobody else manages to get there. No, it’s not “human nature” or “how it works.” Silicon Valley and the tech industry at large weren’t built by these sorts of people, and we need to be more active in preventing this mind-virus from spreading.