Which companies would you take a paycut to join, based on positive contributions

#1

Post by lomaprietasolo » Fri, Feb 17, 2023, 12:57 AM UTC

This is prompted by a question from a recent HN posting[0], specifically: "What would you take a pay cut for? What would you work on for free that makes money for someone else?"

I've worked at multiple organizations who, while not exactly "evil", don't really contribute to the overall well-being of society or the planet and who's soul purpose seems to be to make rich people richer.

I'd love to learn of companies who's products/services are a tangible net-good for the planet.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34824115

Re: Which companies would you take a paycut to join, based on positive contributions

#2

Post by rbanffy » Fri, Feb 17, 2023, 1:13 AM UTC

I’d love to work with IBM mainframes, for instance. I would take a small pay cut to work on some of the coolest and most sophisticated computers ever built.

Re: Which companies would you take a paycut to join, based on positive contributions

#3

Post by coder4life » Fri, Feb 17, 2023, 1:27 AM UTC

I worked or a company which did bus time predictions for around 80 transit companies through the US. I can still go to their website of the company that bought them, and see my code still in action some 9 years after I left.

Re: Which companies would you take a paycut to join, based on positive contributions

#4

Post by bwestergard » Fri, Feb 17, 2023, 1:55 AM UTC

If an organization pursues goals I find important, I want to make sure that it has a sound financial plan for paying for all of its inputs, including labor. I don't want it to pay below market rates, because this will increase attrition. Volunteerism does not scale.

The organization should pay market rates for their labor inputs, and welcome donations from employees who are able and willing to doing so.

Re: Which companies would you take a paycut to join, based on positive contributions

#5

Post by rman666 » Fri, Feb 17, 2023, 2:56 AM UTC

U.S. Robotics and Mechanical Men, but it isn’t a real company ;-)

Re: Which companies would you take a paycut to join, based on positive contributions

#6

Post by blmayer » Fri, Feb 17, 2023, 5:02 AM UTC

I would take paycut to work for some open source projects/foundations like the linux foundation, GNU, raspiberry pi and so on.