Will Working For Porn Website Ruin an IT Career?

An Anonymous Coward asks: "I used to work for one of those big web services firms, but it went bankrupt, and now i've been looking everywhere for a semi decent PHP programming job. I recently got an offer from a local porn site to do all of the programming for their site, including creating a whole automated publishing system for them in PHP. I also got an offer to manage the NT Servers at a medical office. Now, if I work for a porn site, will I ever be able to work for a traditional website again? Will this be a black mark on my resume? Has anyone here ever worked in the adult area of the internet? As mainstream, regular sites keep cutting staff, will more and more of us have to work for the seedier side of the internet?"

Comments

Assuming you are male

[rw2]

The better question would be, would I ever want to work for mainstream companies again!

Ok, here's what I would do. See if they'll use you as a contractor. Doing so has certain monetary and philosophical advantages that should lessen the stigma in the eyes of future employers. If you can concurrently get another client or two then you will be in an even better position.

a moral decision

[cornflux]

You're obviously sensitive to what other people will think and how it will affect your career. But, maybe, the best idea is to consider it on a moral basis, for yourself... take everything else out of the equation for a moment.

Take the "Mom test." (Would you be ok with telling your mom what you do? Where you work?)

Re:a moral decision

[xsbellx]

"If I were hiring someone who had worked for a porn site, I would want to know why s/he thought that was morally acceptable."

The very fact that an individual worked at a porn site proves the individual believes their action is morally acceptable. Should this not be the case, the individual could have easily terminated their employment.

My obligation as an employee is to provide services in a matter deemed acceptable by employer. I am under no obligation to provide any justification of my beliefs/morals what so ever and if I was I believe several pieces of civil rights legislation would prove otherwise.

If I were a possible employer of this person, I would most probably look quite highly on the skills they posses. The individual is obviously used to working in a "for profit" business environment. In short, the kind of person I want working for me.

"Does your company treat its porn actors properly?"

Does your employer treat all of its employees "properly"? If not, why are you still working there?

"What is the net effect of your company on society?"

And just how does one determine the "net effect" on society??????

The only difference between the Taliban and the puritanical rightwing moralists in the United States is the day of the week they pray on.

Re:a moral decision

[SirSlud]

I hear that. I know the subject just begs for rhetoric, but I think you've illustrated why it isn't the black and white case some of us wish it was. It's just frusterating .. like homophobia, the intentions may be there (purity, preservation, respect, etc ... ), but it always boils down to making sure we're eating, sleeping, loving and fucking. :) I figure that as long as the human race keeps doing that, why not let the 'immoral' 3% 'waste their lives' according to some. These are, after all, the principals I thought these western democracies where build on, no? :) I realize I may just be preaching to the converted, but I just find it hard to believe that you're free to waste your life (accoring to me) on being a hardcore (no pun intented) Buffy fan, but not on pornography or loving men or [insert intolerance here].

Of course, if I had my way, big budget hollywood movies would be illegal for their propensity to chip away at cultural and tolerant values, and offer the lower common denominator brainfood, so I know its all subjective. Funny tho, I like how mindless entertainment and sexual allusion is valued in our world (look at Maxim), but mindless erotica is not. You'd think mass market depictions of women being sub 120lbs is worse on our more female's populations self-esteem than porn (what little ends up in front of the eyes of women) is. At least one keeps your sperm count high .. ;)

I can think of cases where it would be a PLUS

[renehollan]

Lesse... porn... high-res pictures... streaming video...

translates to BANDWIDTH to me. There's a reason a lot of hosting services won't carry porn, and not necessarily the obvious one.

I'd think that future employer that deals with high-bandwidth, load-balancing applications, would want someone with technical experience in that area.

Then again, I wouldn't put PORN in large print on my resume -- stress the tech.

Re:I can think of cases where it would be a PLUS

[whydna]

I agree. Refer to it as "adult entertainment". It's not like you're sitting there "enjoying yourself" all day. There is a lot of technical work that could be done: content management systems, caching systems, payment processing/secure transaction processing, user account management software, etc.

I worked for a Miami-based company that provided Spanish content; I speak enough Spanish to say "I need a beer". I had NOTHING to do with content... just like you (most likely) won't either. My day was spent developing utilities, games, etc for the website and making life easier for the content editors.

The adult entertainment business is a BIG market online. There's a load of bandwidth being used and a load of money to be made/lost. Even though the content is kinda embarrassing (for lack of a better word), it's still a big business that requires strong technology and skilled programmers.

-just a though

Excessive code and excessive nudity

[Anonymous Coward]

http://freshmeat.net/articles/view/220/

Yes.

[jd]

Simple enough. Unless you're in Italy - and even there, it can still destroy a person - you are never advised to go into any industry which could back you into a corner.

Your morals matter, sure, and the morals of those you care about do, too, but this isn't about morality, per se. It's about always leaving yourself with viable options. And, frankly, once you get into the dark underworld of the Adult Industry, you're not going to have any.

And it is an underworld. Whether you think that it should be, or not, is not important. What matters is that it is. It is a VERY high-stakes industry, with VERY high cash-flows, VERY little regulation of any kind, and absolutely no incentive to play fair, when playing dirty makes the big bucks.

As an IT person, you'd be behind-the-scenes and therefore expendable. And there's no real reason to assume that would include a pink bit of paper. Once you've produced your 100% stable, 100% secure, 100% dazzler of a site, what the hell do these people need to keep paying you for? Some concrete shoes, or a car mishap, and they can keep the site of the century, without the overheads.

Of course, there's no reason to assume your employers would be unscrupulous. After all, it's merely money. The competitors would probably feel much the same... you hope.

And once you do decide to leave, what then? You think you're going to get a glowing reference? When a poor one might get you back, at a discount?

Oh, and never forget the honesty with the pay. When sites are willing to defraud customers of large sums of cash, through credit card fraud, you think that they will always be sincere about paying you your wages? A bit here, a bit there, and you probably won't notice, but it'll make them a tidy extra bit of tax-free cash. Well, not quite tax-free. You'd be paying the tax for them.

Might be a good righteousness filter

[wfrp01]

Having porn related work on your resume might help you avoid working for places run by uptight ninnies. That might not be a bad thing.