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Some Engineers Are Turning Down Tech Recruiters in Silicon Valley Over Concerns About Corporate Value (ieee.org)
Tech companies such as Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft have faced growing internal unrest from employees who raise ethical concerns about how the companies deploy their high-tech services and products. That chorus of dissent is now growing louder as outside engineers voice their concerns to recruiters working for those tech companies. An anonymous reader shares a report: The protests of tech workers have proven persuasive because Silicon Valley firms compete fiercely to recruit and retain relatively scarce engineering talent. For example, Google's leadership sought to reassure employees by declaring it would not renew its Pentagon contract and by issuing a set of ethical principles for future uses of Google-developed technologies. By the same logic, engineers who are approached by tech recruiters also have leverage. "I might be a one-off example, but it could be different if Amazon gets a lot of people emailing them saying, 'Hey I won't work for you because of this,'" Geiduschek, a software engineer at Dropbox, who declined a job offer from Amazon, says.
Jackie Luo, a software engineer at Square, took a similar stance with a tech recruiter who sought to interest her in a career with Google. The recruiter happened to contact Luo when she was reading about Google's plans to re-enter the Chinese market with a censored version of the company's Internet search engine. [...] Individual engineers such as Luo and Geiduschek seem to be responding to tech recruiters through their own initiative rather than as part of any larger movement. Meanwhile, some tech employees have joined organized efforts, such as the #TechWontBuildIt movement spearheaded by the labor advocacy group Tech Workers Coalition.
Jackie Luo, a software engineer at Square, took a similar stance with a tech recruiter who sought to interest her in a career with Google. The recruiter happened to contact Luo when she was reading about Google's plans to re-enter the Chinese market with a censored version of the company's Internet search engine. [...] Individual engineers such as Luo and Geiduschek seem to be responding to tech recruiters through their own initiative rather than as part of any larger movement. Meanwhile, some tech employees have joined organized efforts, such as the #TechWontBuildIt movement spearheaded by the labor advocacy group Tech Workers Coalition.
Did you become an engineer to get rich? Engineering pays quite well, but to get rich you're better off in finance.
Most people become engineers to solve problems. To make life better for everyone. When corporate culture goes against that motive, engineers tend to rebel. This doesn't just apply to Silicon Valley.
I'm intrigued that engineers in Silicon Valley feel they are empowered enough to make such demands. Most engineers just bitch to management about not doing what's in the customer's best interest and move on.
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
I really liked working there, as did pretty much everyone else, and never saw anyone work a 100 hour week or even close. I only left because I found a much shorter commute. All the media coverage about how awful they are is I think completely blown out of proportion. Other than letting new hires show up to work in pajamas, it was a pretty cool place to work.
...Once upon a time, the best and brightest of the engineering, math and science students didn't dream of working in Silicon Valley or Wall Street. They dreamed of NASA, JPL & NOAA. Academia and government service. The reward was working on interesting, important things rather than stock options and snack rooms. Maybe that thinking is starting to come back.
Support Right To Repair Legislation.
Morality certainly influenced my most recent job move.
I had recruiters from both Google and Facebook reaching out to me, but it's clear from their corporate culture that conservatives - even moderates - are not welcome at those companies. I feel the "progressive" movement is the most dangerous and harmful political force since the Wall fell, and I don't want to have on my conscience contributing to that in any way.
Fortunately, you no longer need to work at the Big 5 to get great pay, at least if you're past mid-career (they probably still pay college hires the best, though I hear MS is falling off).
Not that the company I landed at isn't quite liberal internally, but they don't inflict it on their customers.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.