upvote
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?

reply
Create your own company.
reply
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".

reply
Valve has been making money hand over fist by getting kids addicted to gambling…
reply
The snowball of government intervention has started rolling on them.
reply
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.

reply
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.
reply
If everybody does it wrong and you know the right way - sounds like you’re sitting on a million dollar idea.
reply
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.
reply
"You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain"

It is only a matter of time...

reply
People can’t wait to make heroes villains.
reply