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Ask HN: Would you work for an EVIL company if it tripled your salary?

by throwawayadvsec on 7/31/23, 5:42 PM with 5 comments

It's the third time I'm contacted for this job, I tick all the boxes and they seem desperate.

I would more than triple my current salary, it's a one year contract.

It's a polluting company(think Exxon or Monsanto on a much smaller scale), they have been fined multiple times(for pollution, fraud, discrimination).

On one hand I deeply hate them and everything they stand for, I'd feel like I sold my soul to the devil.

On the other hand, I could be a debt-free homeowner in a year, at 25yo. Or take a 2 year vacation.

What would you do?

  • by JohnFen on 7/31/23, 5:44 PM

    I wouldn't take the job. There is no monetary benefit that is worth me violating my own ethical sensibilities, period. If I think a company is evil, then helping them in any way is me doing evil. From my perspective, it would be better to live in poverty.

    Plus, this position will not be the only opportunity that will come down the line.

    I am not, however, recommending that you do or don't do anything in particular. You just asked what we would do, and that's what I would do (indeed, what I have done).

  • by version_five on 7/31/23, 5:55 PM

      For this reason, when Florus was deliberating whether he should go down to Nero's spectacles and also perform in them himself, Agrippinus said to him, "Go down": and when Florus asked Agrippinus, "Why do not you go down?" Agrippinus replied, "Because I do not even deliberate about the matter."
    https://donaldrobertson.name/2016/07/01/paconius-agrippinus/

  • by distortionfield on 7/31/23, 5:49 PM

    Honestly, I would take it. It sounds doomer as fuck of me but like, we're already well past the point of individual action being able to stop this train. Make it good while you can and maybe just donate to the political party you think would best act to prevent that company from fucking up more in the future, because it's not like they won't just find someone else if you say no.

  • by 8chanAnon on 7/31/23, 6:24 PM

    Take the job and hope to make changes from the inside? Maybe learn enough about the company to become a whistleblower? Avoid the dilemma or try to make a difference? Tough choice.

  • by java-man on 7/31/23, 5:58 PM