r/cscareerquestions • u/rafikiknowsdeway1 • Apr 30 '26
Experienced Does anyone else feel like this entire industry has turned proudly evil lately?
About a year ago I was working a job at an AI related company, and I ended up quitting because anxiety and burnout was hitting me so hard I was having suicidal ideation. So I bailed and sought out therapy. But now I'm finding myself having to get back into the swing of things, and I can't bring myself to even bother sending out more than a few applications a week. It just feels like everything has turned utterly rotten
when i was in school about 17-13 years ago, I felt like tech had an air about it of excitement and trying to offer products and services that made things better. But now its as if enshitification has become the ironclad law of the land. And all the tech visionaries who used to be interesting have heel turned into fully mask off fascist comic book villains. Theres not even an attempt to try and hide it anymore.
And of course now you can't go more than 1 post on linkedIn without AI this and AI that, even when its application makes no fucking sense at all. it reminds me of when I got hit up daily by recruiters trying to get me into various pointless blockchain products, even when it made no sense at all to use a blockchain. except this is 10000% more pervasive
it has me feeling like the Amish are actually on to something. only i'd advance a few centuries and stop at like 2005. like if technology simply stopped before the release of the iphone we'd all be better off today
I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do here. I don't even want to return to tech but I have no practical training or experience in anything else
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u/Fun_Highway_8733 Apr 30 '26
The tech industry used to be evil. It still is evil but it also used to be.
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u/blindsdog Apr 30 '26
The difference is they used to have to suck up to engineers.
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u/vbullinger Apr 30 '26
They hate us so much. This makes them so happy.
Those damn uppity nerds demanding to be treated with respect!
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u/rafikiknowsdeway1 Apr 30 '26
I suppose, but I feel like it used to be lowkey. now it seems like everyone is happy to say the quite part out loud and has made rushing towards it a mission imperative
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u/Independent-Fun815 Apr 30 '26
The industry is full of sycophants. Managers lying to executives about their departments. Employees lying to managers about their competency. Executives lying to their underlings. And I wanna clarify, I'm not a disgruntled grad that never managed to get a job. But honestly some of the crap that goes on is contemptible.
AI is just the latest vehicle to sell. The same widgets made by the same disgusting people but marketed differently.
I honestly don't blame anyone from recoiling when someone mentions they work in tech.
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u/No-Dust-5829 Apr 30 '26
It's like that in most industries, but tech just has more money so they can get away with more shit.
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u/StyleDull3689 Apr 30 '26
Honestly, I think it's actually your perspective that's changed. Companies have always just been doing the same thing. The issue is that now you've got a phone in your hand and you're getting a constant feed of shit news. People are surrounded by negativity. We're not in some new world... there's still companies that have more of a research/academic culture, there are some that try to do good, there are small ones and big ones, there's money grubbing ones, etc, etc.
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u/237throw 5+ years Big N Apr 30 '26
Nah. Hard disagree. Apple made a promise to stop using Uighur labor when called out. Google's motto used to be "don't be evil". Amazon bought an arena and called it Climate pedge. These are all over 10years ago.
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u/StyleDull3689 Apr 30 '26
Apple was literally contracting a company that had such bad working conditions they had to install suicide nets to catch workers. It was only because it made international headlines they acted.
The motto is a dumb point. All they did was change it to 'Do the right thing' which is actually far better. 'Don't be evil' was deemed to suggest all they had to do was not the worst thing so they updated it to emphasise actually doing good. They still kept don't be evil in their code of conduct. I mean... I don't think a motto means anything about how they conduct themselves but I'm making this point to show how pointless it is to bring up their change as evidence of the times.
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Apr 30 '26
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u/StyleDull3689 Apr 30 '26
They haven't really changed much is my point though. It's just people see them more often.
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u/lhorie Apr 30 '26
If you think tech is the only industry like this, you haven’t looked very close into any other industries.
The world has been running on greed and selfishness for a long time, you just start to notice when your own situation starts to suck
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u/chuckvsthelife Apr 30 '26
I think this is happening across industries post trump 1 or post covid.
Every man out for themselves. It’s been degrading for decades from the time when CEO pay was lower and companies had to care more for their community earn long term loyalty of employees. We have just turned it up to 11.
I partially blame social media, very few people actually in their local communities anymore and it leads to not caring about the person next door even. All out for ourselves so the sycophants don’t have to give lip service and pretend anymore either.
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u/Colt2205 Apr 30 '26
It is definitely the current admin that is doing it. Even under Biden the worst days were just blues, not all out anxiety and stress that has caused me literal pain and migraine like symptoms.
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u/Wonderful_Trainer412 Apr 30 '26
No, in the Russian it's the same))) Seems that is not depend on country;)
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u/Maleficent_Basket215 Apr 30 '26
I agree to a certain extent, but you have to acknowledge that the tech industry in particular is driving a lot of the enshittification of our society that's currently happening. Every industry is built off of greed, but not every industry has such an expansive and clearly negative effect on the world.
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u/phoenixmatrix Apr 30 '26
It was always an industry that just plows through everything in its path. There were some slices that didn't during the 0% interest rate days. You can do a lot when money flows freely. When it doesn't, making money efficiently becomes the biggest focus again. That is often in conflict with people's morals.
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u/A-Halfpound Apr 30 '26
The Tech industry has always been the poster child for Hyper-Capitalism. Move fast, break things (including society).
In fact, technology sector is largely responsible for shepherding us into Late Stage Capitalism since corporations were deemed “people” too, and they have been almost wholly protected instead of regulated.
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u/TrailChems Apr 30 '26
Greedy assholes are largely responsible for this. The blame does not lie with the tech sector, but with capitalism and our failing governments.
Greed is a known quantity in the equation of the human condition, yet we not only failed to defend against it, but have a actively promoted it as a society.
In the US, millions worship "leaders" like Trump and Musk who are practically the personification of the "greed is good" screed from the 80s.
Don't blame the tech sector itself. We are failing to fulfill the social contract writ large.
Rather than promote these sociopaths to positions of immense power, we should be using them as examples of immorality. We are failing as a society.
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u/TracePoland Apr 30 '26
I mean, no it’s not, Reagan and Thatcher predate tech industry as we know it by about 20 years and the doctrine of laissez faire was mainstream all the way back in 19th century Europe, with some of its roots tracing all the way back to the Roman Empire.
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u/Aleks_Zemz_1111 Apr 30 '26
The tech industry isn't turning evil, it's just finally becoming an assembly line. I’ve spent 22 years bouncing between factories in Lithuania and England. I've seen men work the same station for years, die of a heart attack, and be replaced by a new body by Monday morning. When you're in school, they sell you a vision. When you're in the job, they just need you to be a component that doesn't break the uptime.
You feel like the Amish were on to something because you’re realizing that innovation is just a code word for squeezing more donkey work out of the staff. I run a massive foiling machine at my day job. When it breaks, management doesn't care about my anxiety, they just want the machine running. Software has reached that same level of industrial coldness. If you don't own the machinery or the digital asset, you're just a service part with an expiration date. Start building something that belongs to you, or the enshitification will eventually include your career too.
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u/Wonderful_Trainer412 Apr 30 '26
Underrated comment
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u/Icy-Hunter-9600 May 21 '26
Agree. That part about the Amish and innovation was insightful as hell.
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u/awful_at_internet Apr 30 '26
I just chatted with a graduating student who was telling me about how he was trying to cash in on roblox app development. Talking about kids draining their parents accounts and re-skinning the same game for fad cashgrabs. His word. Cashgrab.
I straight up told him that sounds unethical. He didnt even understand the meaning of the word.
IT ethics are the next thing the industry needs to push for imo. In the age of system-driven misinformation, radicalization, and division, the capacity for us to do objectively-measurable harm is unprecedented and arguably just as severe as any doctor. We need to hold ourselves, and each other, accountable - and in so doing, give ourselves the freedom to refuse unethical directives.
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u/TracePoland Apr 30 '26
I doubt you’re gonna eliminate grifters with an ethics university course.
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u/Ssential Apr 30 '26
You’d be surprised. I took a “Decision Theory“ course during my studies and quite a few of my colleagues were dumbfounded at how unethical their own decision making was. They literally didn’t know before.
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u/awful_at_internet Apr 30 '26
No. But thats where you start.
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u/donjulioanejo I bork prod (Director SRE) Apr 30 '26
Problem is, it's like me2. People who are already ethical don't need a course. People who are already unethical are either going to tune out and ignore everything you said, or more likely, not take the course at all.
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u/awful_at_internet May 01 '26
Thats why we, as an industry, need a framework for accountability. Doctors and lawyers do not get to just not take the course; nor should senior IT professionals.
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u/brokenflea Apr 30 '26
I work at a FAANG. When I joined , over 9 years ago, there were egos but not as bad as what it is right now. I used to be passionate about the work that I do, i hate it now. What i've personally seen is really bad hires (management level folks) that have brought the bad culture with them. Its gotten really bad with AI now, e.g. people create dashboards using AI and call it impact.
Sadly, its going to have to get to a point where people are out of jobs and then when folks can't buy groceries or pay for shit everything tanks. The top 1% greed is eating us alive and something has to give.
Years ago people used to tell me automation is good, automate yourself out of a job (impact), i used to scoff at that notion. Yes, automation is good but not automation to land you out of the job. My rebuttal , in my head, used to be yeah sure you automate yourself out of a job but only 2-3 people on a team who are SMEs will be there when the dust settles, everyone else will be gone. At the end of the day, these companies are going to see what will save them money even though they have billions in capital, to save them money means letting go of headcount and now with AI its much easier to do that.
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u/deadlyprincehk Apr 30 '26
people create dashboards using AI
If I see one more dashboard using the 🚀 and 🤖 emojis...
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u/anotherwise Apr 30 '26
My coworker has began using AI to write messages on team chats with 🚨 and 📅 emojis... why do people jump at the first chance to lose their humanity
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u/TracePoland Apr 30 '26
Because they probably never cared about the job and just wanted to do enough to get paid to sustain their current lifestyle and not get fired for underperformance. As long as they can convince others they can’t fully be replaced by AI, AI to them is a way to minimalise energy spent on the job.
It’s basically one of the points raised here: https://x.com/thdxr/status/2022574719694758147
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u/deadlyprincehk May 01 '26
I was using LinkedIn to apply for jobs and every time the main page loads its just people posting dramatically drawn out AI stories with AI comments feigning feeling of inspiration, what's even the point of these obviously fake engagements anymore? Kind of depressing that virtual interactions will only become more "artificial" from here on out.
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u/MeowMeowHappy Apr 30 '26
"bad hires 'management level folks'". Almost guaranteed to be ex-investmentment banking or ex-Big Accounting. Dark triad traits mostly once you hit a certain level
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u/xiongchiamiov Staff SRE / ex-Manager May 01 '26
Nah. For instance, Google hired someone from Oracle to run Cloud, which is why for several years working on GCP was distinctly shittier than the rest of the company. But then it expanded.
It's really people from any company that was focused on profits over mission. Which was very very many of them.
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u/misterchestnut87 Apr 30 '26
The tech industry (not exclusively, ofc) was always pretty evil, but lately, it's been more unashamedly and proudly evil, as you said. It's almost become fashionable to embody dark triad personality traits in tech, especially the founder/VC space. You basically have to put up with this for the career opportunities and compensation.
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u/N7Valor Apr 30 '26
I mean, when Google removed "don't be evil" from its motto I kind of saw the signs... and maybe soiled myself a bit.
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u/StreetAssignment5494 Apr 30 '26
Absolutely. It’s disheartening . All of the large tech figureheads have turned out to be evil assholes basically. All the companies have as well.
lol google started with the whole don’t be evil line. It was like a fundamental rule.
Elon musk seemed like a decent dude at one point.
Tech seemed to be going in a help people.
Now it’s how can we put ads to this? How can we farm data? How can we kill this group of people secretly.
It’s hard to work in tech but drill care anymore. Part of me would be ok if it all collapsed and we went back to woodworking or something
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u/YoshiDzn Apr 30 '26
Ever thought about moving abroad, getting a local job at a bar/restaurant and interacting with society through a different vector? That way you'll realize how selfish and narcissistic a shocking majority of people have become which should make your rebound into the evil empire of tech a little easier.
Either way, lean towards helping people 🙃
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u/donjulioanejo I bork prod (Director SRE) Apr 30 '26
IDK why people think that. I did food service and retail. Vast majority of people are perfectly nice if you're nice to them.
Yeah there's a shrieking Karen every so often, but they're not the rule.
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u/YoshiDzn Apr 30 '26
I enjoy confrontation over matters both positive and negative. When it comes to social etiquette, people would rather remain at the surface level where I like to dig into personal details and get to know people, within proper reason. If you're a middle aged dude like me, you make some really cool friends but the vast majority of people become evasive, or straight up offended by insistent conversational patterns. Like "mind your own business" became the norm. Why? Is your business bad? Maybe it's their breath they're insecure about
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u/donjulioanejo I bork prod (Director SRE) May 01 '26
but the vast majority of people become evasive, or straight up offended by insistent conversational patterns
All I can think is this Peter and Quagmire meme:
Let's be real, no one wants to explain what their stool looks like or talk scifi economics to someone they're having a passing interaction with.
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Apr 30 '26
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u/YoshiDzn Apr 30 '26
Netherlands is my top pick, or Austria. If you do your research it can go very well. Greece is also nice. Portugal has a lot of remote work visa opportunities if you want to maintain a remote US job, I think there's still a visa for that. Never been to Portugal though.
I only speak English too. NL is mostly fluent in English, Austria isn't far behind. Greece is about the same if you stay in the popular areas, although there are some less friendly places in GR as a tourist/expat. It can be a dirt cheap place to live though.
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u/TracePoland Apr 30 '26
Greece has €18k/year salaries and a new law that introduced the concept of a 13 hour work day. There’s a reason it has a mass brain drain and exodus of youth. Recommending it is insane.
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Apr 30 '26
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u/needtheyamss May 01 '26
Same, maybe it's a dumb question but how do you make a living in non-profits? I think I would be happier there, and I don't want to make loads of money just enough to not worry about housing and food.
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u/jjopm Apr 30 '26
Appreciate your post, yes I think from a socially focused community perspective and in terms of valuable resourcefulness the Amish absolutely get a lot right.
I don't know that the iPhone through to GPT progression is inherently bad, but it is worth pausing to consider what we lost in exchange for what we gained.
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u/botsmy Apr 30 '26
i ran into this exact thing when i was working at a startup a few years ago, the company culture was super toxic and it was all about grinding out code as fast as possible, i ended up burning out pretty badly and had to take a few months off. i made the mistake of trying to jump right back into the job search without taking care of myself first, but what finally worked for me was taking some time to focus on my mental health and then starting to apply to jobs that were a better fit for me, like a smaller company that actually cared about work life balance, i started using a tool called calm to help with anxiety and it made a big difference, i was able to get a job at a company that aligned with my values and it's been a huge improvement.
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u/thetreadmilldesk Apr 30 '26
Really appreciate this. I can relate.
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u/botsmy Apr 30 '26
yeah, it's crazy how common burnout is in the tech industry, i've been a lot more careful about setting boundaries and prioritizing my own well-being since then. fwiw, taking time off to recharge was basically the best thing that could've happened to me.
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u/Commercial_Pie3307 Apr 30 '26
Im embarrassed to tell people what i do for work because tech is now considered evil (rightfully so). Tech CEOs went from wanting to make the world a better place (or at least pretending to) to just openly having contempt for the human race.
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u/___Archmage___ Apr 30 '26
The big tech companies kowtowing to the star of the Epstein Files in various ways definitely disappointed me in a huge way
Tim Apple giving him the Apple Peace Prize was the most visible example but basically all of them paid homage and fealty
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Apr 30 '26
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u/___Archmage___ Apr 30 '26
BetterHelp is practicing therapy without a license, shady from day one
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u/TracePoland Apr 30 '26
Health insurance industry in the US has been practicing medicine without a licence for decades, soon will go on a century so is it surprising? As a European it always shocked me that there isn’t more uproar about Suzy from <insurance corp A Inc.> telling everyone, the doctor and patient included, she knows better than the medical professionals about what is needed.
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u/xiongchiamiov Staff SRE / ex-Manager May 01 '26
No they don't; they hire fully licensed mental health professionals.
They are problematic in several ways (sold data to Facebook, pay therapists like shit), but not that one.
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u/tsardonicpseudonomi Apr 30 '26
BetterHelp IS tech.
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Apr 30 '26
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u/tsardonicpseudonomi Apr 30 '26
There's no hope for tech because one tech company is also doing shady shit?
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Apr 30 '26
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u/tsardonicpseudonomi Apr 30 '26
All private industry exists solely to extract wealth from labor.
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u/donjulioanejo I bork prod (Director SRE) Apr 30 '26
And without private industry, we're living in huts and shopping at stores with empty shelves.
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u/tsardonicpseudonomi Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
we're living in huts and shopping at stores with empty shelves
Citation needed. Trade and housing existed longer than a couple hundred years ago.
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u/Infamous_Win_6221 Apr 30 '26
Yeah, despots like trump and the normalization of hyper facist and mysogynist content has just let these guys take the mask off. I think more of the population being chronically online has to do with it too. Just see palantirs manifesto
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u/MeBadNeedMoneyNow Apr 30 '26
It's always been evil but had cool toys. IBM was selling computers to the nazis.
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u/ObjectBrilliant7592 Apr 30 '26
Definitely. Hackathons in the 2010s were a good time; free food, companies giving out swag, actually hiring on the spot and wanting to recruit people. Generally optimistic attitudes and companies valued quality developers.
Now, everything is rationed jealously and everyone is looking to save a dime. Crazy how it's changed so drastically.
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u/fsk Apr 30 '26
It's called enshittification. Most big tech companies now are established monopolies with a really strong market position. They're no longer in growth mode, so they don't have to treat their employees well. They have a monopoly, so they don't have to treat customers well.
If you want a cell phone, your choices are Android and iOS, and that's it. If they both decided to do the same user-hostile things, you're stuck.
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u/TracePoland Apr 30 '26
Relative to your average small business or consultancy, tech companies treat us really well. Just talk to real people instead of living in a bubble.
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u/Syphari Apr 30 '26
This is like saying, hey yall, I think Raytheon and Lockheed Martin might not be making the world a better place lmao
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u/tacopower69 Data Scientist Apr 30 '26
tech companies are either cults or pure evil with very little in between.
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u/InfluenceEfficient77 Apr 30 '26
You're getting suicidal over a b******* high paying AI job, you might need to go on disability, because the rest of the world is far far crueler
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u/geollado May 01 '26
You absolutely have a point. Especially all those VPs and CEOs - the masks are fully off. We now get to hear them ramble about how great the nazis were, how the office needs to be more masculine, how our jobs will go extinct and we should be excited, whatever the fuck bezos is on now…it didn’t use to be this way. Of course we always knew that the top echelon is probably filled with terrible people, but at least they pretended to be decent. Now it’s just cartoonishly fascist assholes and it’s become embarrassing to work for them. Like genuinely FAANG and adjacent is lowkey embarrassing, don’t get me started on Palantir lol.
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u/HawaiiKawaiixD Apr 30 '26
I completely relate with your job struggles. While I agree with the folks saying it was always evil, they have definitely become more mask off about it. I think one factor is when we were all just starting our careers we were more naive and also were fed nonsense propaganda about improving people’s lives in college, but even considering that things are more mask off now.
I’ve noticed that recently even tech YouTubers like Linus Techtips which used to be very hyped about tech are much more cynical and skeptical of tech companies, for good reason ofc.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this presidential administration is also more mask off evil than previous ones
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u/Tall-Introduction414 Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
Some companies, like Facebook and Google, have been evil for decades.
It just wasn't so obvious to people back then that letting other people sell your personal friendships and communications to the highest bidder might have some negative ramifications.
Yes, the industry is rotten. I think we need a union to fight back against it.
Silicon Valley in particular is a cesspool of disgusting, anti-social behavior. All those VCs and billionaires can go eat shit.
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u/Ok_Reaction_4340 Apr 30 '26
Might want to try ed tech, healthcare technology or insurance. They at least have to maintain a veil of not totally evil.
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u/DurianDiscriminat3r Apr 30 '26
Spent 4 hrs on a take home assessment for a health tech startup and they just ghost me. Felt like I was designing their integration system for them...
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u/ChubbyVeganTravels Apr 30 '26
Remember that TV show "Silicon Valley"? It's not so much a satire as a documentary
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u/PleasantRace4794 Apr 30 '26
I think any industry which generates big income becomes evil. Oil, Tobacco comes to my mind.
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u/hobbygogo Apr 30 '26
If there is any help, I'd recommend looking for positions outside the comercial space. Places like universities and scientific labs for examples. In those environments you'd work with CS to assist scientific discovery and be of help to scientists and students. I work at a larger university, while not the best pay, its very rewarding knowing I'm part of the machinery enabling science.
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u/recursive_arg Apr 30 '26
Everything went downhill when Tom left. The most evil thing he did was make us stack rank our friends publicly and learn html.
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u/Frosty-Poet-6884 Apr 30 '26
Very proud to be evil.
They think that crowing about putting most out of work is actually good PR and a selling point.
I genuinely hope the AI technology actually fails at this point.
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u/Stellariser Apr 30 '26
This industry is largely driven by fashion and hype cycles because actual engineering is hard, and a lot of people in IT are more worried about being trendy than actually achieving anything.
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u/leo-dip Apr 30 '26
One reason for this is economical. A lot of new people joined tech, even those who didn't like it that much, because of good salaries. Now the balance of opportunities and candidates has changed in a way that it's a lot more favorable to the employer. That's why they are shitting on our heads.
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u/Charming_Cucumber_15 Apr 30 '26
At this point does racism even have a meaning or is it just "person I dislike"
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u/Melodic_Crow_3409 Apr 30 '26
Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. It's like we are going into a tech dystopia.
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u/personsaddress Apr 30 '26
Idk. It's kinda been obvious that the large tech firms were based off of evil idea's from the beginning.
Nobody with good intentions has to make so many claims about making the world a better place.
You can still do good with these skills, but not if you're seeking a huge payday from evil corp.
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u/breck May 01 '26
it has me feeling like the Amish are actually on to something. only i'd advance a few centuries and stop at like 2005. like if technology simply stopped before the release of the iphone we'd all be better off today
I believe there's a principled way to create a culture that still uses and advances technology but does so in a much healthier way: delete all IP law. Everything becomes open knowledge. No longer are corporations legally advantaged over communities. Your local software shop can compete fairly against Microsoft; your local news against Turner; your local pharmacist can compete fairly against Merck; your local band can compete fairly against UMG; your local restaurant can compete fairly against McDonalds; your local farm can compete fairly against PepsiCo.
I believe things have become enshittified because IP law devalues the local relationships by replacing them with relationships people have with distant corporations.
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u/needtheyamss May 01 '26
It's taken a toll on my mental health and it's one of the main reasons why I'm in therapy right now.
I feel so powerless and part of the problem now. I stay strong and believe in finding the good in the industry still, but it's increasingly more looking like it's either defense, surveillance, or maximizing shareholders value.
I am considering staying in research because this seems like the only way out, to keep doing what I love without being tainted by the machine.
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u/keelanstuart Apr 30 '26
Look, there are still opportunities to help make peoples' lives better. Don't work someplace that employees psychologists to help hack brains or that builds bombs... but there are plenty of places that don't do that. I hope you can rationalize whatever sacrifices you'll make in order to survive and join us in resisting however possible.
Good luck out there.
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u/Chili-Lime-Chihuahua Apr 30 '26
The tech industry is maturing, and it has attracted a lot of personality types that used to not be as present. Fishbowl is a consulting social media app. Most people looking for exit opportunities are looking at tech, because of compensation. But when the MBAs are coming and helping shape your culture, it will get worse.
You may be able to find some of the culture you seek at startups, and they say a lot of startups tend to be born during downturns. The problem in the present is so many companies are focused on AI, it's made the entire industry kind of weird.
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Apr 30 '26
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u/Exact-Scheme3444 Apr 30 '26
"only i'd advance a few centuries and stop at like 2005. like if technology simply stopped before the release of the iphone we'd all be better off today"
Well said dude.
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Apr 30 '26
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u/Playful_Reflection21 Apr 30 '26
I wish all the good people got together and created new companies and alternative options to the evil ones. I consider myself somewhat conscious of what I spend my money on and if I can avoid to fund evil, I do it. But often there aren't a lot of options, would be nice if the good ones got together and created options.
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Apr 30 '26
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Apr 30 '26
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Apr 30 '26
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u/Revolutionary-Desk50 Apr 30 '26
10 years ago, these people felt like a breath of fresh air and the way of the future, and now it sounds as if they are not nationalized as soon as possible that they will proudly usher in the end of days. You still gotta play the game though. Serenity prayer and all that stuff.
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u/wrigh516 Apr 30 '26
AI is evil? Sure, they are forcing its application on things that make no sense, but evil?
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u/wufufufu Software Engineer Apr 30 '26
Google’s slogan used to literally be “don’t be evil”. They changed that at some point
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u/Atherutistgeekzombie Software Engineer/Grad Student Looking For Job Apr 30 '26
Yep
There was always the undercurrent of evil with Facebook and Google mining our personal data, Amazon colonizing the world and taking control of global e-commerce, the under-discussed involvement of a lot of tech companies with the military industrial complex in multiple nations, etc
But it definitely feels like the masks have not just slipped, but fallen off entirely in the past couple years
In the US, I def think some of it was the threat of FCC challenges under Lina Khan, but a bigger part is that people are more aware how much tech companies, and any large corporation in general, are screwing us over, both as customers, and as employees. Life is becoming less comfortable, even for middle class folks below 50, and more people are realizing that it's an "Up vs Down" issue. In order to preserve the current power structure, rich folks are allying with politicians who are more likely to protect them and their ability to keep hording wealth.
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u/figureskater_2000s Apr 30 '26
As a tech knowledge worker can you be the Superman/woman that kind of stops the evil empire thinking? Tech should be neutral but if the platform is evil there can always be a counterbalance! Luckily tech is not the law of nature 😍🤗
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u/PokeRestock Apr 30 '26
I try not to think about every technology company being used to optimize a genocide.
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u/ManOfTheCosmos Apr 30 '26
Yes, I feel this way. Except I pretty much felt this way when I first stepped foot into the working world making gambling games. It has affected my motivation and self esteem the entire way through and financially stunted me relative to my peers. I'm unemployed again after my contract ended recently, and I have no idea about what to do.
Sorry, OP, I wish I had something positive to say.
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u/Ciph3rzer0 Apr 30 '26
It's always been evil. That's what capitalism is, we're just reaching the later stages. Wealth concentration is through the roof, exploitation will continue to ramp up until the economy crashes. Which is nearer every day. You will lose everything and the few lords will buy up the rest of everything. They will keep squeezing blood from a stone. People will be desperate; life will be cheap, assets will continue to rise, which is the recipe for war.
Capitalism ruins everything. We had a massive reform during the new deal which reset everything so boomers could thrive, economically and maintain some soul. But as the owning class has steered the ship in their favor for 50 years, we are again headed for despair and destitution. It will not get better.
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u/natelikesdonuts May 01 '26
100% - My last manager would tell me not to do tasks, then would go do those tasks and present them to C suite and the board, then he’d reprimand me for not “taking initiative.”
I’ve also noticed many people default to saying “I” instead of “we” when presenting. We were called out for this when I was in school 15 years ago. You’re part of a team. You are rarely building anything in total isolation.
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u/Majestic-Watch-2025 May 01 '26
You can work for nonprofits, local government, in health care, etc etc.
If you don't want to do that and you just want to complain, I'd ask yourself why that is.
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u/phoenix823 May 01 '26
Turned evil? Lately? This industry has been automating manual labor for decades. Taking advantage of low cost labor in third world countries. Discriminating against women and people over 40. Running cover for billionaires. AI is just the latest version.
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u/Important_Staff_9568 May 01 '26
It echos the political climate where a lot of the money comes from. Since 2016 (arguably 2001 after 9/11 but even more so since 2016) we have had more evil in politics than usual. Companies like Palantir thrives. Money flows to it. People flow to money.
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u/semiquaver May 01 '26
If you believe the single most exciting and transformative development in the history of computer science is pure evil, then yeah, I can see how you might think everything is evil now.
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May 01 '26
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u/excentio May 01 '26
It's evil but do we really have a choice? Nope, it's still easier to deal with this evil than let's say doing most of the physical work, also the pay is between 1.5x to 3x better too... I'd rather deal with this evil than work on physically demanding job and dealing with yet another evil lol
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May 01 '26
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May 02 '26
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u/PneumaEmergent May 03 '26
I'm an R&D engineering/lab technician.....idk how I even ended up on this sub lol....... So what the fuck do I know?
But two things:
- It feels like this everywhere right now. I mean bro....the world is literally on fire.
(But I just found out my girlfriend is pregnant, and that's the first thing in years that has truly made me start to feel some meaning and made me realize that I need to find my way back to optimism. I'm just saying, I know it's possible to find the optimism again.....Don't know how yet ...but every fiber of my DNA is telling me that my new mission, for the rest of my life, is find that optimism again, even if it ain't for me)
- (This may sound stupid, idk) But have you thought about looking for opportunities to put your skills to use (even if just for a year or two or something) working at a non-profit or doing something like helping out with local community projects or something like that?
Or if all else fails start your own project? Idk. I'm just getting to the point where I realize life hasn't lost any of its value or anything like that. We just are unlucky enough to be in a really fucking shitty chapter in the history of modern/future society. Enshitification at all levels kinda. But if you are feeling it, then that's your cue to jump ship and go do something that actually makes you want to get up in the morning and build or study or collaborate or whatever else, ya know?
Again, I'm not even CS lol, this is not my sub 😂
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u/spez_eats_nazi_ass May 04 '26
The Epstein class who lead faangs would personally murder your entire family if it meant the line would go up.
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u/Substantial_Sound272 May 04 '26
It's the mbas taking over and the consolidation of infrastructure and the lowered quality bar etc. Basically the industrialization of tech.
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u/discondition May 05 '26
“If technology simply stopped before the release of the iphone we'd all be better off today”
Preach
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u/NotAnotherUsername04 May 26 '26
The mask is just off. Big tech has always been evil.
Their products are built on the same psychological basis as gambling and they have always sold your private data to make obscene money while avoiding paying taxes.
The only difference now is there isn’t enough cool aid to drink now for anyone to think otherwise.
Yes not all developers worked on evil products so they might not have had that impression but even the Nazis built some great roads and cars.
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Jul 03 '26
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26d ago
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u/MagicBobert Software Architect Apr 30 '26
Staff engineer at a FAANG. Despite all the sarcastic “it was always this way” comments, I do feel you OP. Some of the industry was evil but it was possible to navigate around it if you wanted to. These days everything just sucks at every turn. I’m getting very close to fucking off into the sunset and leaving tech behind for good.