[lukestevens]

It’s a strange pattern [0]:

[Sophie Zhang] joined Facebook in 2018 after the financial strain of living on part-time contract work in the Bay Area had worn her down. When she received Facebook’s offer, she was upfront with her recruiter: she didn’t think the company was making the world better, but she would join to help fix it.

“They told me, ‘You’d be surprised how many people at Facebook say that,’” she remembers.

[0] https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/07/29/1030260/facebook...

[vln]

I said the same thing. It's how I rationalized selling out for a company that does harm to the world.

[ldehaan]

A nugget of truth, it was nice, thanks.

[mountainb]

It has to do with how the university educated are socialized. They believe it's gauche to admit to pecuniary interest when looking for a job. They have to make it like a quasi-religious mission for which they are incidentally paid. It's intensely stupid. Obviously Facebook invites it and has consciously adapted its recruiting message.

Back in the 2000s before the financial crisis it was popular to portray the young as nauseating money grubbers who just wanted to get a job in banking. That wasn't great either, but I would rather honest greedheads rather than greedheads who lie to themselves and others about what they're doing with their lives.

[raxxorrax]

I think this is a convenient excuse and the money and reference was good. A convenient excuse, not a good one.