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this post was submitted on 02 Jan 2026
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Programming
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Just venting, but I straight-up don’t understand how so many developers working in gambling, FAANG, the MIC, commercial health insurance, etc. so readily pull the wool over their own eyes before eventually crashing out.
If you’re a working class person with no better way to pay the bills, that’s one thing — but from lived experience as a tech bro, these people are generally well-off white collar professionals with plenty of options. You can do something ethical that pays the bills, lets you live comfortably, travel the world and more, or you can do something obviously heinous for a ~20% marginal salary increase — and this set of nitwits pick the heinous gig every time.
Like have they never bothered to try using the services of the companies they work for? Are they too daft to recognize a dark pattern when they see it?
The only answer I see as a reliable answer is greed and money. OOP and people like them ruin my faith in humanity like nothing else.
where's your magical list of ethical companies 😂😂😂
As a rule of thumb, the more ethical companies are going to be smaller shops as opposed to household names, because they’re siphoning less of the economic value they produce into bloat and “hyperscaling”. Yet there are plenty such shops in every field doing quality work for clients at fair prices; they’re just not the ones making waves and catching press.
If you’re seriously looking for something though, tell me your niche or PM your CV, and I’ll see if I can’t find something reasonable.
Startups are most often not ethical either. They are often run by a wannabe dictator who does everything that benefits them, especially squeezing the employees while underpaying.
Mid-size companies usually don't have enough money to act ethical when it comes down to it.
Large size corporations only got there by not working ethically.
They would literally make more money by job-hopping in pursuit of such a company, but you're right. Even a single team that remembers what ethics are is a big ask.
It's not hard. I've worked in education, grant management, county government, online retail (that one was marginally not evil), and a bunch of others. You just have to know when to say yes and when to say no.