I have to confess something. For two years, I was a contracted IT worker for the US armed forces. (hexbear.net)

submitted 9 months ago by BeamBrain@hexbear.net to c/chapotraphouse@hexbear.net

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I don't want to give too many details so as to avoid doxing myself. I never left the US and wouldn't have done so if asked, but fundamentally, I don't think that really matters. It's all part of the same machine. It was well before I became anything that could be described as communist, but all that means is that it hit that much harder when I had to come to terms with what I'd been a part of.

Maybe that's the sort of thing you can't ever make up for, but I'll spend the rest of my life trying anyway. If anyone on this site never wants anything to do with me again after having read this, I understand.

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[-] KnilAdlez@hexbear.net 19 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I'm really worried that my only option for work will be with a defense contractor. Those are the only places hiring for my field lately.

I sort of have a conspiracy theory that these tech layoffs lately are so that MICs can have more/cheaper programmers as the U.S. ratchets up for war with China.

[-] commiewithoutorgans@hexbear.net 21 points 9 months ago

As someone in systems engineering, almost all jobs are fucking defense in all of the west. Everything else in engineering is outsourced to other countries through imperialism. It's why I'm doing train stuff. You gotta deal with companies that are in the top 10 evil companies of the world, but I avoid it as much as possible. The defense contractors even found ways to integrate working in the public transport sector to bring it under their umbrella. Sucks

[-] Tankiedesantski@hexbear.net 16 points 9 months ago

I sincerely hope that you find some other work. If you can't, I hope you find it within yourself not to sacrifice the lives of others for your own economic gain.

[-] KnilAdlez@hexbear.net 11 points 9 months ago

I'm not at the point that I'm would consider selling my soul like that, but I'm disabled and my meds cost 7k a month. No good job means no good healthcare means I can't continue living. Right now I have insurance through the state and I'm trying to get on SSDI, but I don't know how long those will last.

[-] CarbonScored@hexbear.net 9 points 9 months ago

Honestly, I consider working for MICs just for the purposes of doing faulty, net-negative work.

[-] Tankiedesantski@hexbear.net 13 points 9 months ago

Do all the calculations in imperial instead of metric. Go on fox news and blow the whistle on the MIC being unpatriotic when challenged.

[-] Great_Leader_Is_Dead@hexbear.net 10 points 9 months ago

Yeah it sucks where I live like 90% of the STEM jobs are military contractors. My sister who's an engineer was struggling to find work and was trying to avoid companies that make bombs. She landed a job at a place she thought mostly just civilian work, only to discover a few months in that no indeed they do some military stuff.

[-] barrbaric@hexbear.net 5 points 9 months ago

I think it's just that pervasive because there's nothing else we build anymore. A company I used to work for that was decent got bought out by an MIC contractor. I was still a lib at the time but quit anyway because the new management were a bunch of assholes that removed a bunch of safety protocols because they slowed things down.