Turning Down a Job at Facebook (Because: Values!)

There’s substantial anecdotal evidence that young people these days—at least young people with options—want more than just to get paid every two weeks. In particular, they want to work at a place they believe in. Some, at least, are unwilling to hold their noses when a company’s values (or, at least, it’s track record) stinks. One factor that goes unmentioned in this story is how becoming part of a company pretty much inevitably means becoming part of its culture. So joining Facebook means not just associating yourself with Facebook’s track record (on privacy, elections, etc.) but also implicitly agreeing to let yourself be shaped into the kind of person who would go along with the kinds of behaviours for which the company has been criticized.

>>>

LINK: ‘I Don’t Really Want to Work for Facebook.’ So Say Some Computer Science Students (by Nellie Bowles for New York Times)

…“Before it was this glorious, magical thing to work [at Facebook],” said Jazz Singh, 18, also studying computer science. “Now it’s like, just because it does what you want doesn’t mean it’s doing good.”

As Facebook has been rocked by scandal after scandal, some young engineers are souring on the company. Many are still taking jobs there, but those who do are doing it a little more quietly, telling their friends that they will work to change it from within or that they have carved out more ethical work at a company whose reputation has turned toxic.

Facebook, which employs more than 30,000 full-time workers around the world, said, “In 2018, we’ve hired more engineers than ever before.” The company added, “We continue to see strong engagement and excitement within the engineering community at the prospect of joining our company.”….

But see also:

[One student] said a lot of students criticize Facebook and talk about how they would not work there, but ultimately join. “Everyone cares about ethics in tech before they get a contract,” she said.

What do you think?

Brought to you by: