Back to Home11/14/2025, 4:48:42 AM

I Work for an Evil Company, but Outside Work, I'm a Good Person

28 points
7 comments

Mood

thoughtful

Sentiment

mixed

Category

culture

Key topics

morality

work-life balance

ethics in profession

Debate intensity60/100

The article discusses the moral dilemma of working for a company perceived as 'evil' while trying to maintain a personal sense of goodness outside of work, sparking a discussion on the nature of evil, personal justification, and the impact of professional choices on personal life.

Snapshot generated from the HN discussion

Discussion Activity

Moderate engagement

First comment

1h

Peak period

6

Day 1

Avg / period

2.7

Comment distribution8 data points

Based on 8 loaded comments

Key moments

  1. 01Story posted

    11/14/2025, 4:48:42 AM

    5d ago

    Step 01
  2. 02First comment

    11/14/2025, 6:12:47 AM

    1h after posting

    Step 02
  3. 03Peak activity

    6 comments in Day 1

    Hottest window of the conversation

    Step 03
  4. 04Latest activity

    11/17/2025, 5:25:47 PM

    1d ago

    Step 04

Generating AI Summary...

Analyzing up to 500 comments to identify key contributors and discussion patterns

Discussion (7 comments)
Showing 8 comments
znpy
5d ago
1 reply
Love this article. It basically represents most of my collagues when I worked at a faang.
more_corn
4d ago
1 reply
I think the point of it also represents you.
znpy
4d ago
Does it though? I did my time at a faang, but i’m okay admitting i did contribute to the evil company for the fat paycheque.

Yup, my work did (indirectly, i hope) make the world worse.

I dislike that but at the end of the day i’m fine with that.

weard_beard
4d ago
1 reply
Corollary: My income from living a well meaning life is not sufficient to have children. Having children while working for a non-profit in 2025 means living in precarity. While my individual choices have a negligible impact on the direction of the world or society at large, my low income would actively stunt my children and any hope that they might have the resources, support, influence, or opportunity to bring about systemic change.

Also, I refuse to consider any type of violence in my organizing even though that is precisely the escalation in tactics and extremism that the "evil" parts of the world have moved to.

I am prey. Please eat me.

If you do not fight the system the way I want I will pout and die faster in response. Because suicide is the ultimate form of control and emotional manipulation and that's all I really care about.

marcelr
1d ago
this is the only alternative you can imagine? that is pathetic to me.
nis0s
5d ago
The nature of evil is debatable when someone uses the word against ideological opponents. There are things which are unequivocally evil, but most people are ill-equipped to differentiate between evil and what they don’t like due to their cognitive biases, political biases, and lack of knowledge or experience. For people in functioning democracies, this means waiting and observing, so you can fund activities and vote accordingly. I don’t like the colloquial use of the word “evil”, in which one type of political extremist uses it against another, as in that case they’re both wrong, but for different reasons.
GuestFAUniverse
5d ago
That could be the motto of every criminal who joined any form of organized crime syndicate. Why society sanctioned one or the other? Seems more and more blurry.

(yes, exaggerating -- to provoke thought)

alyxya
5d ago
Unironically this is how most of us think about the world. I believe as humans we’re innately selfish and want to feel like we’re usually good or at least justified. Everyone is the protagonist of their own life and sometimes the antagonist of other people’s lives, so it’s worth considering how you could do better to others rather than continuing to justify yourself.
ID: 45923951Type: storyLast synced: 11/17/2025, 6:04:34 AM

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