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Comment by clappski | Hacker News Reader

This isn't aimed at you, but I think it's interesting that a couple of days ago (yesterday?) we had a thread where people said they would like a company to be honest and upfront about the need to make a profit, and clear about its goal of continue to increase profits.

Here, we're exposed to a company that does that and there's contempt about how the organisation expresses itself.

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Yes, this clarity is actually good - you come in knowing that the company has no culture, and you're not family. All performance, no illusions.

Better than being propagandized to love your terrible job.

There _is_ a culture at GS, or any other investment bank, and it is designed to bring in the right sort of people.

I never worked at GS, but I do work in finance and some elements of this culture I enjoy. E.g. at my last place, we had no perks, ping pong tables, gym discounts, fancy office etc. (the office building was cheap ex-factory floor at the suburbs), but the salary was above the market. I liked it, "don't tell me what to do with my money"

You're right, all groups of people have norms. I used culture to mean the fluffy, icky, non-true kind of talk about what management values.

That was the culture at my first job out of college - no perks, but above-market compensation. I look for that everywhere I work now too, and instituted it at my last startup. Everything else just seems childish cargo-cultish BS by comparison.

Unfortunately in the US the tax system means perks can be substantially advantageous to both the employer and the employee. Otherwise I too would prefer salary over perks.

Yes, you and dilemma make great points. I Agree, that given these companies exist this is beter than a pretence at being 'nice'. However, it's the prediminance and ruling of our lives by the existence and systemic power of such unvalues that is what ruins lives (time, overwork), and the environment. It's simple agent shortish term maximising, for a money game, rather than what would be better: a human / AI collaborative effort to figure out optimal outcomes, and work towards them in informationally rich ways.

Wouldn't the world fall apart if GS bankers weren't working at 100% capacity around the clock?

Those ideas are and probably always will be in deep conflict. Nobody said it has to be easy.

>Here, we're exposed to a company that does that and there's contempt about how the organisation expresses itself.

HackerNews hates banks. SV's capitalism is good, Wall Street's is not.

>Here, we're exposed to a company that does that and there's contempt about how the organisation expresses itself.

No, there's contempt about what the organization does. We like that they're honest about being vampire-squids on the face of humanity.

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