Ask HN: Does your job matter and is your company a net positive for the world?

While I don’t wanna comment about my job, I think that this question ignores the fact that an individual having a job as opposed to having to depend on other or on welfare is IMHO a net positive to the world. And that a company can provide that for an individual is thus also a positive.

I do believe that are quite a few companies in tech that are cancer and a net negative to society… but it seems to me that the answer is a lot more nuanced than a simple yes or no.

I guess that If I could afford to work for an organization that the main metric for success is not revenue, that’d be a different story… but those are very few and usually accessible to people that are not oppressed by humongous amount of debt acquired while being an immature teen in college…

Absolutely, every time I have had a job that I couldn't answer these two questions with a confident affirmation, I have burned out in under a year. It certainly is a trial of your moral hierarchy when you are forced to pit financial and opportunity against your core values. I understand why people choose otherwise, but for me it's barely a choice.

My job used to be about developing ML models for diagnostics (not vision, but other modalities). It mattered to me, it was fun and informative, and aspects of that company were a net positive.

Current job is about research in ML in general and no, I don't think it would matter a lot in the long term, but it's interesting and may turn out to be positive.

Nope, it neither matters or is a net positive outside perhaps of a group of very loyal customers. I do it because it pays really really well.

Neither. I just do it to make money and live.

I don't care about either.

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