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Comment by noelwelsh | Hacker News Reader

Weird that the reasons don't include anything about the actual work. The work I envisage doing is a much more important reason than, say, prestige to me.

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Primary reason for my choices was I didn’t want the other company.

Do I want to work for Instacart? Not really. Do I prefer working for Instacart over Tesla? Well, I’d rather go back to hand digging trenches in the rain than work for Tesla, so yeah I prefer Instacart.

Yeah, same for me. Choosing the less bad one.

Same here.

The first ~10 companies I saw were a dumpster fire.

I think that US companies in general are better on average than this.

It also mentions “remote” as a reason as if I know which companies allow remote work by heart.

Ethics is also a big one for me but seems to be missing.

added interesting work as one reason!

I mean for either company you are going to be helping a company to chase profits. There is nothing wrong with that. But let’s not pretend there is a deeper meaning to work than to exchange labor for money. None of these companies will see you as any more than a number. The only deciding factor would be remote work and money.

This is the weird Homo economicus take that pops up quite often on HN. It shouldn't be surprising that some people want more than just money from the place where they spend half or more of their waking life. You can just check the comments here to see some of the reasons that people work, beyond money.

After you have worked 10 jobs over 30 years from 60 person startups to BigTech you realize it’s purely transactional. Do you think your employer “cares” about you? My job funds my short and long term needs and wants. The employer sees me as just a number, why should I treat them as any more than just a paycheck? None of us are out here saving starving children.

It makes complete sense that people want something more out of a job than money. However, you should not be looking for emotional attraction to a job, because that's asking for trouble. The thing is too many people tie their identity to their job, which then means that they're limiting their career opportunities and quality of life for people who fundamentally do not care about them. It's self-destructive.

What we should care about is, how long is the commute? Do I have to commute every day? Is the work stressful? Can I potentially work less than 40 hours? Will I be treated with base line respect? You know, things that tangible increase your quality of life.

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