this post was submitted on 02 Jan 2026
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Programming
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Just venting, but I straight-up don’t understand how so many developers working in gambling, FAANG, the MIC, commercial health insurance, etc. so readily pull the wool over their own eyes before eventually crashing out.
If you’re a working class person with no better way to pay the bills, that’s one thing — but from lived experience as a tech bro, these people are generally well-off white collar professionals with plenty of options. You can do something ethical that pays the bills, lets you live comfortably, travel the world and more, or you can do something obviously heinous for a ~20% marginal salary increase — and this set of nitwits pick the heinous gig every time.
Like have they never bothered to try using the services of the companies they work for? Are they too daft to recognize a dark pattern when they see it?
The only answer I see as a reliable answer is greed and money. OOP and people like them ruin my faith in humanity like nothing else.
I think in some cases it is far more than a marginal increase. I make just $120k at one of my jobs but I could make $400k+ at a job for a company far less ethical. Hell, a guy I know hit $700k one year at Ye Olde Meta (that did include exercising options though).
The allure of being able to retire early is nice. But instead of seeking high paying jobs I just mix and match multiple low paying ones from smaller companies and achieve roughly the same thing with less stress.