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Comment by mattbrewsbytes | Hacker News Reader

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mattbrewsbytes

A lot of folks on here think the most sought after companies for SW engineers are FAANG.

Base for major profits at these companies:

FB - advertising

Apple - hardware company with software/services

Amazon - ecommerce

Netflix - entertainment content streaming

Google - advertising

Ranking those as far as companies to make the world better, I would rank Apple at the top since they actually produce something of value to a lot of humans. If you helped build features in the Apple Watch that cause someone to see a doctor for a condition and prevent a potential major medical issue, wow - awesome!

Tech or any other industry isn't going to change the world for the better. Maybe one exception of Renewable Energy, literally could help our planet. That isn't "tech" though.

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I agree with you that technology can be used for good, neutral, or evil purposes. I also agree with you that the largest tech companies are not all good. They are desirable because they pay well, but not to everyone. I left a job at Google, for example. (Ironically... you mentioned health, and I was lucky enough to work on health while I was there).

The weird thing is that we are the tech industry. Almost everyone I know in tech reads Hackernews. If we are cynical about our own industry, it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

The idea that no industry can change the world for the better seems overly pessimistic to me. If you take a broader view going back to the 1500s vs. now, it's clear that industry has played a role in making the world better. I expect this long term trend to continue.

There is definitely a growing trend for green technology, I don't see why you think that, for example, Tesla isn't a tech company that will play a role in helping the planet.

There are plenty of problems besides climate change, even though that is a huge one.

As I mentioned in my post before, a lot of the reasons we face these problems is related to the fact that the market does not properly price things. So of course there is going to be a mismatch between work that pays well and work that benefits society. Is this mismatch permanent? I don't think so. Is it uniform to all work? I also don't think so.

Tesla is a car manufacturer. They operate in the luxury segment which is ~5% of all cars and they only have a slice of that. Nothing they have done, yet, has made a change in the climate that can be measured. You can believe in their mission statement about changing the world but what I've stated are facts based on data. The classification on the stock market has them in the "Consumer Cyclical - Auto Manufacturers" industry segment. If Tesla helps push major manufacturers further into EV then that is good.

The mismatch on salary has always been there. For instance, teachers and emergency responders get paid very little compared to a lot of other professions. Even accountants make substantially more, probably double.

Rewind history to when automobiles were coming out. People thought horses were going to be the mode of transport forever. Is the world better because of automobiles alone? Everything seems interconnected so that is where I was going with not a single industry is going to change the world. Take medical devices and Tech together and you will see more change than Tech alone.

Tech can amplify other industries but alone is mostly just automation of existing things.

> Maybe one exception of Renewable Energy, literally could help our planet. That isn't "tech" though.

without moving the goalposts to "have achieved measurable impact on climate change" let's just ask the following two questions.

Is Tesla working on renewable energy technology? I believe the answer is yes, what do you think?

Is Tesla a technology company hiring software engineers? I believe the answer is yes, what do you think?

Tesla is classified as a car company. They also produce renewable energy products in the form of battery packs. I would consider this an offshoot of the main business, kinda like a lumber mill might also produce bark chips or mulch for landscaping.

To get pedantic, if a classification existed of energy storage companies, that's sort of where Tesla is right? They don't have products that produce energy via solar/wind/nuclear, they have products that consume energy and store it for later use. Is Duracell a renewable energy company? (sarcasm)

All car companies have software engineers. Practically any company past a certain size hires software engineers. That isn't really a criteria being a "tech" company is it? By that definition Caterpillar (makes giant diggers and construction equip) is a tech company. CAT has over 200 software jobs open now.

I'm not denouncing Tesla or what they are doing. I'm just pointing out that I don't classify them as Tech and those that are in the business of classifying companies don't either.

You nailed it. FB and Google are just advertising companies. I am not sure what so fuss about "I am Ex-FB or I am Ex-Google". They might as well say I am Don Drapper :)

Amazon = AWS >= ads > ecommerce

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