
Ask HN: Do you have specific industries that you would never work for? - Raed667
Do you have any fields, industries or even specific entities that would you never consider working for?<p>If so what are your objections?
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BjoernKW
The arms industry and intelligence agencies because in both cases it's
impossible to even fathom if the work you do for them will be used for good or
for harm.

I wouldn't necessarily have qualms working for the military as such (although
I'd have to think about it in each specific case), which of course is at least
somewhat paradoxical given that I wouldn't work for weapons manufacturers.
While often politically controversial, the military also provides a useful -
and probably and unfortunately necessary - service to society.

Gambling because the products and services the industry provides often not
only don't benefit the customer but often are downright detrimental to their
well-being. One could argue though that brick-and-mortar casinos at least sell
an exciting experience, so the case might not be as clear-cut as with online
gambling, for example.

Finally, scam industries such as homoeopathy (which unfortunately is rather
widespread in Europe) because their products don't benefit the customer.

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hacknat
I like this list. I’ll add advertising and porn to it for myself. Porn because
of the social stigma (I actually think porn has provided some value to
society), and advertising because on scales worth automating it is mostly
lying.

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ktpsns
Car manufacturing. This is the biggest industry here in Germany. The Diesel
engine cheating scands in the last year's didn't improve much on their public
image. In this industry, you shall like loud and powerful engines, luxury and
expensive cars, the Blockchain... I hat all of that. I quit any job interview
when I learn that the company makes b2b consulting for automobile related
stuff.

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onion2k
I have a few basic rules about what I want my code to do, and one of them is
that I'll never write code that I _know_ will make other people's lives worse.
That doesn't really explicitly rule out anything but it's hard to imagine a
situation where I'd work in weapons manufacturing, gambling, porn, etc.

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sethammons
Is not the point of code to do automation? Is not the end result loss of jobs?

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onion2k
It's possible that I could work on something that would make jobs redundant,
and I would have to ask myself whether or not that's something I want to do.
Up till now I written a lot of code that automates parts of people's jobs, and
they end up doing different, often much less tedious, work that their company
needs instead. So far I haven't been responsible for anyone losing their job.
Most of the code I've written to date has been to grow companies and create
more jobs actually. That's one benefit of being in an industry from the early
days.

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highhedgehog
Ceramic tiles. My family is in the business among the major producers in the
world.

I hate the product, as a software engineer it's not stimulating, and I want to
stay away from it as long as I can.

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omosubi
In addition to those mentioned (gambling, adtech, military industrial
complex), I'll add predatory lending companies. There are several in my city
and my heart sinks a little each time a friend or coworker moves to one :/

to be fair I'm young and have no children so it's easy to say no to them. If I
had kids or otherwise needed a job and those were the only options I might
think differently. hopefully it never comes to that

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CtrlAltEngage
Meat & dairy Gambling Arms and defence

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db48x
Advertising.

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Raed667
Why?

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AGivant
Long hours, fun when you young, not so much fun as you get older. I have
worked year and a half in such company in Toronto, boss bring you beer, dogs
running around (pet all you can, if you a dog person), cocktail hours every
day (we called it flu shots). Worked like 15 hours for 6 months, found other
job and left.

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CM30
Well, it's not really a field as much as certain parts of said field, but
anything government/military related associated with a dictatorship. In other
words, the governments of countries like China/Russia/North Korea/Saudi
Arabia/Iran/etc.

But I'm not against working for any government, just any that's involved in a
non democratic society.

Obviously also any industry involved in pushing malware to the public too,
since those adware programs have to come from somwhere.

And I guess scammers/pseudoscience peddlers as well. Would never get involved
with a company pushing anti vax stuff, creationism/intelligent design, stuff
like homeopathy and alternative medicine, etc.

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billconan
Will never work for the fur clothing business.

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potta_coffee
Porn, advertising, social media. They're all detrimental to society (imo).

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Eltintero
Time share business. Usually a Complete ripoff.

