No. Facebook and Google are ad businesses. The data only exists to influence people into buying things they don’t need. It’s a net negative to society.

I don’t know how anyone justifies working at either place, given their mission is to separate people from their money.

Separate people from their money while stealing their attention and time, intentionally triggering and maintaining addiction response, optimizing for engagement which in turn relies on negative emotions, conflict, fear, hate.

Attention x time is the most significant resource we have.

Joy, togetherness, happiness, is what makes life worth living.

The attention economy destroys all of these, causing an immeasurable amount of damage and misery.

So, yes, how much does Sauron pay again?

Not that I'm disagreeing with your first line, but is there any business that doesn't exist to separate people from their money?

Sadly, it's full of places people work at that are net negatives to society.

Google and Facebook are two such places, but the list is long, and not limited to Big Tech.

To echo this with a for instance; I used to loathe running meetings. I fumbled. I wasn’t confident. I was disorganized.

Now, after running more than I can count, I look forward to it! I got gud. Every meeting was an opportunity to practice and learn more about how to run them effectively. I played with strategies and even though most didn’t work, I found out what did work.

If something doesn’t scratch your itch initially, that doesn’t mean it won’t in time. Be with experience instead of against it.

Would you mind recommending a few companies from your experience? May look into that path myself.

Very true. I job hopped a few years ago and came to a startup. I took a small pay cut, but it came with options and other perks. If the options hit, it’s still two to three years out. Tempted to purchase what I’ve vested and job hop again. Though I would eventually like to stay somewhere awhile and mentor. Thanks!