Thank you for saying this. It's the perfect encapsulation of how I feel.
For most of my career (I'm 48 now), I have loved my work. But the last 10 years have been really revealing in a bad way. I don't want to build information weapons, and that's how I'm starting to feel all the time.
It's unfortunate, and I only see it getting worse, though I'm hoping there's enough of us to influence the velocity. The sentiment seems to be growing, so I'm trying to be optimistic, but it's going to be difficult when up against the resources of "big tech" (for lack of a better term).
For me it ultimately boils down to my personal morals . I am not comfortable supporting these types of companies, even if my contribution makes minimal difference (on either side). I refuse to contribute because I wouldn't be comfortable with _myself_. I hope this decision will be beneficial to more than just myself, but if it isn't I'll at least be happy knowing I did what I could to support what I believe in.
(side note, I didn't mean this to be so subjectively idealistic, but even if you completely disagree with my opinion on tech, I think the introspection and focus of attention would benefit all)
For most of my career (I'm 48 now), I have loved my work. But the last 10 years have been really revealing in a bad way. I don't want to build information weapons, and that's how I'm starting to feel all the time.