I was working as a defense contractor doing DoDAF architecture, documenting existing intelligence programs which had been funded under the global war on terror so that they could receive traditional funding when that budget went away.
I worked for a subcontractor. The prime contract holder's boss found out that I was a software engineer, which they needed very badly on another project: it's untoward to just steal your subcontractor's employees, but they didn't care. They offered me a 25% base salary raise, a fast-tracked TS/SCI clearance, and travel to Afghanistan with hazard pay.
I went and interviewed, and they wanted to hire me, but the nature of the job became clear during the interview itself. The job was writing biometrics tracking software for use in Guantanamo Bay and Afghanistan.
I refused. They called me pretty consistently for the next three years. I just knew I wouldn't be able to sleep at night doing something that was so very contrary to my beliefs.
Now yeah, I stayed at the architecture contract for a long time, and that was contrary to my beliefs too. I had no business doing defense contracting in any form. But that was a boring, actuarial, technical evil; the biometrics stuff would've been a constant in-my-face reminder of the wrongness.
What finally ended my defense gig was that I was reviewing a powerpoint slide which included a little graphic labeled 'squirters.' 'Squirters' are the survivors of indirect fire who run away from the impact site. I couldn't abide the fact that we dehumanize our foes with that kind of vocabulary, and even though I was just building useless budget-justification documentation for existing systems, I didn't want to keep doing it.
Recently, I got recruiter spam with a big number attached. They wouldn't match my scrappy startup employer's upside potential, but the base salary was appealing compared to the lottery tickets. I met with the CTO, who desperately needed someone to run the engineers and serve as a backup repository of institutional knowledge in case he got hit by a bus, but I didn't like the way he talked about the women in the bar where he chose to conduct the interview.
"Now yeah, I stayed at the architecture contract for a long time, and that was contrary to my beliefs too. I had no business doing defense contracting in any form. But that was a boring, actuarial, technical evil; the biometrics stuff would've been a constant in-my-face reminder of the wrongness."
He had a price to tolerate a lesser encroachment on his beliefs. Sounds like there's two dimensions to explore: what price, and what personal compromise you're willing to accept.
Would there have been a certain $ figure that would've made you say, "fuck it, I'll do it, at least for a little bit"? A common way to justify this is to say you'll be able to do more good with the $ than bad you did to get the $ in the first place.
No, I think that'd be a bridge too far, regardless of the pay. I might've done something like network administration or some kind of weapon system development; a friend of mine built a UI for something on the F35, and that would've been (relatively) fine. Biometrics and detention stuff specifically is abominable.
I'm sure everyone has that number, but this story makes no sense to me.
They offered a 25% increase, to "GO TO AFGHANISTAN". Moral questions aside, that is a normal job to job bonus. Not a sell your soul bonus.
You can make 100k a year in Food Service, working at Taco Bell on base in Afganistan. The risk isn't great, but it is a real and present danger when you work in a war zone on a base that might be attacked.
It seems like a 250% increase would be required to get anyone to move.
Most of the gig would've been on-site at the same Army base where I was already working. Time spent overseas would've been at an astronomical rate, albeit one I don't specifically recall.
That's very low for the risk in the 80's I used to work for Dar Al Handasha (one of the big 5 consulting engineers) we had whole list of countries and the extra hazard pay rate Angola was 80%
Unfortunately as the US charges tax on world wide income you cant avoid tax.
There was no EHP for head office in Beruit as the civil war was raging.
I worked for a subcontractor. The prime contract holder's boss found out that I was a software engineer, which they needed very badly on another project: it's untoward to just steal your subcontractor's employees, but they didn't care. They offered me a 25% base salary raise, a fast-tracked TS/SCI clearance, and travel to Afghanistan with hazard pay.
I went and interviewed, and they wanted to hire me, but the nature of the job became clear during the interview itself. The job was writing biometrics tracking software for use in Guantanamo Bay and Afghanistan.
I refused. They called me pretty consistently for the next three years. I just knew I wouldn't be able to sleep at night doing something that was so very contrary to my beliefs.
Now yeah, I stayed at the architecture contract for a long time, and that was contrary to my beliefs too. I had no business doing defense contracting in any form. But that was a boring, actuarial, technical evil; the biometrics stuff would've been a constant in-my-face reminder of the wrongness.
What finally ended my defense gig was that I was reviewing a powerpoint slide which included a little graphic labeled 'squirters.' 'Squirters' are the survivors of indirect fire who run away from the impact site. I couldn't abide the fact that we dehumanize our foes with that kind of vocabulary, and even though I was just building useless budget-justification documentation for existing systems, I didn't want to keep doing it.
Recently, I got recruiter spam with a big number attached. They wouldn't match my scrappy startup employer's upside potential, but the base salary was appealing compared to the lottery tickets. I met with the CTO, who desperately needed someone to run the engineers and serve as a backup repository of institutional knowledge in case he got hit by a bus, but I didn't like the way he talked about the women in the bar where he chose to conduct the interview.