I would agree the resume prestige has diminished from what it once was, but I think it's a little far to suggest that any rank and file ENGINEER would have compromised ethics just from choosing to work there. Facebook uses cutting edge tech and pays really well, I would never hold it against an engineer young or old for accepting a position that very likely offered more compensation than they've ever had before.

If you are interviewing Facebook execs or management it would seem reasonable to question their ethics.

Quote fragment that can be interpreted as opposite of what you intended:

> I think it's a little far to suggest that any rank and file ENGINEER would have compromised ethics just from choosing to work there. Facebook uses cutting edge tech and pays really well,

I give people benefit of the doubt, recognize that sometimes we have to compromise, etc., but let's not hand out ethical freebies in advance.

In fact we can tell from Googlers commenting here on HN that individual engineers often disagree with some of the practices of their (huge) employer.

Then they should quit. Stand up for what's right.

If the engineers quit, the company can't do it anymore.

They are all accomplices. For whatever reason they don't stop and thus their ethics are compromised.

> I think it's a little far to suggest that any rank and file ENGINEER would have compromised ethics

They should have the ability to think about the ethical impact of their work, or have awoken to the necessity.

“never thought about it” is a worse answer than “I’m OK with it.” I may not hire someone who answers the later, but I can respect them for having a thoughtful answer.

Ethical behavior is immune to "more compensation than they've ever had before."

that's the point. If they are continuing in any way to benefit the operation of a business that does those things then they are morally corrupt.

Big tech companies still use very valuable process, usually high amounts of tech (some in house but there is a lot to learn from even that).

The prestige is that they are hard to get into so if you made it you passed their bar and you probably had some impact there and learned good process that you can bring to a usually less disciplined startup.

Probing their ethics? Have you worked for any large corporations? They all do unethical stuff. It all depends on your views specifically.

I find copyright and patents to be unethical. Probably not many people I could hire if I employed a similar tactic.