[Eleison23]

I'm grateful to have served a career that has mostly kept my conscience clear.

I began life as a NOC operator at a regional ISP, when ISPs were merely an on-ramp to Al Gore's Paradise in the Cloud.

I helped many employers and clients connect to the Internet somewhat securely. If the Internet is evil then so am I. I've never worked for FAANGs or adtech or data-gatherers.

Late in my career I came around to academia. Worked for a NASA-JPL project at a university. Now I work for an online program manager.

The data we collect from students is protected by FERPA, and I'd say we make an effort to collect as little as possible, and the students offer it all voluntarily. Win/win.

[Bakary]

One thing I notice from the community is that for previous generations (let's say pre-2005) it was significantly easier to make a great living as a programmer without engaging in shady nonsense. My post was very critical, but to some extent it's hard to escape the logic of the times when you have to navigate them.