[Jared Russell]

There are days when I come home from work and am absolutely depressed by how jaded, profit-oriented, and sometimes even dishonest life in real world industry can be. Most businesses (but certainly not all, as Alan pointed out) have a single objective - to make money and stay in business.

Still, I have to challenge the assertion that GP and capitalism are mutually exclusive. Indeed, "greedy" local optimization of profit is often detrimental to the long term sustainability of a business. I cite the following experiences I've had working for a large defense contractor:

1. Many (as a matter of fact, almost all) of our projects are orchestrated by teams of multiple different companies working together. Nobody sells a complete fighter jet package to the US Government. One company makes the avionics, one does the fuselage, one does the engine, etc. Simply put, your competitor one week may be your teammate the next. In this way, the real world is much like FIRST. And if your company is a pain in the butt to deal with, word will get around.

2. The Internet, Digg, Reddit, Twitter, Consumerist, etc., are increasing the visibility of corporate actions to ordinary citizens. Every time a large company changes a policy that screws its customers, people now hear about it. Likewise, truly charitable acts by companies get a lot more publicity now than they have in the past.

3. Technology is a *very* competitive field. There are tons of engineers out there, but the very best ones are in high demand. Again, word gets around. Jobs where people work 60 hours a week in meeting rooms, filling out paperwork, and dealing with mind-numbing minutiae won't attract the very best, at least not for long. Google is a good example - through their revolutionary work culture, they have managed to lure talent away from the warehouses filled with cubicles, despite somewhat smaller paychecks.

It sounds like Andrew works at a place that has fallen into the trap of greedy profit mongering over all else. But more and more work places - mine, fortunately, included - have realized that there is so much more. Yes, you will all have to sit through boring meetings, and there are some people at every workplace who are about as un-GP as you can get, but if you are able to see past these things and control the things that you can control (i.e. your own attitude towards work), then most people will find that our world is one that you can live in.