To me, the big difference is that I believe that I can have a greater positive impact by working at one of these megacorps and donating a ton of money to charity. Where I work, I am not generating money for my employer but helping improve an external software ecosystem. This I feel is a small positive thing at a company that might be a net harm to the world.
But the pay is way way way way higher than what I could get by building a website for the local food bank. Instead, I can donate five or six figures annually to charitable causes and still come out ahead for my own income.
If you're serious about it I hope you and everyone else that says this commit by picking an issue of society you're passionate about, researching charitable foundations, and contributing a recurring donation that hits the range of money you're willing to part with.
You should also keep tuned in to the organization (and those that receive grants from them) on what impact your helping create to build reinforcement.
I do. I donate a very large amount of money to an organization that I am deeply involved with that does a lot of good efficiently and effectively. I'm sure that a lot of people just use this as a justification and don't actually follow through but I really am donating an amount of money that would be completely infeasible if I was instead employed by this organization.
But the pay is way way way way higher than what I could get by building a website for the local food bank. Instead, I can donate five or six figures annually to charitable causes and still come out ahead for my own income.