I always seem to be interviewed in the wrong places at the right companies. I ultimately decided to reject the AT&T offer, even though I think AT&T would be a great place to work. I was going to ask if they had any more advanced sorts of positions open in areas such as implementation of networking protocols, data mining, or other theoretical research. I can’t see myself writing web apps for the rest of my life, and the contract ensures that I can’t move around in the company for at least 18 months.

Then I realized what I would probably be doing as a data miner at AT&T. The only thing worse than squandering my data mining ability would be setting it to use towards unethical purposes. I didn’t go through 20 years of education to help spy on people’s phone calls.

I don’t understand: they seek my resume out because they’re impressed with what I’ve achieved, and yet they propose to set me in an environment where achievement would lose all meaning.