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A startup company which makes high-tech adult toys is hiring engineers and programmers. Unless I make a bunch of money from it I don't want to stay in this industry. Is being employed/associated with the company a bad idea if I plan on moving to more conservative fields once I move?(Aerospace/defense).

How would a hiring manager view this?

Old_Lamplighter
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FourierFlux
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    "Unless I make a bunch of money from it I don't want to stay in this industry." -- If you already know you don't want to work in that industry or for that type of company, why do you intend to join in the first place? – Brandin Dec 13 '18 at 06:30
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    Money of course, it's a startup with a chance to buy stock options. If it's hugely successful I could make a ton but like I wrote I don't have an interest in staying in this field. Also I'm not completely done with my education and it's a local job... – FourierFlux Dec 13 '18 at 06:35
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    If you join and then leave quickly, that will probably be the more important data point, rather than what they produce. Imagine your future interviewer asking "why did you leave your last employer?" and you say "I wanted to make a ton of money, but didn't." it would not sound like you are a serious professional. – Brandin Dec 13 '18 at 06:41
  • Is leaving a startup really unusual? Seems pretty common. – FourierFlux Dec 13 '18 at 06:45
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    Please search the site for other posts related to "job hopping". For example https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/46377/several-trials-to-find-my-vocation-seen-as-job-hopper For some reason you are focusing on what the startup produces as being more important than your professional behavior. For example, joining and leaving several companies in succession will get you pegged as a job hopper and a high risk hire. Also, if you suggest that you left because you didn't want to work for companies that produce "sex toys" then you shouldn't have worked there in the first place. – Brandin Dec 13 '18 at 06:51
  • I don't think any hiring manger is going to care about me leaving the company, the question is if joining to begin with will screw me over. I have always heard if you stay with a company more than a couple years it means you're not wanted. I suppose I can always just not list it but my name could get out. – FourierFlux Dec 13 '18 at 06:56
  • Let us continue this discussion in chat. – Brandin Dec 13 '18 at 07:02
  • You have some odd logic. – paparazzo Dec 13 '18 at 07:40
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    "Would a company which makes products designed to cause suffering and death (defense industry) frown upon people who made products designed to cause pleasure (sex toy industry)"? The more I think about this ethical question the more interesting it gets. – Philipp Dec 13 '18 at 14:59
  • One question arising from this would be that if you work in defense you often need some form of security clearance, so could this kind of work affect that at all? Could you be seen as a security risk (e.g. potential vulnerability to blackmail, unsavory associates)? – Stuart F Dec 13 '18 at 16:06
  • Already addressed a few times on the site, including https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/11492/what-are-the-career-risks-of-taking-a-job-related-to-adult-entertainment – GreenMatt Dec 13 '18 at 16:14
  • @Philipp Pro-killing puritans? – UnhandledExcepSean Dec 14 '18 at 15:47

4 Answers4

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No, it's not a bad thing. It's a design and manufacturing company, and that's the way it should be viewed.

Yes, some conservative people might have a knee-jerk reaction that having this in your past resume isn't something they want to deal with, but most people will see it for what it is - a software job for a design and manufacturing business.

Concentrate on the actual role rather than whatever's coming out of the design pipeline and you should be fine.

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    Just to add to Snow's good answer : 1. People who are hostile to hire you just because you worked in this field are probably people you don't want to work with. 2. Having this experience on your resume can make a recruiter laugh and help having an interview. Then it's your call to make a good impression. Keep in mind that you might forever be the "sex-toy-guy", but if you embrace the joke, it should be fine. – Berthim Dec 13 '18 at 09:03
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    The focus should never be on what the company does, but rather what you contributed to the company and what experience and skills were utilized. The engineers at pornhub will never say they worked there. They'll focus on facts like they worked at one of the largest video streaming sites in the world and a big part of their role was to ensure seamless video playback across a huge number of connections with minimal hiccups. That sounds a lot more impressive when you're moving on to a new company. – TheEvilMetal Dec 13 '18 at 13:51
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That particular industry is actually known for being fairly advanced in technology. Websites of that nature usually have very advanced tech (who do you think pioneered streaming video).

So, if, on your resume, you emphasize the engineering aspect of it rather than the more titillating aspects of it, you should be fine.

Old_Lamplighter
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You’re way overthinking this. My fiancé was an order picker at a popular adult web shop. He interviewed at quite a few places before taking his current job in the far more conservative (no pun intended) food industry, but no one cared what products were in the warehouse. Recruiters did care about his warehouse experience.

Hiring managers and recruiters are professional relationships and will be professional about this too. If they are not, they weren’t worth dealing with in the first place.

Belle
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I've been in this situation professionally. It's a total non-issue.

Provided it's an otherwise reputable company, they same boring internal corporate things you'd find at furniture manufacturer. If you go for the interview, you will likely find their offices just a plain and drab as any other featureless office park.

Career-wise, they're no different than any other job. It's experience. Since it's a somewhat amusing anecdote, I've freely talked about it. Most corporate types are adult enough to not really care.

If you're worried about describing it on your resume, most of these companies already have 'family friendly' corporate descriptions. "Worldwide Leader in Products for Couples" or some such easily decryptable vaguery.

Side note, the test data is a hoot!

DTRT
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