Ask HN: Where can I find a software job that helps society?
I've tried many different things in the corporate world and entrepreneurship.
I've enjoyed it, but I'm pretty jaded by the usual stuff. A job with social impact--something that makes someone's life better--would be the right thing for me now.
Any thoughts on convenient ways to find these? Some sort of board or listing?
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[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 193 ms ] threadIn the meantime you could volunteer as a programmer - it's a niche that is growing rapidly.
http://socialcoder.org (UK based but international)
Disclosure: I run it
It'd not software-specific, but they've got lot of "escape corporate life" jobs (with a focus on the UK).
I'm just saying.
Now, before you down vote me consider they have been instrumental in making knowledge accessible that generally just couldn't be found. They're likely to be on the leading of eliminating most traffic deaths with their self driving cars, and they're providing free Internet to the world with Loon.
Big and successful companies across the industry are doing great things and having amazing social impacts.
You can't presume that the exploited-away surplus-value or negative externalities from your high-paying-donate-to-charity job actually exceed the good you're doing by donating to charity with the proceeds of your work. Warm fuzzies are, at the very least, a reasonable guide to doing work that's relatively sure to be relatively purer good.
We've got jobs in medical research, green energy, and others.
Jobs that help humanity should be touting it directly -- a major selling point.
I'll see what good stuff I find there.
I'd say that writing open source is another kind of positive social impact. You can do that in your spare time, but if you can do it on the job, all the better.
I've done the finance thing, and it's got its good side. But now, I want to see how I can help more directly. And yes, it's possible.
We hackers are sustained by WILLPOWER, even when mocked as reckless and crazy! If there's a wall in our way, we smash it down! If there isn't a path, we carve one ourselves!
(Mandatory)
There's this really popular show called Breaking Bad that revolves around the main characters' heroic efforts to do this.
Compare with getting into ecommerce and working with some small businesses that don't yet sell online. For example, suppose you team up with a business in the Himalayas that sells genuine Tibetan Monkey Stones to passing tourists that just so happen to be newly wed. Put their business online so that people all over the world can buy traditional Tibetan Monkey Stones for friends getting married. Get the orders in, make people happy on their special day, help some business get more than passing trade, potentially to grow and take on new employees, everyone is a winner. No inane fundraisers needed.
Raising political awareness and transparency - http://sunlightfoundation.com/ - https://www.govtrack.us/ - https://www.popvox.com/
Defending rights in the information age - http://www.fightforthefuture.org/ - https://www.eff.org/
Alternative fundraising: helping the little guy raise money - http://www.indiegogo.com/ - https://www.wepay.com/
Facilitating online activism campaigns - https://www.change.org/ - http://front.moveon.org/ - https://secure.avaaz.org/en/
On the less philanthropic end of things, there are a host of organizations solving problems in the biomedical world. From hospitals to biotech companies, there are many possibilities. I've found working in this space incredibly fulfilling, especially given that I've had a chance to see patient cases where we can make a difference.
[1] http://www.ewb-usa.org [2] http://www.peacecorps.gov
And yes, biomed is a good space to do well while doing good.
You won't get rich, but you'll have money left over after paying your bills.
Vision statement
To promote long, healthy and productive lives for persons with organ failure by promoting maximized organ supply, effective and safe care, and equitable organ allocation and access to transplantation.
Mission statement
To advance organ availability and transplantation by uniting and supporting its communities for the benefit of patients through education, technology and policy development.
Amicus: http://amicushq.com/
Actively Learn (activelylearn.com) Moving Worlds (movingworlds.org) Vittana (vittana.org)
ProPublica http://www.propublica.org/about/jobs
Maplight http://maplight.org/content/jobs-at-maplight
Sunlight Foundation http://sunlightfoundation.com/jobs/
Rootstrikers http://www.rootstrikers.org/
resource.org https://public.resource.org/
Code for America http://codeforamerica.org/
Engineers Without Borders http://www.ewb-usa.org/
EFF https://www.eff.org/about/opportunities/jobs
Nexleaf Analytics http://nexleaf.org/contact-us
But I'm wondering if there is some sort of job listing or board that brings together all the salaried jobs (sorry, gotta eat), that help humanity directly in some way.
Edit: You'll most definitely want to avoid the big organisations. Also, right now you could join about any NGO and get sent to the Philippine, small NGOs usually work as meritocracy. And networking is key in this field.
This is their mission statement:
"Idealist connects people, organizations, and resources to help build a world where all people can live free and dignified lives.
Idealist is independent of any government, political ideology, or religious creed. Our work is guided by the common desire of our members and supporters to find practical solutions to social and environmental problems, in a spirit of generosity and mutual respect."
Telecoms Sans Frontieres http://tsfi.org
After wrapping up other projects I want to begin work on "Carpoolians.com". It'll allow anyone to enter their morning & evening commutes to work and the site will match them up with others around them who are along their route and have the same schedule so they can carpool together.
Sounds dangerous? So is cleaning the gutters and walking under coconut trees but people still do it. In fact Carpoolians is loosely based on Washington D.C.'s Slug lines (hitch a ride with strangers so you can both use the HOV lanes and not be late for work). http://www.slug-lines.com/Slugging/About_slugging.asp Hundreds of thousands have hitched rides with strangers with no oversight what-so-ever and there haven't been any muggings or homicides. And this is in Washing D.C. (double the national crime rate).
Users can enter their pick up time, general locations, return time, weather they're looking for a driver or a passenger or either, and which days of the week they need carpool services. The site will match them up from a list of potential drivers or passengers and they can make a decision based on price and their gut feeling. Trips are paid in cash peer to peer. But the site will keep an evidence trail of who's riding with whom. Members can certify themselves so they have a "clean background" aka no criminal history icon next to their picture.
Because it's peer to peer so you don't have to worry about taxi cab regulations like Uber does, but we also don't have revenue other than government and city grants. There's plenty of other startups like ridejoy.com doing transportation but they just do 1 trip. Carpoolians will focus exclusively on commutes (re-occuring trips) which make up the bulk of traffic.
It's not twitter or facebook but you can feel good knowing you can:
- Reduce emissions which lead to asthema and lung desease (people living near highways & busy roads have increased risk of both including death!).
- Reduced traffic accidents and saved lives.
- Improve productivity and save time helping the economy.
- Reduce pedestrian hits and deaths (2007-2012 over 5,700 pedestrians were hit in Orlando Florida alone.)
- Help low income people get to work without having to wait in the rain for buses.
- Helped people save money, wear & tear on their car.
- Help clear more parking spots!
- reduce government waste spent on driving empty buses back and forth (buses get about 6 miles per gallon) My mother works as a bus operator. Believe me, there is a LOT of waste. Public Transit can be an extremely ineffective, expensive, and inefficient method to transport people. Especially outside of dense cities like San Fran, Chicago, and New York.
If 4 people sign up and use Carpoolians that's 2 cars off the road each rush hour. If 150 people sign up and use the service that's about 70 cars off the road during morning and evening rush hour. It adds up very easily. http://www.howwedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/cars-bu... and makes a HUGE difference in communities.
My contact info can be found in my HN profile. As you can tell I've got a few loose ends to tie up with some other projects that I'm finishing up.
http://80000hours.org/ http://80000hours.org/earning-to-give http://www.givingwhatwecan.org/ http://www.givewell.org/ http://home.centreforeffectivealtruism.org/
- have as much private insurance as you need
- are debt-free
- can provide for yourself & your family upon retirement
Being financially independent is the greatest gift you can give to those who depend upon you, & to the rest of the society in which you live.