Companies exist generally to make money first, and any societal benefit is a side effect. Beware of companies that promise otherwise - they're lying either to themselves or to you. Either take the hit on the paycheck and work for a non-profit or academic/government institution, or just try and find something you find interesting - there's still lots of good stuff that comes out of the bleakest-seeming corporate environments, e.g. learning materials, open source projects.
Ask HN: Recommend employers with positive social impact
71–80 of 201 posts
Re: Ask HN: Recommend employers with positive social impact
#72If you want to work at positive impact companies, Khan Academy is one that comes up in my head. But take it from me, someone who has volunteered for civic tech organizations and have participated in ground work for political campaigns. The most positive impact you could possibly make is money. Political campaigns need thousands of volunteers. But someone who has no skills or education can volunteer. The supply pool i…
Two caveats to this approach:
- The work you're doing to make that 300k doesn't happen in a vacuum; it has an impact on the world too. Make sure it's not doing more harm (including the political donations that might get made by the owners you're making richer) than your donations are doing good.
- People aren't robots; intrinsic motivators are important for some. In some cases it can be worth making a smaller impact with your own hands, vs a larger impact that's unsustainable because your soul isn't being fed with a sense of purpose, because you're too far removed from the purpose.
I'm sure your approach works for some people, but I don't think it's an end-all answer to the question
Re: Ask HN: Recommend employers with positive social impact
#73If you want to work at positive impact companies, Khan Academy is one that comes up in my head. But take it from me, someone who has volunteered for civic tech organizations and have participated in ground work for political campaigns. The most positive impact you could possibly make is money. Political campaigns need thousands of volunteers. But someone who has no skills or education can volunteer. The supply pool i…
Agreed, earning more so you can give more is the most pragmatic approach to having the largest possible positive impact. There was a really good conversation on Sam Harris's podcast about this with Sam Bankman-Fried [1]. Based on the question though, the OP's goal might either be to (1) maximize impact or (2) just earn a living while also feeling good about their company's impact. If (1) is the goal, I'd say listen t…
I don't know. I feel like most jobs that earn the most are doing so because they are contributing to, or exploiting, ESG problems.
Re: Ask HN: Recommend employers with positive social impact
#74I work at a company called GrandPad that makes tablets for senior citizens and a suite of apps and websites that allow companions and caregivers to connect with them. Sometimes we forget that there's a whole demographic of people that technology has left behind. Things that are simple to us, like being able to receive a video call from a child or grandchild, are invaluable for reducing social isolation and loneliness for the folks we serve.
We're always looking for more engineers. Shoot us a message if you're interested!
Re: Ask HN: Recommend employers with positive social impact
#75Come join us at eidu.com we impact education for children in low income countries, by providing an android phone to teachers and kids. We don't drop it from the sky but work with governments and have passionate coaches on the ground.
It will be an epic journey from the 39k students we've covered in Kenya today to 600m who deserve it (3x every year).
Re: Ask HN: Recommend employers with positive social impact
#76A typical company is having a positive impact on the world, because it's providing some good or service to people that they are willing to pay money for. The global economy is built on this. It's why we have material and ultimately scientific abundance as a species. I get that casinos, cigarette companies, Google, and Facebook (and others) appear to be in a different category. But my point is that those are the excep…
Yep, you're being downvoted but this is the truth.
Re: Ask HN: Recommend employers with positive social impact
#77I'm a co-founder of Turquoise Health ( https://turquoise.health/ ). We are working to improve US healthcare by exposing the prices that are negotiated at all levels of the insurance billing process and building tools where price negotiations happen in a competitive market instead of in secret. The goal is to drive down healthcare prices using the levers that are available. Right now, there are often 10x price differe…
Do you have any ideas on jobs for an RN that would like to change the healthcare world. Particularly an RN that was worn down pre-pandemic from the cost optimization that leads to nurses having 2x+ the ideal patient load, and families treating them like waitresses? Asking for a friend.
My employer, Aledade.com, runs ACOs and provides analytics and an app to help primary-care practices keep better track of their patient population. It's not necessarily revolutionary -- we're doing conventional things like reducing blood-pressure, just trying to do so conscientously. Our careers page is at https://www.aledade.com/current-opportunities>.
Re: Ask HN: Recommend employers with positive social impact
#78If you want to work at positive impact companies, Khan Academy is one that comes up in my head. But take it from me, someone who has volunteered for civic tech organizations and have participated in ground work for political campaigns. The most positive impact you could possibly make is money. Political campaigns need thousands of volunteers. But someone who has no skills or education can volunteer. The supply pool i…
> At the end of the day, maximizing your salary and donating, say 10k (2.8k direct + 7.2k via PAC) to a political candidate that you believe will make a way bigger positive impact than working for minimum wage or free for that candidate.
I think there's a buried over-simplification here. It's rare to find politicians whose views 100% line up with your own, and too often, politicians are willing to flip their views to satisfy a donor (who, even if you donate 300k-60k=$240k, will not be you). Even if you mostly agree with the politician, you're taking a gamble that your contribution doesn't really end up with the positive impact you desire.
A better argument would be to put the $240k/year into a WayneLi2 Foundation, which directly acts only on whatever you define as good. Of course, in the beginning, the endowment is too small to do anything, but give it several years, and perhaps the donations of a few people who share your vision, and you'll have more control over the direction of the positive impact.
For those of us who don't have that kind of cash, picking an organization whose focus is limited to its mission serves as a boon to know that our efforts will create the impact we'd like to see.
Re: Ask HN: Recommend employers with positive social impact
#79I work at Featurespace - we stop fraud, scams, money laundering and other financial crimes.
We build software that runs real-time machine learning models at scale, deep in the financial 'rails' that move money around, and we license it to banks and other financial institutions.
A surprisingly large number of my colleagues are here because of similar reasons - we like making a positive societal contribution.
We're hiring!
Re: Ask HN: Recommend employers with positive social impact
#80Companies exist generally to make money first, and any societal benefit is a side effect. Beware of companies that promise otherwise - they're lying either to themselves or to you. Either take the hit on the paycheck and work for a non-profit or academic/government institution, or just try and find something you find interesting - there's still lots of good stuff that comes out of the bleakest-seeming corporate envir…
Agreed but you can try to work in healthcare or education that have a more linear potential "good" as opposed to propagating more meme and lols. I agree that OP has to decide to take a pay cut for a more socially focused company goal OR they can take all the fat cash and donate a large portion to a non-profit that is actually doing the work.