Where do you live? find things like this: http://atxhackforchange.org/
Ask HN: How can I do social good through programming?
151–160 of 394 posts
Re: Ask HN: How can I do social good through programming?
#152Honestly, I think the most effective thing to do is find an organization doing social good, who is hiring programmers, and go work for them. There are plenty of non-profits and governments that do a ton of good, and employ developers to work on their web sites and infrastructures. A good friend of mine is a developer for the ACLU, for example. There are also organizations like Code for America that do open source wor…
This. There are many incredible organizations doing great work in the code for good space, and not solely in the non-profit or government sectors. I’ll second the reference to Code for America. I have a colleague who did their fellowship and learned a ton while working with some great local governmental agencies. They’ve also recently launched a job board to curate high impact mission-driven jobs and jobs with local…
Hi! I lead engineering on Code for America's work building services improving the social safety net, so happy to answer any questions. I'd also mention that we're hiring directly for teams at CfA building large-scale services serving the most vulnerable Americans.
My team works on radically improving access to the food stamp program, a massive anti-poverty program, but one with only about 65% of eligible Californians enrolled — we've found a lot of that gap is because the process is really difficult.
If you apply in California, this is the online experience — 200+ questions, 50+ screens, a lot of confusion: http://citizenonboard.com/snap/ca/#2
So we operate a much easier online application which is mobile-first (~50% of search traffic for "food stamps") and which takes on average 8 minutes to complete — you can try it out at https://demo.getcalfresh.org/
And we're hiring:
- Senior Engineer (Ruby/Rails, TDD, pairing): https://www.codeforamerica.org/jobs?gh_jid=502640
- Product Manager: https://www.codeforamerica.org/jobs?gh_jid=652829
We also have a superb team working on safety and justice, namely with the goal of safely reducing incarceration. For example. They operate services that:
- Make it much easier for people to clear their records when the law allows (invaluable for re-entry and getting jobs)
- Allow case & probation workers to text with folks in the justice system and help them do the pre-trial diversion things that keep them out of jail/prison and help them with resources
They're also hiring for a Senior Engineer role: https://www.codeforamerica.org/jobs?gh_jid=525208
Happy to answer any questions about these!
Re: Ask HN: How can I do social good through programming?
#153Warning - strong opinions ahead: Provide services and tools without the strings attached. That is to say, provide email services that don't mine data for profit. Provide a social interaction space that doesn't attempt to manipulate moods, opinions, or sell its user's eyeballs. Provide an aggregation service with strong filtering tools in place of strong moderation. Provide a code repository with great tooling that do…
Is "Facebook without advertisements" really the bar for social good now?
Re: Ask HN: How can I do social good through programming?
#154Work as a programmer for whoever will pay you the most. Invest, and donate money to causes you care about.
...Unless it's advetising. Or Uber. Or government wanting you to implement yet another freedom-restricting bullshit.
I believe that over time your environment shapes you. I agree that you should devote your working hours to something more than shareholder value or increased clickthrough rates. Sure you can pull down the big bucks working on the next version of biological warfare weaponry and make large donations to Red Cross or whatever, but not without a personal toll.
Re: Ask HN: How can I do social good through programming?
#155I have recently started volunteering my tech skills (I'm a data scientist for a well-known tech company) to the local chapter of the ACLU and am exploring volunteering for a UN subsidiary who desperately needs the help. If you are interested in potentially working to help the UN project, message me.
What kind of projects can you help UN with? I've been thinking on donating some of my time and skills for the past month and would be more than happy to help. I'm a robotics engineer but I can also program.
Re: Ask HN: How can I do social good through programming?
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
...yes? Are you really unfamiliar with how medallion owners used to treat their drivers?
Perhaps I have rose colored glasses, but the "sleeping in the car" problem seems new. But I could very well be wrong. That said, how are we really in a better place? Same problem, different master.
There is an early NYT article (early in the context of Uber's lifespan) detailing a day when a cab driver in NYC ended up paying his employer a few hundred dollars for the privilege of working that day. This was after all his fares for the shift.
Re: Ask HN: How can I do social good through programming?
#157Work on what pays the highest and then donate that money to the most effective charity. According to GiveWell.org, that charity is currently the Against Malaria Foundation, which will statistically save a life for every $3500 it receives going forward. It is ridiculously cheap to save a life that would otherwise not be saved. I highly recommend Sam Harris' interview with Will Macaskill on this topic (effective altruism).
http://www.givewell.org/charities/against-malaria-foundation
Re: Ask HN: How can I do social good through programming?
#158I know a few people who have contributed some of their time weekly teaching less privileged kids the basics of programming. I always thought that was a great thing to do.
Re: Ask HN: How can I do social good through programming?
#159Earlier quoted context omitted.
People are going to shit on the parent comment - but honestly, anyone with more than a few years of experience in a tight tech job market is going to easily be in the top decile of earners. The highly-committed individuals that do the brutally hard work on the ground for non-profits or NGOs make a pittance in comparison. Committing a quarter of your salary would pay the entirety of theirs. Consider that for a moment.
I'm suspicious of the notion that throwing money at problems can solve them.
This is where due diligence comes in. You throw money at people and orgs who are good at solving those problems.
Re: Ask HN: How can I do social good through programming?
#160Probably not exactly what op had in mind but I took interest in a humanitarian hackathon organized by a CERN group The Port(http://theport.ch/) in Geneva, Switzerland. I'm hoping I can take part in it this year.