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Ask HN: How can I do social good through programming?

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Re: Ask HN: How can I do social good through programming?

#161

Post by nyargh »

vivekd wrote: post #148
nyargh wrote: post #109

Earlier 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.

You throw money at people who have the domain knowledge and are actively solving the problems.

Re: Ask HN: How can I do social good through programming?

#162

Post by hooverlunch »

Join or start a tech worker co-op!

First, one of the best ways to do social good is to fight capitalism. Just by working at a worker co-op, you're doing this. Many tech co-ops are also built around resisting other oppressions like racism, patriarchy, etc.

Second, many co-ops (e.g. http://sassafras.coop, the one I work for) work on lots of social good projects.

Re: Ask HN: How can I do social good through programming?

#163

Post by threepipeproblm »

Although it sounds like they are working on some important issues, I'm not sure I'd want to work for an organization who posts racially targeted messages -- which presumably they think are ok with some races filled into the blanks, but not others.

https://twitter.com/JazmynLatimer/status/864585574581059584

It seems like non-racist messaging would be a better approach!

Re: Ask HN: How can I do social good through programming?

#164

Post by hooverlunch »

ISL wrote: post #85
numlocked wrote: post #20

Work with mission-driven businesses. B Corps[0] are a good place to start. There's nothing quite like coming to work every day with a group of like-minded folks who want to make a dent in the universe. My company, www.grove.co, strives to help families making it easy to buy sustainable products vs. conventional CPG. It seemed a bit crazy when we started, but now literally thousands of families get sustainable product…

B Corps don't always stay B Corps when they get all grown up: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-05-18/the-barba...

Worker co-ops usually have provisions in their bylaws to ensure they stay co-oops. This is to guard against the issue you allude to here.

Re: Ask HN: How can I do social good through programming?

#165

Post by sheraz »

hooverlunch wrote: post #162

Join or start a tech worker co-op! First, one of the best ways to do social good is to fight capitalism. Just by working at a worker co-op, you're doing this. Many tech co-ops are also built around resisting other oppressions like racism, patriarchy, etc. Second, many co-ops (e.g. http://sassafras.coop , the one I work for) work on lots of social good projects.

Yes, evil capitalism.

You know, don't want to think you actually think that. Perhaps you meant, "fight the negative outcomes sometimes found in capitalist societies."

Re: Ask HN: How can I do social good through programming?

#167

Post by llccbb »

I have posted this before, countless times, but techies who want to volunteer their skills and knowledge to advance the democratic process should think about joining the PROGRESSIVE CODERS NETWORK[0]. They are a non-profit that helps organize and direct volunteer coders, programmers, designers into open-source political projects. They are about connecting and facilitating projects, not dictating what projects should be. They are party-neutral, but seek to empower the people and provide tools for running successful campaigns and being engaged as a citizen.

If you can take away the need for millions of dollars to run a campaign then policy makers aren't beholden to the few wealthy supporters that helped get them elected.

They help connect volunteers to projects that range from building an open-source voter database to an Uber-like app that helps the mobility-limited get transportation to vote. They are extremely transparent and always interested in growing the network. Many members of the network are engineers, product managers, or independent coders.

[0]http://progcode.co

Re: Ask HN: How can I do social good through programming?

#168

Post by jtalbot »

If you're interested in using your developer skills to help social impact organizations engage their communities, I'd love to talk. At twilio.org we connect volunteer developers with nonprofits and social enterprises that need your help building high-impact communication tools.

Our current volunteer developer initiative is called Voices for Democracy, and is focused on creating tools to advance the discourse between people with their elected representatives.

If this excites you, or if you'd like to learn more about other opportunities to use your skills for good, check out twilio.org and send us a note.

Thanks for starting this awesome thread.

-Jacob from twilio.org

Re: Ask HN: How can I do social good through programming?

#169

Post by [deleted] »

simplicitea wrote: post #48
fimdomeio wrote: post #40

I would love to have the opportunity to explore the concept of hyperlocal. Using the web to help bring local communities closer together. Never really had the opportunity yet. I myself, work mainly on projects related to museums, culture, green economy... In the projects I accept I try to find a balance between money I can get and how I view it as work for the greater good. A very hard balance and a very subjective o…

Do you have any recommendations for exploring what you call hyper-local work? I currently cook food for a living but even that, with it's immediate (feedback lol) to the local community, is a service that comes as a premium to people who don't need help. Where do you look for projects that fit your worldview as a programmer? Are there any groups of people based in Seattle that you'd recommend getting in touch with?

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: How can I do social good through programming?

#170

Post by tyrust »

daguar wrote: post #152
wchest wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Are all of these jobs at the same location SF? The jobs page (https://www.codeforamerica.org/jobs) lists locations "Headquarters", "San Francisco, CA, United States", and "San Francisco Headquarters" as if they might be different places.
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