It doesn't need to be software related in particular.
e.g. You buy stuff off amazon - use smile.amazon.com instead...exact same thing except 0.5% donations paid by amazon
Small incremental bits can help too
Ask HN: Improving the world as a software developer
41–50 of 64 posts
Re: Ask HN: Improving the world as a software developer
#42I work in bioinformatics in academia, and it's really hard to get good software engineers. Academia can never pay as well as industry, but we do get to do interesting work that leads to new scientific discoveries and medical knowledge...
Re: Ask HN: Improving the world as a software developer
#43Founder of a YC non-profit, SIRUM, here. We and most of the other non-profits that have gone through YC all have open sourced our software development.
It's a small group of tech focused startups (we have all mostly done fastforward.org and DRK Foundation as well) so we all know each other well and you really can't go wrong, just pick one where you like the mission and shoot them an email.
Good luck. The world needs more people like you!
Re: Ask HN: Improving the world as a software developer
#44Founder of a YC non-profit, SIRUM, here. We and most of the other non-profits that have gone through YC all have open sourced our software development. It's a small group of tech focused startups (we have all mostly done fastforward.org and DRK Foundation as well) so we all know each other well and you really can't go wrong, just pick one where you like the mission and shoot them an email. Good luck. The world needs…
Is this list up to date? I couldn't tell if it only went through 2016 because it was behind or because that's the most recent non-profit funded by YC.
Re: Ask HN: Improving the world as a software developer
#45If mitigating climate change is your thing, look for opportunities to contribute to these solutions: http://www.drawdown.org/solutions-summary-by-rank
I would love to contribute to these kind of things, but unless I was missing something on that website, there were no links to jobs/careers. Do you happen to know of a list of companies that hiring for climate change related fields?
Outside of the obvious Telsa/Solar City, I don't really hear about many companies that I could work for as a software developer who are tackling this kind of stuff (though I am sure they are out there).
Re: Ask HN: Improving the world as a software developer
#46I once attended a talk about humanitarian aid during an ebola outbreak a few years ago in africa somewhere. My favorite part was when he went down the list of professions that could help out... from the obvious medical staff, to architects and mechanical engineers for building infrastructure (for building things like containers for storing contaminated feces), etc. He ended with "every kind of engineer can help. exce…
I mean is that surprising? African countries need infrastructure, western countries need sw.
Nah, what they really need are crappy fisher-price laptops, one per child.
Re: Ask HN: Improving the world as a software developer
#47I had gone through a similar thought process a number of years ago. The best move I thought to make was to work at a startup promoting culture, arts, and fashion (this last one I wasn't so keen on). Ultimately the startup failed but I kept on working at startups always being mindful of what it produces which has recently been online photo sharing and mobile communication (not social media). Doesn't seem like much but it was a step up from ad-ops or forex.
I was also wondering about volunteering on the side with my skillset and there didn't seem to be a way to do this. Most orgs just want donations and they'll get the work done rather than interact with ad-hoc part time help. Interested to see what other options this thread gets.
Re: Ask HN: Improving the world as a software developer
#48I once attended a talk about humanitarian aid during an ebola outbreak a few years ago in africa somewhere. My favorite part was when he went down the list of professions that could help out... from the obvious medical staff, to architects and mechanical engineers for building infrastructure (for building things like containers for storing contaminated feces), etc. He ended with "every kind of engineer can help. exce…
As with most users people don't know what they need.
For example, in this situation, wouldn't a website to demonstrate what is being done be vital? Wouldn't the software engineer setup volunteer registration page? A donation page? Etc etc
Wouldn't they benefit with some kind of database about the infected people? What help they already received and what not? Etc etc
I think the whole aspect of software engineering is not understood yet.
Re: Ask HN: Improving the world as a software developer
#49I once attended a talk about humanitarian aid during an ebola outbreak a few years ago in africa somewhere. My favorite part was when he went down the list of professions that could help out... from the obvious medical staff, to architects and mechanical engineers for building infrastructure (for building things like containers for storing contaminated feces), etc. He ended with "every kind of engineer can help. exce…
As with most users people don't know what they need. For example, in this situation, wouldn't a website to demonstrate what is being done be vital? Wouldn't the software engineer setup volunteer registration page? A donation page? Etc etc Wouldn't they benefit with some kind of database about the infected people? What help they already received and what not? Etc etc I think the whole aspect of software engineering is…
Historically it seems to be the other way around - software engineers plunge in with ideas for how to help and wind up producing something unusable, because they don't have any experience with the problem domain.
Re: Ask HN: Improving the world as a software developer
#50A good framework for looking at careers and figuring out if your best trade-off is to do your occupation as a direct way to make the world a better place or to make your living and then donate money to make the world a better place can be found in the book Doing Good Better: How Effective Altruism Can Help You Help Others, Do Work that Matters, and Make Smarter Choices about Giving Back by William MacAskill. In many ways, it is the best career planning advice I have ever seen in any book, and I'm applying for myself and encouraging my four children to use the same planning framework.
https://www.amazon.com/Doing-Good-Better-Effective-Altruism/...