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Ask HN: Where can I find a software job that helps society?

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Re: Ask HN: Where can I find a software job that helps society?

#92

palantir https://www.palantir.com/

Wouldn't a government contractor and helping the world be a toss up these days? I guess it's possible to have a net good overall (questionable) but it's also possible your contributions could go to spying on (or killing) citizens of the world (and for those that care more about Americans, Americans).

Re: Ask HN: Where can I find a software job that helps society?

#93
post #35

Pretty sure each answer reveals a bit about each of our value functions (and what we read on-line). Here goes: 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 Borde…

Thanks! That's a good list. Some are non-profits looking for volunteers, some are non-profits or for-profits looking for employees. 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.

Have you questioned yourself, why so many people try to help you to help other people? =) There is hope in humanity, aside from politics, there are human beings who all want each other to help each other. Embettering the world. I wish you best of luck. Hope to hear back from your experience in a a Blog or on HN.

Re: Ask HN: Where can I find a software job that helps society?

#94
post #42

Consider just getting the highest-paying job you can and then giving as much as you can afford to the most effective charities you can find. http://80000hours.org/ http://80000hours.org/earning-to-give http://www.givingwhatwecan.org/ http://www.givewell.org/ http://home.centreforeffectivealtruism.org/

On topic: http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2305

Re: Ask HN: Where can I find a software job that helps society?

#97
Why should one help society? Is this your thought or is this a thought that arose out of what other people taught you over the years? For example, you may think that you want to be "good". If so, you should first start by defining "What does it mean to be 'good'?".

The danger of skipping this process of thinking for yourself is that you may spend many years in a direction that you may ultimately feel dissatisfied with. That's how conditioning works : parents, teachers, and society teach you what is "good" and "bad" and you basically choose the red pill or blue pill without realizing that there could be pills of many other colours (or that you could swallow BOTH the red and blue pills and go, "Hmm..that's interesting...", as one cartoon based on "The Matrix" shows! :-) )

There are several alternative directions that your thoughts could flow in once you start this introspection. Just as an example : by society, you probably mean, "the society of humans". Why are humans the only society to be helped? Isn't all evidence pointing to the fact that we are killing off the planet, including several species A DAY? Maybe the rest of Earth needs your positive energies more?

Re: Ask HN: Where can I find a software job that helps society?

#98
post #42

Consider just getting the highest-paying job you can and then giving as much as you can afford to the most effective charities you can find. http://80000hours.org/ http://80000hours.org/earning-to-give http://www.givingwhatwecan.org/ http://www.givewell.org/ http://home.centreforeffectivealtruism.org/

For example, http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/31/j...

Re: Ask HN: Where can I find a software job that helps society?

#100
The natural food and natural products industries are on fire right now. Double-digit yearly growth. A lot of companies that serve this space are growing fast, and a lot of new companies are popping up to meet needs, and even a lot of conventionally-focused companies are turning in that direction.

By "natural" products I mean organic food, fair-trade products, allergen-free products, green products, and so on. There is a lot of money being made in these markets right now, but it's undeniable that many of these products help some people lead better lives (even if it's just the ability to eat a wider range of foods without worrying about e.g. gluten contamination).

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