Ask HN: Can a software engineer help change the world?

Certainly, if you use your skills to make an actual impact.

C'mon dude, look at the site you're on.

You have to look at this in a different light. Making a difference as Software Engineer is possible. But digging deeper into the root of how its possible is not a career related move. Many people make tremendous contributions everyday (i.e. See Github) in many fields everyday. However, your determination and drive as an individual will deter your actual affect on the world. To put it simply:

We choose to become leaders. We choose to change the world. No one is born* into it*

In the massive wealth of technology and information we have today, it is very much possible to become successful as an engineer. But much too often do people outweigh the failures of the many with the successes of the few. Think of how many startups have failed before one actually succeeded. It is ungodly and daunting to look at the statistics but that should never stop someone. It should drive you as a professional in not becoming one of the many and deciding to fight to become one of the few.

TL:DR; I do not believe that being a software engineer alone gives us all the capability of changing the world. It must be coupled with drive and determination before it becomes an option

Can you elaborate? I don't have the slightest idea what you are trying to imply and it seems I'm not alone.

1. Don't try to boil the ocean. You can't change the whole world at once, you can only affect your sphere of influence. You first need to expand your sphere of influence.

2. The easiest way to do that is money. (ex: Bill Gates, Elon Musk) Barring that, you need to write an awesome book, or have something published (Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein), or get elected (Barack Obama). Chances are, those will lead to increased wealth also.

3. Use that to introduce the change you want in the world.

The thing is, the most difficult part is expanding that sphere. You're one person of 7 billion. That's not even a one in a million chance of impacting the world. The odds are against you. That said, you can make a change in your community, maybe even your city. The key is, you have to start right where you are and impact what you can.

If Albert Einstein had asked 'should I become a patent clerk if I want to make an actual impact on the world?' people would have flat out said NO. The thing is, it did give him steady income and time to think, and thinking is what he did best.

Now of course you can shortcut those steps by being a martyr for whatever cause you want (Nathan Hale, Mahatma Gandhi), but then if you have to ask, you're already doing it wrong.