The World is Full of Real People
jumpstartlab.com
The World is Full of Real People
1–10 of 69 posts
Re: The World is Full of Real People
#2Can anyone tell me why the font there looks awful in Firefox?
Re: The World is Full of Real People
#3Can anyone tell me why the font there looks awful in Firefox?
Chrome isn't much better...
Re: The World is Full of Real People
#4Re: The World is Full of Real People
#5If you want to work on technology that helps people find jobs we're looking for another smart person to hire. We're based in the Midwest, and write software to help people find jobs and employers find people. My email address is in my profile if you're interested. I'm a dev here, and we have a wide latitude, lots of input, and a lot of work to do without enough people to do it.
edit: I'm not with the company in the OP.
Re: The World is Full of Real People
#6I want to make a small counterpoint. The reason it is so easy for developers to make products for other developers is that well, developers are more motivated to learn and experiment with new products. The old adage, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink," applies fully here. A lot of people (maybe even the majority) simply will not invest one second into learning or trying a new thing, even if that learning will immediately translate into greater productivity for them.
EDIT: I should note that there are plenty of non-developers who are into learning new tools and new technologies and there are many developers who are extremely closed-minded regarding the tools they use. Regardless, I've noticed that in my personal experience, someone who develops software for a living tends to be more open to learning and using new technology than someone who doesn't. I don't think that's a controversial point.
For example, I know of people (and not just older people) who insist upon using only one tab in their web browsers. Keeping track of more than one tab is just "too complicated", and they can't be bothered. When confronted by an attitude like that, what can you do? Sometimes, it's just not possible for you to boil down a complicated concept into a simple default option for users. It's something that Apple and Google (with their multi-million dollar design budgets) have trouble with. As an ordinary developer at a small-ish firm, do I really stand a chance?
Another point is that I don't necessarily make software because I want to change people's lives. I make software because I like making software. It's my vocation, and my avocation. I don't always want to spend the time and research necessary to make whatever I've built easy to use. It's okay to have one-off projects. It's okay to build tools for yourself before building tools for others.
Re: The World is Full of Real People
#7What a load of crap. Everyone contributes to society according to their want and abilities. Software and technology by design help people live happier lives. The article starts from the valid assumption that some software is built for the echo chamber (it's a tiny amount proportionally) and generalize to absurd statements such as
you lead a life of privilege.
the problems of our world can’t be fixed with software
Software helps fulfilling needs and most of us are just doing our job.
Re: The World is Full of Real People
#8I want to look back and say “I worked harder than I had to. I gave up time with my kids, with my friends, to do what needed to be done. To give back to the rest of the world, to enable them to live just a little bit happier, a little bit better.”
I don't want to say that. I'm rather fond of my family and my friends. Who are these strangers you're asking me to sacrifice for?
Re: The World is Full of Real People
#9The point that developers tend to live an extremely privileged life compared to the human average is an excellent one. However, I must strenuously object to the characterization of building tools for other developers as simply being self-pleasure.
If developers really can do good things for society, then by helping other developers, am I not helping to achieve that goal? If software is useful, and I build something that makes developing software easier/faster/cheaper/better, why should I be criticized for wasting my time while the guy who uses my stuff to build something else easier/faster/cheaper/better gets lauded?
To me, this is like praising a farmer for feeding the world while criticizing the company who builds his tractors for indulging in self-pleasure. Yeah, people can't eat tractors, but those tractors enable a vast increase in the farmer's food output.
The economy is a vastly complex interlocking web of interactions. You can help people enormously while still being far removed from the pointy end. People on the pointy end deserve our respect, but people far removed from it who still assist in some indirect way don't deserve our scorn.
User interaction isn't my strong point. Low level arcana is. Am I really going to improve the world more by resting on my weak points that would help people directly, rather than concentrating on my strengths and helping people indirectly?
Computers are enabling massive changes and improvements in the collective lot of humanity. And yet most of the innovations driving that started out as toys, as computer people building things for other computer people, or as tools for massive corporations and the massively wealthy. Imagine if the people working on early cell phones had said, you know what, I don't want to build flashy toys for 1% Wall Street types, I want to build stuff for the underprivileged in poor countries. That approach does not result in said underprivileged people obtaining cell phones, whereas the former does.
In short: this stuff is complicated and making enablers feel guilty because they aren't out at the front is counterproductive.
Re: The World is Full of Real People
#10[deleted]