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Ask HN: How do I find meaningful work?

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Re: Ask HN: How do I find meaningful work?

#11

Post by bdcravens »

> I'm sick of working with advertising-based businesses ... I'm also totally sick of the ideological crap at lots of startups. I don't want to have to drink the kool-aid. Neither do I want to work for some large corporate machine.

Work in health care. Lot of work there building apps that support clinical trials, etc. Probably a lot of ways you could apply your data scientist hat.

Work for a small company that creates a real product or service. That means you might have to look outside of the typical startup world and may lose all the coolness that goes with, but it sounds like you're over all that anyway.

Do your own thing. Training, consulting, etc. I'm sure you have an idea burning in your mind, like we all do.

Re: Ask HN: How do I find meaningful work?

#12

Post by Asparagirl »

kevinconroy wrote: post #6

Try the nonprofit world: http://idealist.org/ I used to say "Nonprofits? They aren't doing anything interesting with tech!!" One day, my wife convinced me to try searching on Idealist just to see if there were any nonprofits doing anything interested with tech. I feel in love with the very first result , got the job, worked my way up the ranks, and am now Chief Product Officer at GlobalGiving.org and I couldn't be ha…

This! But you know, starting your own non-profit is a great idea too. I started one this year, and now I get to invent my very own job every day: fighting and sometimes suing the government under state and federal Freedom of Information laws, and rescuing millions of records that I return to the public domain! It's meaningful work that I can do on my own schedule, and it fills a void that no one else was doing. And no dumb-ass recruiter is ever going to beat that.

Re: Ask HN: How do I find meaningful work?

#13

Post by adammichaelc »

Come work with us. https://www.freeplayapp.com/

We want to take all of the advances in psychology and ML, and instead of applying it to the problem of getting people to click on ads, we want to persuade people to have a fun exercise that improves their life.

Email me. adam@freeplay-app.com

Re: Ask HN: How do I find meaningful work?

#15

Post by Jedd »

> I don't want to work in health, because the government and insurance have fucked up the healthcare system ...

Eloquently put, but you don't mention where you live (ie. which government this is). Generally people that don't say where they are when asking these kinds of questions are in the USA - a fair assumption, I'm sure, as 5% of the world lives there.

Anyway, consider that 'health' is big - really big - and isn't just the bits you've seen. I'm confident there are some good efforts being made under that banner domestically that may fit your criteria. Further, if 'the government has fucked things up' maybe consider relocating to a place where things aren't quite so regrettable -- lots of (perhaps 'every other) countries have better health systems than the USA. Useful if it's an area you're genuinely interested in but for local government (mis)management.

Re: Ask HN: How do I find meaningful work?

#16

Post by rl3 »

You sound like quality founder material. I mean that: a lot of good innovation comes from people who simply loathe how something is currently done and want to improve the situation by doing it right.

Have you thought about starting your own business? It doesn't necessarily have to be a startup; lifestyle businesses are just as valid a path. That said, startups do unfortunately require you to drink your own Kool-Aid to a degree. They do not however require you to foist bullshit upon your employees, which most founders unfortunately do anyways.

Of course, founding isn't for everyone. It's hard, and there's a lot less guarantees involved than working for someone else. It may not even be a possibility given your current life situation, I don't know.

Re: Ask HN: How do I find meaningful work?

#17

Post by throwawaybs »

sebg wrote: post #4

1) Go to your local job board. Here in the us, I recommend indeed.com or https://angel.co/jobs 2) For your local and particular interest get a list of potential jobs 3) Do a pairwise comparison between first two jobs. For these two jobs and only these two jobs, which you would prefer to do in your current state. Ignore qualifications or everything else, if you were given the choice of starting only one of those two j…

I've been going there, and thinking I want to work for any of these companies.

Re: Ask HN: How do I find meaningful work?

#18

Post by KGIII »

Asparagirl wrote: post #12
kevinconroy wrote: post #6

Try the nonprofit world: http://idealist.org/ I used to say "Nonprofits? They aren't doing anything interesting with tech!!" One day, my wife convinced me to try searching on Idealist just to see if there were any nonprofits doing anything interested with tech. I feel in love with the very first result , got the job, worked my way up the ranks, and am now Chief Product Officer at GlobalGiving.org and I couldn't be ha…

This! But you know, starting your own non-profit is a great idea too. I started one this year, and now I get to invent my very own job every day: fighting and sometimes suing the government under state and federal Freedom of Information laws, and rescuing millions of records that I return to the public domain! It's meaningful work that I can do on my own schedule, and it fills a void that no one else was doing. And n…

I read through to see if anyone had mentioned this.

When I retired I was rather bored and felt as if life was not really giving me any challenges. So, I found it in volunteering, including a small non-profit startup.

I'd also add that there may not need for it to be your work, as in gainful employment, that is meaningful. You may be able to fill that outside of work - assuming you have time. Dunno if it will work for you, but I'll add it.

It's nice to be able to give something back. It's uplifting to fill a void for someone else. I suppose, in a way, it may even be a little selfish. I do, after all, sometimes do it because it makes me feel better.

Ah well... Just some potential food for thought.

Re: Ask HN: How do I find meaningful work?

#19

Post by throwawaybs »

jey wrote: post #14

> I'm also totally sick of the ideological crap at lots of startups. I don't want to have to drink the kool-aid. I don't mean to threadjack, but what are some examples of this?

The typical is we are the best and we are changing the world for the better. If you make critical comments, you get pulled aside and told that criticism is frowned upon. The general expectation that employees be true believers while the founders are just in it for the money. The ideological belief that entrepreneurship is the solution to the world's ills.

Basically, I'd say the TED ideology. Look, tech is amazing, and it can all the solve all the worlds problems. Yet, beneath the veneer it is just propagandizing the power and wealth of 'divine' founders.

I'm also sick of startups talking how they are doing good for the world, when it turns out they are actually serving ads. When you look at the ads, the ads are often dishonest, unethical, and encourage behavior not in the interest of the viewer or broader society.

This can all be compounded by the creation of 'reality distortion fields' by dishonest founders. This can be compounded by the whole game of misrepresenting the value of stock option. Then, this is compounded by the naive belief in stock options. Further, I object cult-like devotion to the startup cult over strong moral values.

Re: Ask HN: How do I find meaningful work?

#20

Post by justboxing »

jey wrote: post #14

> I'm also totally sick of the ideological crap at lots of startups. I don't want to have to drink the kool-aid. I don't mean to threadjack, but what are some examples of this?

Not O.P., but 1 type of "ideological crap" is probably in reference to how certain startups enforce and indoctrinate certain "practices" that they staunchly believe are core to their organization. Some even wear these practices like a badge of honor on their job listings.

Example: Pivotal Labs is known for it's insistence on "Pair Programming" and touts it as an "extremely beneficial" practice.

Source: Pair Programming Considered Extremely Beneficial => https://content.pivotal.io/blog/pair-programming-considered-...

...and here's one person who left because of that.

> When you pair program, you're effectively joined at the hip with your pair. You can't pair if only one of you is there. This means that you both come into work at the same time, you both take lunch at the same time, you both take breaks at the same time, and you both leave at the same time. The work is so concentrated that you work 8-hour days (which is good). But you can't take time off without affecting your pair.

Source: Why I Don't Like Pair Programming (and Why I Left Pivotal) => http://mwilden.blogspot.com/2009/11/why-i-dont-like-pair-pro...

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