
Ask HN: Improving the world as a software developer - pogotc
In my day job I’m a web developer who has spent the best part of the last 10 years writing software to help sell tickets to arts venues and extract as much money from the customer as possible, it’s not a noble way to earn money but it pays the bills.<p>I recently started wondering whether I could use my programming knowledge and experience for something better, something other than trying to extract money from rich arts lovers. For the moment I’m stuck at that job but it got me wondering if there are open source projects for things that actually help people. I stumbled on https:&#x2F;&#x2F;hollieguard.com (sadly not open source) recently and it was a reminder that as software developers we have the ability to make real, positive, differences to people’s lives. I’m just not sure where to start.
======
i_phish_cats
I 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. except software engineers. you're all
useless".

~~~
altsyset
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.

~~~
Armisael16
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.

------
sheldon-b
Good question. I was wondering the same thing a couple of years ago -- I'd
been working at a couple of start ups and felt drained and uninspired by my
work and wanted to make a difference. I found Code for America which has job
lists for public-good technology work, and through CfA I found a company
called Nava where I now work. Nava partners with government agencies to build
better, more usable, and more equitable digital services to replace/improve
services that fall short of what the public deserves, especially for under-
served populations who most need them. We do a lot of work on healthcare
programs and veteran's affairs programs.

USDS and 18F are also both great organizations in a similar sphere of work.
There's a real need for software developers who want to do good to help design
good services, improve existing ones, and rethink poorly conceived ones that
don't do their users justice.

Nava: [https://www.navapbc.com/](https://www.navapbc.com/) CfA:
[https://www.codeforamerica.org/](https://www.codeforamerica.org/)

~~~
pigpen34
I've had my eye on Nava for a while. I applied last year but didn't get an
interview. I just applied again - 2nd time's the charm, right??

------
OisinMoran
The article "What Can a Technologist do about Climate Change?" [0] by Bret
Victor is one of the best things I've read in regards to this issue. Not only
is it incredibly interesting but it's also massively inspiring.

If climate change doesn't take your fancy as a cause, 80000 Hours have put a
lot of research into this list of the world's most pressing problems [1].
Maybe you would like to help tackling one of those.

[0]
[http://worrydream.com/#!/ClimateChange](http://worrydream.com/#!/ClimateChange)
[1] [https://80000hours.org/problem-profiles/](https://80000hours.org/problem-
profiles/)

~~~
widforss
I'm sorry. I really wanted to read that article, but the website seems
unusable in any form of web browser.

~~~
tomjen3
Op is getting downvoted, but I have to agree with him; the website is chaotic,
but the font is directly painful to read (Chrome, Win10, HD screen).

It may look great on Mac, I don't know.

------
ivan_ah
Do you want to help millions of kids around the world have better access to
learning materials?

Info:
[https://learningequality.org/kolibri/](https://learningequality.org/kolibri/)
[https://learningequality.org/ka-lite/map/](https://learningequality.org/ka-
lite/map/)

Demo:
[http://kolibridemo.learningequality.org/learn/#/topics](http://kolibridemo.learningequality.org/learn/#/topics)

Code:
[https://github.com/learningequality/kolibri](https://github.com/learningequality/kolibri)
(Django + Vue.js, MIT license)

We're looking for full stack developers right now (see
[https://grnh.se/8b6e1d221](https://grnh.se/8b6e1d221)) but happy to discuss
how you can get involved with some of our other projects
[https://github.com/learningequality/](https://github.com/learningequality/)

------
pkz
You could work as a software developer in the public sector. There is a
desperate need in many countries to improve digital services for citizens.

Or, you could have side projects that improve people's lives. I have built
software that helps developers build accessible websites, software for adding
subtitling to videos and software to help memory institutions archive
political debate in social media.

You can get started right now.

~~~
extrememacaroni
To improve the digital services for citizens you'd first have to be in a
position to initiate or convince your superiors to convince their superiors
(and so on) to initiate an investment in an improvement. Then wait for about a
decade to actually see anything happen.

You don't just show up there all like "if we rewrote this portal in react with
all these patterns here (which are really cool, I promise) things would be
better for the citizens" and then do just that.

tl;dr if you want to improve the state of public sector software, you're
better off entering the domain as a politician rather than software developer.

~~~
janci
Sadly, where I live investment into gov/public IT services is done, even a big
one, but the product is of very low quality. Money gets diluted and the real
work is done by unskilled programmers based on bad specifications.

------
danenania
While it's less immediate than starting or working for a non-profit directly,
you can have a surprisingly big impact by creating useful devtools and other
tech infrastructure (whether OSS or for-profit).

At EnvKey, our configuration and secrets manager has some amazing non-profits
like GiveLively and charity:water as customers, as well as some great mission-
driven for-profit companies like Lambda School and Seneca Systems. It feels
great to know that we're helping them to help others more efficiently and
securely. We have other devtool customers too, so we're also helping them to
help others to help others... and so on :)

It's the whole "area under the curve" idea--instead of having a very visible,
direct impact by, say, working for the Gates Foundation, another option is to
play a small but important role as an enabler for many others, and this can
still add up to making a big difference overall.

------
mooreds
I interviewed with 18F/USDS and they seem like they fit what you are looking
for (assuming you are in the USA, which may not be the case). They work on
modernizing the US government programs. Lots of opportunities for you if you
are willing to move to DC, some if you are senior and are willing to work
remote.

More here: [https://18f.gsa.gov/](https://18f.gsa.gov/)

~~~
stephenhuey
A friend of mine who has repeatedly sought to help out impactful non-profit
initiatives over the years jumped from Google to 18F and he is really glad to
be there. He has always leaned towards those interests and while he enjoyed
some experiences at Google, he has never been interested in making a lot of
money and I know he relishes the challenge of solving not just technical
problems but also organizational improvement challenges in what is a
stereotypical slow-moving bureaucracy! He would invite any interested parties
to keep an eye on openings and apply to join 18F. I always think of it as a
sort of Delta Force for the government.

~~~
icsllaf
I'm afraid to ask, but do 18F and other likewise government "startups" pay
well? Most government jobs relating to programming seem to be limited by the
GS payscale.

~~~
mooreds
They are limited by the GS payscale.

> 18F team members are hired for specific position descriptions at a specific
> grade level from the federal general schedule (GS) (excluding SES
> positions). The GS system is a pay system for civilian employees in the
> federal government; evaluation and compensation varies by grade level. The
> qualification requirements for each position at a specific GS level are
> based on education, background, accomplishments, and experience. The
> specific requirements will always be listed in the job posting. Salaries of
> federal employees are public information, and your salary may become
> publicly available...

> The annual salary cap for all GS employees is $164,200 per year. You cannot
> be offered more than this under any circumstance.

More here: [https://18f.gsa.gov/join/](https://18f.gsa.gov/join/)

------
dopeboy
Are you open to pursuits that don't directly involve programming? If so, three
suggestions:

* CodeNation (CodeNation.org) - teach highschool aged kids in underserved areas how to code.

* GazaSkyGeeks (GazaSkyGeeks.com) - go to the Gaza strip and teach coding and mentor entrepreneurs

* Recoded (re-coded.com) - same as above but for refugees in Syria and Iraq.

I've done the first two - happy to answer Q's about them.

------
miguelrochefort
> You have 80000 hours in your career. How can you use them to make a
> difference?

[https://80000hours.org](https://80000hours.org)

~~~
ceautery
.org

~~~
miguelrochefort
Done.

------
tfavorite
If you are in the US, find a local chapter of Code for America:
[https://www.codeforamerica.org/](https://www.codeforamerica.org/)

------
calabin
I've been thinking about this quite a bit lately as well. I run a software
consulting firm (business automation, process improvement, etc.) and have been
looking for ways for our company to utilize our skills for good. We could
contribute in the ways that many companies already do (I put my employees on a
bus to go paint a school or clean up a park and hire a photographer to make
sure that it's of some PR value), but I think that we could do much more by
aiding charitable organizations with certain high-impact software projects.

For example, This American Life did an episode about refugees in Greece and
discussed how they need to continually dial a single phone number to register
for an entrance interview (if I remember correctly)
([https://www.thisamericanlife.org/592/are-we-there-
yet](https://www.thisamericanlife.org/592/are-we-there-yet)). This was all
done via Skype, so everyone had the ability to access web apps, and a single
all-encompassing web application could have significantly reduced the time
that these people spent in refugee camps (so long as other political forces
didn't get in the way, etc.).

If you're interested in working together on something like this, I encourage
you to email me at cj ^at^ oscillas.com.

------
ceautery
How are you at teaching? Local elementary and middle schools are starved of
good tech help.

------
frankydp
Two things.

Some people would say that helping art venues stay viable is
respectable/nobleish.

Secondly.

Go find a way to help your neighbors near you.

IMO, there is no amount helping theoretical people/users that will motivate
you as much as helping one person IRL.

Basic modern life is extremely complicated for half of the people in your
town. Motivating someone, even a little bit, can material change the
trajectory of their life. Big Sister/Brother, career counseling, social
services counseling.

------
torte
I am or actually was in a similar situation as you. I grew tired of developing
software just for the sake to earn money (selling things, improving conversion
rates, booking systems, etc.).

Eventually I ended up only applying for jobs which would enable me to work on
something which actually could or will make a difference or I cared about. Was
hired in the end (even found very few positions available in those spaces).
You have to decide for yourself what things you care about to support and then
find businesses or companies in that area which currently hire someone with
your skill set. I admit there is a bit of luck involved, but should be
possible if you are living not in the middle of nowhere or find remote
positions.

Keep also in mind that this does not necessarily mean good pay (but should be
decent at least) or a good company culture in the end. But I think this is the
same risk you would take with any job.

------
mtmail
Have a look at [https://www.hotosm.org/](https://www.hotosm.org/)

------
nelson687
There are plenty of options and ideas out there to work on your spare time to
improve the world and its society. It's just a matter of thinking which areas
you feel you could have had something better and you didn't. In my case, me
and 2 friends realised that when we were younger and students, we had a lot of
questions and ideas but we didn't have a place where we could discuss or
people with experience to get advise from (we are from latinoamerica). Today,
as we are the people with experience, we created a mentorship platform for
latin-americans, where people like we were before, can join and ask for advise
and learn from more experienced people. This is our way to try to improve the
world. site: [https://oraculi.io](https://oraculi.io)

------
tokenadult
A 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/...](https://www.amazon.com/Doing-Good-Better-Effective-
Altruism/dp/1592409660)

------
karmakaze
I 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.

------
pbnjay
I 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...

------
DoreenMichele
I have a basically empty GitHub project if you want a goal and a lot of
latitude on implementing a thing:

[https://github.com/DoreenMichele/PocketPuter](https://github.com/DoreenMichele/PocketPuter)

The gist of it: I was homeless for several years and used the internet
extensively to develop and online income, do research, have some kind of
social life, etc. I run some websites to share info to help others do the
same.

Someone suggested that having some code assets to make phones and tablets more
useful to the homeless and pre-install links to those assets could play a part
in promoting such solutions.

------
akircher
Founder 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!

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10575963](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10575963)

~~~
arnath
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.

------
fsloth
I work in an organization that creates software that enables people to do
various parts of their complex work better and more efficiently. I consider
creating software tools that create actual value to their end user as quite
enough improvement as a software developer can.

Anyone can be compassionate. And smile. It may sound trite but that _does_
create a bubble of positive feedback loop whenever you interact with people.
That's the most straightforward way that I know of how anyone can improve the
world around them.

------
based2
Framasoft:
[https://translate.google.fr/translate?hl=fr&sl=auto&tl=en&u=...](https://translate.google.fr/translate?hl=fr&sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fparticiper.framasoft.org%2Ffr%2F)

[https://www.debian.org/devel/](https://www.debian.org/devel/)

[https://www.gnu.org/help/help.html](https://www.gnu.org/help/help.html)

------
drngdds
Your best option is probably to make as much money as you can without being
evil and donate a ton of it to Givewell[0]-approved effective charities.
Givewell is a group that analyzes charities to determine which ones do the
most good per dollar. The best ones are mostly initiatives to treat and
prevent tropical diseases in Africa.

[0][https://www.givewell.org/](https://www.givewell.org/)

------
mandeepj
Check out this open source project - Humanitarian Toolbox

Link - [https://github.com/HTBox](https://github.com/HTBox)

------
LifeQuestioner
Most of my work as a software developer is for the better of humanity - which
i'm lucky to do, but straight out of university it was my goal. I started a
wee company that delivers stroke, dementia, autism therapies and we'll be
branching out to our own products. Interestingly, I had a similar idea drawn
up for Hollieguard - looks like I may not have to build it now.

If you're interested in any work, message me.

------
ofosos
Have a look at
[https://socialcoder.org/Home/Index](https://socialcoder.org/Home/Index)

~~~
hello_asdf
I can't tell from the site, but are these volunteer projects full time
endeavors? Or is this something that you commit a couple hours to every other
day?

~~~
ofosos
It's usually part time work for social issues. It's focused on the UK at least
from what I saw, but there are other opportunities available. Might be
revamping some php software or writing something from scratch.

And this might range from consulting on software architecture to systems
administration work. I haven't found my combination yet. But there were some
pretty interesting things on there.

------
tomjen3
Donate some of your salary to an effective charity. You don't have to get
another job, but you have found a way to use software to convert the money of
rich art lovers into saving lives.

You could do worse to find a charity than starting here:
[https://www.givewell.org/charities/top-
charities](https://www.givewell.org/charities/top-charities)

------
azundo
One option is to find a donor organization that's aligned with your values and
get in touch with them to hook you up with one of their grantees. Small local
orgs have a tough time with paying and retaining talent so you're likely to
find some low hanging fruit. Not necessarily open source but lots of
opportunity to have a big impact.

------
toomuchtodo
If mitigating climate change is your thing, look for opportunities to
contribute to these solutions:

[http://www.drawdown.org/solutions-summary-by-
rank](http://www.drawdown.org/solutions-summary-by-rank)

~~~
tylerpachal
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).

------
neves
You're lucky, in my software development career I've been automatizing other
people work so they could be fired. It isn't so directly, but is really what
happens after some years. Selling art tickets is a noble work.

~~~
zozbot123
Automating other people's work _is_ improving the world quite a bit, if maybe
only indirectly - you're now setting those people free so they can do
something else instead! Though of course it's better to automate _yourself_
out of work as much you can, because no one knows the relevant tradeoffs
better than you.

------
dpeck
Maximize the amount of money you can make at your job and then use it to find
others doing hands on work. There is no shame in that and it allows you to
best leverage your hard earned skills to best attend to the needs of others.

------
nwah1
Working on the issue of open source verified voting systems would help protect
democracy, but the amount of actual coding needed is small compared to the
amount of advocacy, lobbying, and marketing needed to get the word out.

------
Jackypot
There's no reason you can't combine the two and create some for-profit service
which serves an honourable purpose in the grand scheme of things. The guys who
created e.g. JustGiving did exactly that.

------
sampo
If you are willing to change jobs, look at AgTech startups in general, and
FinTech startups that are targeting the developing countries. All those have
needs for front end devs (and mobile devs).

~~~
natestemen
i have a hard time believing fintech startups targeting developing countries
are going to help improve the world. or any fintech startup for that matter.

~~~
ploika
M-Pesa could be considered fintech that has improved matters for millions of
people.

------
Havoc
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

------
obahareth
Have a look at Call for Code:
[https://callforcode.org/](https://callforcode.org/)

------
kiliantics
Help organise tech workers to build political power and influence how the
future will look:

[https://techworkerscoalition.org/](https://techworkerscoalition.org/)

------
BobTheCoder
Hi,

I have similar feelings where I really don't do good things at my programming
day job.

I see a lot of the evils of the world as systemic issues caused by capitalism
and globalization. I've been chipping away at the seed of an alternative
system [https://opensocialism.com](https://opensocialism.com)

Wanna help? :)

