Feeling upset today about the state of the US, but not sure how to make myself useful. I'm a software engineer and want to make technical contributions to a meaningful cause, how can I get involved? Are there open source projects to aid in protecting democracy, stopping fake news, coronavirus? There are so many big problems in the world right now, but I can't seem to find the right way to help.
Problem is, not a lot of the world's big problems can be solved by setting up a web app with a CRUD back end.
Are you an expert in bioinformatics? Or perhaps a power systems engineer? Do you have deep experience with community organizing? Are you a reporter who can operate in conflict zones? Are you an entertainer with an audience big enough to lead a movement? Or maybe you're just a medical professional with an interest in working on neglected tropical diseases?
This path worked for me. I recently started a position at a credit union that focuses on serving customers typical banks/credit unions won't touch. Every week we get to hear feedback from customers who are grateful that we've taken the time to look beyond their credit scores and see how we might be able to help them out of their particular financial distress.
I've always enjoyed programming and never had any job I absolutely hated. But I've never really felt excited about the mission of my employer before and it makes such a difference in my daily attitude and motivation. I can really get behind the "teach a man to fish vs. give a man a fish" approach we take. I think it also helps that the results of our efforts directly impact the community I live in vs. a change the world type vision that a large corporation would have.
On top of it all, I got a nice raise to come here, especially when you include the benefits package. So don't resign yourself to the fact that you'll have to take a pay cut.
Look for jobs in NLP. There's a lot of interesting work to be done there. NLP for medical text s, NLP for intelligence encounter intelligence, NLP for lie detection. It's the space for your most likely to find work that is good
NLP seems easier to find the overlap of pay and good work.
NLP on medical texts for instance is a very lucrative space that has enormous value to end users and society
NLP for interpretation and foreign policy as well
NLP for legal discovery
NLP for education
These are all spaces where you are ability to contribute meaningfully is very high, and the training time is surprisingly low for utilities. Theory it becomes very high, fundamentals it becomes very high training times
In any sub industry you'll still have to avoid corporate chatbots or their equivalents
Are you an expert in bioinformatics? Or perhaps a power systems engineer? Do you have deep experience with community organizing? Are you a reporter who can operate in conflict zones? Are you an entertainer with an audience big enough to lead a movement? Or maybe you're just a medical professional with an interest in working on neglected tropical diseases?