Ask HN: How does your job benefit society? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How does your job benefit society?

12 pointsJoof10 comments

There's a lot of news about privacy violations, wealth equality, filter bubbles and the abundance of advertisements on the internet. I'd love to see some counterpoints about software that truly improves people's lives or the welfare of society. How does hacker news contribute to the general welfare?

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I'm working on Remember, it's a personal search engine. It's like Google Photos for every file type. And while it's great for productivity, it will hopefully serve a bigger purpose, maximising human potential.

We're building a product where a researcher can type "all of my research on cancer" and will see their life's work unveil in front of their eyes. All the papers, notes, voice memos, everything. And maybe, just maybe it'll spark an idea they would've otherwise missed.

I think the biggest way I can benefit society as a 21 year old is to make a product that enables people to do so. I know I can't solve wealth inequality and cancer all by myself, but I might be able to empower the people who will. I believe this is the greatest power of software.

If I didn't have a job I wouldn't be able to pay taxes, and a lot of poor people need whatever help they can get from the government, not to mention NASA and the national parks.

Thanks, I like this response. Is this worth more than the contributions made towards war, the erosion of privacy and general corruption? Could you (in theory) instead give your money directly to these causes.

Some jobs may also enable others to do their jobs more effectively, who may in turn enable someone to benefit the general welfare.

Having a direct, measurable effect is admittedly rather nice, but that isn't the majority of jobs.

If it were up to me I would certainly re-allocate where my money went.

On a professional level, I don't feel that I'm necessarily making the world better (at least for now, and with the caveat that I do believe that I am contributing to an increased mean utility), but at least I'm not making it worse (one of the consequences with my last employer is that if we succeeded it would put some people out of work; I left for many reasons but one was that I decided I was no longer comfortable with that).

I work for a medical device company. We do a lot of things, but mostly blood manipulation. Our products do everything from making a particular day easier for someone, to making more specific blood products available, to saving people's lives.

This job is the best contribution to society that I have ever been a part of, and I'm grateful to have done so.

I work on the Front-end/UX of healthcare/hospital sites across the U.S. My job is to make it easier for patients to find the doctor/specialist/physician they need. It's indirect - but connecting patients to the care they need can potentially save a life or ease someone's pain. I think about that for every website I touch.

My company bets on betting markets getting an edgd using statistical data. We help provide liquidity to the betting market and keep betting exchanges and totalisers in business.

My job informs consumers about products that may be of interest, gives them real money/gift cards/other rewards for doing so, and includes fun games for them to enjoy as part of this transaction. If they don't want to see my companies ads, they simply don't install the app, so any user who continues to use any such app is explicitly opting into the advertising.

edit: I should probably be explicit that I don't really feel this has deep redeeming social value, but I thought it might be worth a chuckle.

My own software business makes Photoshop plug-ins. I doubt that has much intrinsic value, but I'm proud of what my customers have used them for. One customer runs an Etsy store selling t-shirts of Pugs wearing plaid, designed with my software. It's extremely niche, but makes her super happy & she earns more than I'd ever expect from it. Another customer runs a drug rehab program, and for those who complete the program, they get a free portrait photo shoot to see a before/after comparison of themselves, a visual reminder of what their life looks like away from drug addiction. I've also given free copies of my software to youth art programs, though that's practically free for me to do anyway.

I put some of my revenue/income towards charitable projects, but I keep much of that private / anonymous. My general philosophy on that comes from two of my favorite books, "Banker To The Poor" by Muhammad Yunus (of Grameen Bank) and "The Billionaire Who Wasn't: How Chuck Feeney Secretly Made and Gave Away a Fortune" by Conor O'Clery.

I work at a Smart Grid company and we make devices and software that help conserve energy and natural resources. I'm glad to have found the job because my previous job didn't have what I perceived to be a benefit to society and that really bothered me.

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