Ask HN: What do you do to have more positive social impact? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What do you do to have more positive social impact?

2 pointsmd_1 comment

Let's say you were a fairly comfortable mid-level engineer type at a big tech company. You'd been doing it, or something like it, for more than a decade, and you have a fair amount of financial freedom, no dependents, and a lot of angst about American and European politics, inequality, and the fact that you're not really helping.

You can give away more of your salary than you do, or try to seek a job (which may not fully utilize your professional skills) in the non-profit sector. Or just read "Enlightenment Now" and convince yourself it's not really all that bad.

What do you do? How do you move the needle in a meaningful way on the social issues you care about?

If I were in that situation, I would do one of a few things:

1. Donate more to charities that I respect because they are better prepared to help than I am. Furthermore, if possible, volunteer in some way in your local community. What you do for volunteer work depends on the local community's needs. The main thing with this is to do things regularly, but it doesn't actually have to be fundraising. Bonus points if you can use your professional skills to help somewhere out - but if not, no worries, there is usually plenty to do.

2. Get involved in politics, up to and including running for office. Make sure folks have actual choice on the local ballot for all positions. Recruit like-minded folks if you can, especially for those positions that only one candidate is running (in total). You can even volunteer to work the polls and/or making sure disadvantaged folks can get to the polling places - among other imaginative things. This provides some catalyst for longer-term change.

The option with a non-profit job is completely up to you. In the end, it will still be a job, so I'd take care to make sure you'll enjoy the work (as much as possible). I'd likely keep my eyes open to see if the right opportunity comes about.

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