How many of you make websites that actually help people? I want to put meaning into programming any advice on how?
But that doesn't matter. You can do good things outside of your job.
At the moment I'm building a mobile/web app that will help people keep track of their mental health state and the internal and external factors that affect it. By building up a set of data points I'll then be able to work out what factors help people feel better. Ostensibly it's for people with mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, and so on, but the reality is that it could help pretty much everyone. Whether or not it'll go on to be something big that helps millions is an unknown, but I hope so. To be honest though, that shouldn't be a motivating factor - helping a few hundred people is just as important. One day I'll do a "Show HN" for it, but not yet.
Look for a problem and think of a solution for it. It's that easy (e.g. really hard :) ).
Not everyone believes this, but working for the government is/can be a good way to help people. I work for the government and I think our website helps people, in at least two ways.
1. We cut down the number of times people have to write the same information by at least a factor of 3 compared to the days of paper forms. It's small, but I think it's important to be kind to people about their time, especially when you are legally requiring them to do something.
2. Our website and associated systems are at the forefront of fisheries management. When it comes to actually making a difference in preserving our corner of the ocean's fish, I think we are in the lead.
the tldr; is find a big boring helpful organization and work for them
Doing this, in my experience, is easy - find an organisation that does meaningful work and go work for them.
Besides teaching I could also recommend contributing back to open source projects and just getting active in your community.
1. Identify organizations that you think very clearly help people.
2. Apply for a technical role with them. (Id say the majority of companies in any industry have tech roles to fill)
In the above scenario, each line of code may not be saving a life but you'll be contributing to the organization in doing what they do better. Additionally, you'll have more opportunities within the organization to capitalize on doing things that align with your ethics.