Ask Slashdot: Who's the Doctors Without Borders of Technology?

danspalding writes I'm transitioning into full time tech work after 10 years in education. To that end, after years of tooling around with command line and vim, I'm starting a programming bootcamp in early December. I used to think I wanted to go into ed tech. But the more I think about it, the more I just want to contribute to the most important work I can using my new skills — mostly JavaScript (with a strong interest in graph databases). Ideally an organization that does bold, direct humanitarian work for the people who need it most. So where should I apply to work when I finish bootcamp next March? Who's the MSF of the tech world?

Comments

Engineers Without Borders

[Calavar]

Engineers Without Borders

Re:Engineers Without Borders

[SuperKendall]

Gone to the website, clicked on "ABOUT" and got a 404. Not very convincing about these engineers.

Well then it seems like they need him even more than they thought!

Re:Nerds Without Borders

[ZG-Rules]

http://www.nerdswithoutborders.com/

That's not the right website for NWB - that's some kind of tech blog with adverts.

The correct site is: http://nerdswithoutborders.net/

how does JavaScript work without computers?

[alen]

I mean in parts of africa where they have no tech and people go hungry and die of diseases we dont have anymore here in the first world

Re:how does JavaScript work without computers?

[Cederic]

Well, you provide them with a computer, and access to the internet.

They can then search for advice on farming and healthcare, and use the information to feed the people that aren't dying as quickly any more.

Of course, the issue isn't providing the technology, training people how to use it, paying for it or getting value from it. The problem is the corrupt officials that demand kickbacks for letting any of that happen, the religious fuckwits demanding medieval education and the racist cunts outraged that someone in another village may be trying to better themselves.

But that's Africa for you.

Re:how does JavaScript work without computers?

[whistlingtony]

" The problem is the corrupt officials that demand kickbacks for letting any of that happen, the religious fuckwits demanding medieval education and the racist cunts outraged that someone in another village may be trying to better themselves. [] But that's Africa for you."

Are you SURE that's just Africa? It sounds pretty familiar.

Re:how does JavaScript work without computers?

[SourceFrog]

Mobile phones.

"By the end of 2014, it is forecast that there will be more than 635m mobile subscriptions in sub-Saharan Africa. This is predicted to rise, to about 930m by late 2019, when it is estimated that three in four mobile subscriptions will be internet inclusive. The growth is attributed to the rise of social media, content-rich apps and video content accessed from a new range of smartphones costing less than $50 (£30)" http://www.theguardian.com/wor...

Check your local community first

[borgasm]

I'm guessing that your local community probably has some needs for your skills, whether its an elementary school, charity organization, adult education program, etc....You'd be surprised how many people are held back by their lack of basic computer skills Slashdotters think they were born with.

I share your same desire to be able to donate my skills to humanitarian organizations in need (I can't build a house with my hands, but I can sure set up networks, workstations, infrastructure, etc), but many people in the world need basic services like toilets a lot more than they need electronics.

Re: Check your local community first

[pigiron]

Go back to school and get a real Bsc. degree in civil engineering. People in undeveloped countries need bridges, roads, clean water, and sewage systems.

Re: Check your local community first

[ColdWetDog]

I think you might be going about this backwards - find a group who's goals, methods and timelines interest you. Poke around, see if they can use whatever tech skills you have. It probably will be a non tech group - they're the ones that never can get enough money or expertise for everything. Join them and help out. Depending on your interest, skills, time and their needs, you might end up working with several such organizations.

Re: Check your local community first

[grcumb]

Stay home. Seriously. As someone who has spent the last decade working on technology in the developing world, I can tell you that most of what I do is clean up after well meaning people who don't know enough about technology to avoid making simple mistakes, and who know next to nothing about local conditions. I cut my teeth working on the Canadian frontier, and I suggest you do something similar. Don't try to help until you're confident you can.

Are you looking for a Career, or a Cause?

[damn_registrars]

The start of the summary suggested the writer was looking for a career. Nonprofits are great and all, but if you are looking for a career you might want to look elsewhere. On the other hand if the person in question just retired, or has other sources of revenue that they could depend on if things didn't pan out, then searching for a "[X] without borders" might be fine.

Case in point, I have known several health care professionals (physicians, pharmacists, nurses, etc) who have worked with their corresponding "[X] without borders" groups at times. They were always happy to do it and to have done it, but they always had to go back to their regular jobs afterwards so that they could pay the bills.

Re:Are you looking for a Career, or a Cause?

[BarbaraHudson]

You're right that I'm looking for a career. Having said that, a non-profit job would be fine. (as long as it paid a living wage for the bay area) (I know)

In other words, forget it.

""The CS degree for the 21st century" So you're going to Hackreactor for training? BwahHaHaHa ...

Become a Software Engineer.

You’ll begin Hack Reactor with a feeling of excitement and anticipation. Twelve weeks later, you’ll follow the footsteps of our trailblazing alumni, taking the methodologies and best practices you perfected at our coding bootcamp to your next job. We’ve built world class software engineering curriculum and programming courses. However, Hack Reactor is, above all else, a world-class learning environment.

Total Tuition
$17,780

There are three types of lies:
1. Lies others tell you
2. Lies you tell others,
3. Lies you tell yourself.

You've been conned (#1). Time to stop conning yourself (#3).

No, you cannot become a "software engineer" in 12 weeks. You'll just be another webmonkey.

Re:Are you looking for a Career, or a Cause?

[damn_registrars]

You're right that I'm looking for a career. Having said that, a non-profit job would be fine. (as long as it paid a living wage for the bay area) (I know)

There was a time when a lot of really smart people could get by on the old mantra of "find what you want to do, and the money will follow". That time, unfortunately, is not now. Do something important that helps a lot of people, or live comfortably; you can't do both - at least, not in the first 40-50 years of your life.

I highly recommend you find a job that pays well first. Then find a weekend hobby that allows you to use your skills "for good". I wish I could suggest otherwise but I have seen far too many cases that demonstrate that not to be the case.

Two cents from someone who did this.

[oublye]

I did tech work and tech education in two developing countries so here is what think.

You should listen to some of the other posters and get your feet wet to see about volunteering in a disadvantage local community in any tech capacity. The developing world is gonna to be orders of magnitude worse than the first world ghetto in terms of resources and poorly executed or vaporware jobs done by predecessors. Also, most people up to the most high in a developing country are going view any type of computer professional as an expert in all IT skills so this local volunteering could help you learn to wear the hats. Check out http:idealist.org to get a local gig.

If you want to get a feel for what the computing environment is in a low resource country without reliable power or broadband, check out this white paper http://www.inveneo.org/2014/07.... The organization Inveneo does well-reputed work as a network and systems integration partner in third world countries. You can also look at the large organizations such as MSF, UN, Partners in Health, US-AID, CARE, VSO and try to apply to the IT area for a job or a volunteer. The paid jobs are going to weight past volunteer experience in a developing country pretty strongly.

But from you talked about, you are interested in the software side. Developing nations generally don't have good electrical power or networking so those type of professionals are more in need than software professionals. I think if you want to get job doing that a combination of any volunteer experience in a developing country, and a remote contribution to a major humanitarian open source project would be the way forward. Software projects to watch that receive attention in the global development scene are http://www.ushahidi.com/, Humanitarian Open Street Map Team, http://hot.openstreetmap.org/ and Open Medical Record System Open MRS. http://openmrs.org/

fairtraderecycling.org

[retroworks]

It's an international group which helps defend falsely accused "geeks of color". Here are two recent examples of FTR projects.

1. Ambassador program flies students and techs overseas to meet and qualify buyers of used tech who people are afraid to sell to based on "ewaste" myths. http://resource-recycling.com/...

2. Defense and petitions of UK TV repairman and ex-pat Nigerian Joe Benson, imprisoned in UK for "e-waste crime" based on "common knowledge" that 80% of exports of used equipment to Africa are burned in primitive dumps. FairTradeRecycling got the UN to fund actual research of the containerloads in question, which revealed 91% reuse and repair, better than brand new product, and found the African geeks who buy and repair used equipment were earning 6 times average wages (Ghana, Nigeria). http://resource-recycling.com/...

Disclosure, I'm the founder.

Saving lives with JavaScript?

[dutchwhizzman]

Doctors Without Borders risk their lives giving medical aid to people that are in such dire conditions that "normal" medical people can't or won't work there anymore. They do it without asking the people they treat for any compensation.

How would you put the ability to write JavaScript anywhere in the same ball park? If you want to help out in any way, learn a medical skill and go out in the field with MSF. Don't ride on those heroes names in your arm chair with your covert job seeking advertisement. While you may want to do good, JavaScript can be written anywhere on the planet and used elsewhere. Stopping some four year old kid from bleeding to death because they just got shelled with a "barrel bomb" dropped from a helicopter can't.

This may seem a bit harsh, but my girlfriend works for MSF. She left last Friday to go on a "field trip".