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: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/

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

[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: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.

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".