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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?
Engineers Without Borders
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/
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.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
" 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.
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.
Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.