HACKER Q&A
📣 all2

Non-profits that are looking for SWEs?


I've been doing a little financial auditing for a friend of mine who has been incapacitated and taken advantage of by relatives. It is laborious and boring work. But it is also some of the most satisfying work I've done in nearly two decades. The last time I felt this satisfied in the grind was a missionary trip to Africa I went on when I was a teen.

I work for a startup that does B2B software. It's work, and it pays well. I could subsist here until the company is purchased or we go public -- I've got options that are actively maturing. But money isn't everything (or barely even anything) to me.

I'd like to know if there are any non-profits out there in the "actively helping individuals have a better life" space that need a SWE or SDET or even a hardware test engineer.

I'm sure work like this exists, but I'm not even sure where to look.

I want to help people. I want my work to have greater meaning than "we sold X to N businesses over the last year and look at that, their regulatory compliance has improved -- butt covering achieved". These things are important. It just doesn't feel that important to me.

  👤 RcouF1uZ4gsC Accepted Answer ✓
Honestly, one of the fastest ways to become bitter and cynical is to be on the payroll of a non-profit and see how the sausage is made.

I would instead consider perhaps cutting your hours at your company, and using the extra time to volunteer as an SWE for the non-profit of your choice and donate your time.

You are likely to have far more freedom if you do that, and likely even with the pay cut from working part time, you will still make more than working directly for the non-profit. You will likely also end up happier and less cynical.

👤 thdc
I've been looking for similar types of jobs in a few spots:

Search for non-?profit on HN's who's hiring

Code for America has a job board on its website somewhere geared towards nonprofits

Tech Jobs for Good is a job board for positive impact companies, some of which are nonprofits

Stalking a few select nonprofit-companies-that-interest-me's job listings. Search for nonprofits and the sectors that interest you to find the company, save the page, then periodically check or even email to ask if there are openings that fit your profile.

👤 dummydummy1234
If you don't mind Texas (San Antonio primarily)

https://www.swri.org/

Non profit r&d established in the 50s with different subgroups doing everything from trains, engine fuels to satellite design to defence.

👤 lazylester
Try idealist.org But mostly there's not enough $ in non-profits to pay a s/w dev. Another approach is to work hard, retire early, and then do the work pro-bono. I have been doing s/w for non-profits since I retired at 51 20 years ago.