Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

General Discussion

Posted by Mackenzie Richards
Mackenzie Richards
241 Points

Does anyone work on a socially impactful project?

A friend recently told me I should start on a path to become a developer again, like I once dreamed of in college.

I would love to gain extra skills and learn to code properly, but changing career paths seems like a big task to undertake without a clear goal in sight.

I'm not necessarily interested in becoming a developer just for the sake of monetary gain or doing something cool, so I'm interested to see if any of you contribute to socially impactful projects or work for companies who use your skills toward a goal that makes you feel fulfilled in your job.

I understand that starting out as a developer, the tasks would most likely be far more menial than someone who's been in the field for a while, but I'm just trying to find a goal to seek after long term to drive my learning process.

4 Answers

Paul Je
Paul Je
4,435 Points
Paul Je
Paul Je
4,435 Points

How much experience are you looking for in terms of someone who you want to work with? I'm a beginner (iOS lessons for almost 2 months now) but if you wanted to delegate some easier tasks to me for me to learn I could if you wanted, given a good business idea. Something I'm just thinking off the top to be in environmental waste reduction, energy efficiency, or facilitating those innovations in incubators possibly?

Mackenzie Richards
Mackenzie Richards
241 Points

I'm really just looking for people who are involved in this sort of thing already, so I can get some ideas of what kind of things are already out there and what it's like to work on these kinda of teams/organizations.

Jeff Wolfram
Jeff Wolfram
10,490 Points
Jeff Wolfram
Jeff Wolfram
10,490 Points

I like team treehouse so I would not normally offer another company but I really like what https://www.freecodecamp.com/ is doing. They teach you how to code and you eventually get to help non-profits with their websites. It seems like a really cool idea.

lauraniebel
lauraniebel
4,685 Points
lauraniebel
lauraniebel
4,685 Points

Hi Mackenzie...

Cool that you're thinking about using your (future) coding skills for social good! I'm also very keen on using my design & coding experience in the non-profit space sometime in the future!

What you could do career wise:

  • Work directly as a developer for a non-profit, charity etc.
  • Work for an (ad) agency that focuses on the non-profit sector as a developer
  • Set up your own not for profit project (create an app/website for social good etc.)

Have a look at the Code Newbie podcast (http://www.codenewbie.org/podcast) and check out episodes 81, 33, 71 and others... people interviewed in these episodes use their skills for good, trying to solve social problems!

Hope that helps!

Mackenzie Richards
Mackenzie Richards
241 Points

Thank you so much for the response!

I originally started out my programmatic curiosity back in high school with HTML & JavaScript, and I wrote my high school senior paper on DNA-based computing and storage. I immediately fell in love with the FOSS community and became a life-long Linux user. Eventually (it's been over a decade), I gave up programming as a hobby as I settled for another career path that I just fell into, but I've had many friends recommend I jump back in to coding.

I see nothing wrong with getting any kind of job you can when starting out, but I've always been interested in something that a greater social impact. I like the idea of working for a non-profit or charity, and of course I love the idea of starting my own project.

I'll check out those podcasts episodes, and once again, thanks again for the response!

lauraniebel
lauraniebel
4,685 Points
lauraniebel
lauraniebel
4,685 Points

Hi Mack,

Great you're getting back into coding - as long as you're not just doing it because your friends are telling you to, but because you (still) enjoy it! I'm keen on getting a position in the non-profit field myself sometime in the future (maybe not as a pure coder, but as a designer with coding skills)! Have a look if you can find any job boards for the non-profit sector online. Here in Australia we've got a really good one called ethicaljobs.com.au