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I've begun to view my software engineering skills as an amplifier instead of skill that can directly impact the lives of other people. By marrying your software

I've begun to view my software engineering skills as an amplifier instead of skill that can directly impact the lives of other people. By marrying your software engineering skills with another skill you possess you'll be able to create change quicker, and impact more people than someone without software engineering skills.

byko3y 7y ago
>By marrying your software engineering skills with another skill you possess you'll be able to create change quicker, and impact more people than someone without software engineering skills. You'd better provide some example, because for now I don't really see how the software engineering skills would help. Anybody can gain some basic IT knowledge and use it, but the extensive coding skills I have seem to be surprisingly unwanted locally, although much more demanded abroad.
- YoungBodhi 7y ago
  Let's use natural disasters. While reacting to natural disasters response teams must be able to communicate with each other, however communication is typically spotty during natural disasters. Your knowledge of software engineering will allow you to think of a solution to this problem and implement it. Here's the process I follow, it's simple, but it takes time. Get involved in an activity -> Become proficient in the activity -> Notice the places software would be beneficial -> Implement -> Product.
  - byko3y 7y ago
    As a former radio amateur I can tell you the emergency services use radio extensively for communication and no IT skills are required there. The simpler solution is more reliable. That's one of the reasons coding skills are not required where I live - those are complex and can be hard to maintain. Already mentioned below, btw: >You may leave them in a worse situation as now they have less control, less understanding and if they need to change things and you or someone very similar to you (which is a rare combination) is no longer available, they're basically stuck.
    - YoungBodhi 7y ago
      I was using disaster recovery as an example. The method is still applicable.
      - byko3y 7y ago
        Rescue services were a good example indeed. Software developers are needed for people processing large amount of information, while local communities can do well with simple solutions.

byko3y 7y ago

>By marrying your software engineering skills with another skill you possess you'll be able to create change quicker, and impact more people than someone without software engineering skills. You'd better provide some example, because for now I don't really see how the software engineering skills would help. Anybody can gain some basic IT knowledge and use it, but the extensive coding skills I have seem to be surprisingly unwanted locally, although much more demanded abroad.

YoungBodhi 7y ago
Let's use natural disasters. While reacting to natural disasters response teams must be able to communicate with each other, however communication is typically spotty during natural disasters. Your knowledge of software engineering will allow you to think of a solution to this problem and implement it. Here's the process I follow, it's simple, but it takes time. Get involved in an activity -> Become proficient in the activity -> Notice the places software would be beneficial -> Implement -> Product.
- byko3y 7y ago
  As a former radio amateur I can tell you the emergency services use radio extensively for communication and no IT skills are required there. The simpler solution is more reliable. That's one of the reasons coding skills are not required where I live - those are complex and can be hard to maintain. Already mentioned below, btw: >You may leave them in a worse situation as now they have less control, less understanding and if they need to change things and you or someone very similar to you (which is a rare combination) is no longer available, they're basically stuck.
  - YoungBodhi 7y ago
    I was using disaster recovery as an example. The method is still applicable.
    - byko3y 7y ago
      Rescue services were a good example indeed. Software developers are needed for people processing large amount of information, while local communities can do well with simple solutions.