4 ms·

To those in this thread denouncing these dystopian times my question to you is, how do we as technologists create a meaningful and successful career changing th

by ssss11 7y ago

To those in this thread denouncing these dystopian times my question to you is, how do we as technologists create a meaningful and successful career changing this? I’ve been against this for a very long time and can’t see any easy way to contribute (and also provide $ for my family) short of being in government policy making or law making which would require substantial career changes and further education and then some luck.

Skunkleton 7y ago
Unfortunately I don’t think there is a legitimate opportunity to work on this problem, and also have a stable high paying job. At the moment I think the best thing to do is educate people. Eventually, awareness will build and the market will emerge.
- ssss11 7y ago
  With all the media coverage and growing concern of recent years I was hoping that time had come.. that’s a shame
  - Skunkleton 7y ago
    Well don't take my word for it. I'm just some rando on the internet. There are positive trends too. Apple sees consumer interest in privacy, for example.
chillacy 7y ago
You could pipe a piece of your paycheck to the EFF, a lot of companies have donation matching.
- ssss11 7y ago
  Yes I’ve considered that (and will probably do so) thanks. I’m looking for contributing though through my career if/when that is possible.
iamnothere 7y ago
Bruce Schneier has been advocating for "public interest technologists" in order to address this very question: https://public-interest-tech.com/ https://public-interest-tech.com/ He even recently had a job posting (on his blog) for someone to work in this area.
- ssss11 7y ago
  This is a great resource thank you! Although it’s slanted to the USA and I’m not American it still looks very useful.
pabs3 7y ago
Support organisations that are trying to create and preserve software freedom (FSF, Conservancy, CCC etc) using your existing job. Join communities where people reverse engineer the devices they own, work out how to modify the firmware and write Free Software replacements. Then buy devices second-hand, replace the firmware with free equivalents, resell the devices and use the profits to enable more reverse engineering work.
walleeee 7y ago
> To those in this thread denouncing these dystopian times my question to you is, how do we as technologists create a meaningful and successful career changing this? Disclaimer: I don't mean to criticize you, just to critique the mode of thought expressed in your comment. Why are we as technologists so rarely willing to entertain the idea that meaningful change (in this and other socio-political domains) and "career success" might be mutually exclusive? At best they tend to be orthogonal, I think. Very rarely are they tightly coupled. More often one arrives at work that leads to "success" as conventionally defined (i.e., high pay, job security, nice benefits, social status) by embracing preexisting ways of thinking and living: that is, by embracing convention. Convention is precisely what needs to be challenged, if one wants to effectively resist social inertia in contexts like this.

by ssss11 7y ago

Skunkleton 7y ago

Unfortunately I don’t think there is a legitimate opportunity to work on this problem, and also have a stable high paying job. At the moment I think the best thing to do is educate people. Eventually, awareness will build and the market will emerge.

ssss11 7y ago
With all the media coverage and growing concern of recent years I was hoping that time had come.. that’s a shame
- Skunkleton 7y ago
  Well don't take my word for it. I'm just some rando on the internet. There are positive trends too. Apple sees consumer interest in privacy, for example.

chillacy 7y ago

You could pipe a piece of your paycheck to the EFF, a lot of companies have donation matching.

ssss11 7y ago
Yes I’ve considered that (and will probably do so) thanks. I’m looking for contributing though through my career if/when that is possible.

iamnothere 7y ago

Bruce Schneier has been advocating for "public interest technologists" in order to address this very question: https://public-interest-tech.com/ https://public-interest-tech.com/ He even recently had a job posting (on his blog) for someone to work in this area.

ssss11 7y ago
This is a great resource thank you! Although it’s slanted to the USA and I’m not American it still looks very useful.

pabs3 7y ago

Support organisations that are trying to create and preserve software freedom (FSF, Conservancy, CCC etc) using your existing job. Join communities where people reverse engineer the devices they own, work out how to modify the firmware and write Free Software replacements. Then buy devices second-hand, replace the firmware with free equivalents, resell the devices and use the profits to enable more reverse engineering work.

walleeee 7y ago

> To those in this thread denouncing these dystopian times my question to you is, how do we as technologists create a meaningful and successful career changing this? Disclaimer: I don't mean to criticize you, just to critique the mode of thought expressed in your comment. Why are we as technologists so rarely willing to entertain the idea that meaningful change (in this and other socio-political domains) and "career success" might be mutually exclusive? At best they tend to be orthogonal, I think. Very rarely are they tightly coupled. More often one arrives at work that leads to "success" as conventionally defined (i.e., high pay, job security, nice benefits, social status) by embracing preexisting ways of thinking and living: that is, by embracing convention. Convention is precisely what needs to be challenged, if one wants to effectively resist social inertia in contexts like this.