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Job board to work on problems like climate change and food insecurity
- ekzy 5y agoGood idea but it would be good to have a description / intro text to the company and how they are contributing to saving the planet. Are the companies approved? For example this one on the landing page, I don't understand how it fits: https://www.sayprimer.com/ https://www.sayprimer.com/
- n4r9 5y agoCame to say exactly the same thing. I was confused about how the top few posts fit the theme. You could even have a set of tags like #greencompany or #foodsecurity to identify each company's contribution and how tangible it is.
- tjbiddle 5y agoAlso, also came to say exactly the same thing. My thought process: 1. Oh - neat idea! [ Checks website ] 2. Okay, cool. Early stages, but on the right track. 3. Who the hell are these companies 4. Ugh, I'm not going to click on each one to find out. 5. Let's go comment about this on HN. I bet someone beat me to the punch.
- tndl 5y agoGood call, thanks for the feedback
- Hitton 5y agoThe Primer's business model seems to be invasion of privacy as a service. It looks like the job board is just a way to find employees willing to work for less, because they think they do something "useful".
- YKreator 5y agoI had exactly the same reaction about Sayprimer. It completely turned me off. In fact, it would take a description of the company's mission to understand how it is trying to have a positive impact.
- barry-cotter 5y agohttps://80000hours.org/job-board/ https://80000hours.org/job-board/ > This board lists publicly advertised vacancies that we think could help those with the right fit have a positive impact. Some of these roles help tackle some of the world’s most pressing problems, while others help people build the career capital they might need to have a big impact later. > Visit our user guide & FAQ to better understand why we list these roles and to learn about how to make the best use of this board. If you’re new to 80,000 Hours, read our key ideas series for our current take on how to think about careers that have a positive impact.
- tndl 5y agoThis was the main inspiration! I noticed they don’t update too frequently, and I was mostly interested in engineering specific positions + startups which they have less of overall
- heavyset_go 5y agoI wanted to like that site, but it seems to equate real charities and non-profits that address issues that people actually face with nonsense like MIRI. I would absolutely love a site like 80,000 Hours that wasn't tainted by a weird nerd ideology addressing paranoid fears of a malignant AGI.
- lupire 5y agoNo one but you has the exact same notion of "worthy" as you.
- solveit 5y agoIf you think that their advice on the other stuff is good, then consider the possibility that they are smart, reasonable people who came to a different conclusion on AGI. And then consider whether their fears may have merit.
- heavyset_go 5y ago> If you think that their advice on the other stuff is good I don't. To me, they're just a convenient list of tech jobs at non-profits, or at least they were a few years ago. > then consider the possibility that they are smart, reasonable people who came to a different conclusion on AGI. And then consider whether their fears may have merit. There are plenty of smart, reasonable people who don't worry themselves sick over Roko's basilisk, and I choose to listen to them instead.
- lvturner 5y agoIs there any way I can submit a job to this?
- tndl 5y agoJust send me an email (click on feedback on the site)
- Mortiffer 5y agoThe idea is good, but some other features are needed, like a description of the role and of the company, showing why they are a good fit for the goodjobs page. It could be interesting as well to be able to apply for the jobs directly from goodjobs instead of being send elsewhere, and why not having a bookmark feature to see where you already applied / what positions or companies you're interested in
- justfortechnews 5y agoThere's a similar company https://goodgigs.app/ https://goodgigs.app/ that does this as well, but more built-out (and seemingly more focused on non-technical roles). Not sure your plans for this page, but could be an interesting conversation with that founder.
- klohto 5y agoLike the idea, but I'm confused how companies like: * Primer - Reach your leads everywhere * Andium - Digitizing the Oil & Gas Industry fit into the "problems like climate change and food insecurity" bucket.
- chmod775 5y agoThat's almost at the other end of the spectrum compared to what this site promises to deliver.
- Cthulhu_ 5y agoThe oil & gas industry likes to gaslight (ha) people into thinking they're fighting climate change, but it's a bizarre doublethink endeavour and they're mainly doing it for goodwill, government grants, and to levy more costs to the eventual consumers while reducing their own costs.
- VieEnCode 5y agoIndeed, and when oil producing assets become increasingly stranded in the markets, the industry will not simply retire them at a loss. They will be sold on to buyers who face less regulatory oversight. When the oil companies are finally out of the hydrocarbon game, they will have built their platform upon the biggest set of externalised costs in history, and their old assets will still be polluting in new hands.
- ramary 5y agoHi, Andium here. Definitely understand the skepticism about our work with the oil and gas industry and its impact on climate change. The high level is that the world doesn't know whether society has reached peak oil. Even if it has, oil consumption will continue to be a major contributor to planet warming gases (CO2 and CO2 equivalents) for decades to come. While regulation plays catch up and alternative energy usage continues to ramp up over the coming decades (something we support fully), we're working to reduce the carbon footprint of the oil and gas industry today. Our flare monitoring product in particular (https://andium.com/products/andium-flare-tracking https://andium.com/products/andium-flare-tracking) addresses the venting of methane at upstream wells, an issue that is gaining increasing regulatory traction in the US. - https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/biden-admins-methane-emission-curbs-exceed-obamas-epa-chief-2021-04-09/ https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/biden-admins-me... - https://nmpoliticalreport.com/2021/03/26/environmental-advocates-praise-adoption-of-final-methane-waste-rule/ https://nmpoliticalreport.com/2021/03/26/environmental-advoc...
- exdsq 5y agoThe issue with this site is that someone in tech will inflate the ‘goodness’ of tech projects. I looked at a few companies and they’re hardly world changing. If your goal is doing good things you’d be far better off working at FAANG or investment banking and donating a % of your salary to proven effective organisations than bet on ‘digitising oil and gas’. 80,000 hours does this well https://80000hours.org/job-board/ https://80000hours.org/job-board/
- spacebear 5y agoMany of the jobs on the 80,000 hours board actually seem quite evil: "Research Scientist, AI. Facebook" "Data Scientist, Technology and Resource Investment Decision-making. US Government, Central Intelligence Agency" "Deep Learning Researcher, Computer Vision Algorithms. Baidu"
- exdsq 5y agoSo a few things here. 1. ML at Facebook and Baidu pay well so you could use that money to fund more effective things. 2. By working in these roles you have the ability to change how things are done. Certainly more than you usually could from the outside. 3. There's a big push in the effective altruism group on safe AI/ML. I disagree with this but that's a factor in their weightings.
- striking 5y agoThere are other high paying jobs out there, and I'd like to know where this "change from the inside" thing comes from. I've not seen anything that indicates that that's true for Facebook, and have seen a few things that show the opposite[1][2]. Working at a company that does these things is no lesser evil in my book. 1: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/facebook-employee-leaks-show-they-feel-betrayed https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/facebook-employ... 2: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/mqw86u/i_am_sophie_zhang_whistleblower_at_fb_i_worked_to/ https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/mqw86u/i_am_sophie_zh...
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- mushufasa 5y agoHow is this differentiated from https://techjobsforgood.com https://techjobsforgood.com
- GoodJokes 5y agoProblems like climate change and food insecurity are not technological problems at this point. They are political problems. The job board you want is the board that organizes people to demand political change.
- thaddeusmt 5y agoYes, but maybe a company or organization is, in fact, looking at political climate change solutions, but needs tech hires for their operations, etc. As the target audience for a job board like this, the question I am starting with isn't "how can tech solve climate change?", it's "how can I apply my tech skills to a problem like climate change?".
- goodpoint 5y ago> They are political problems That's true by definition. As political systems are very sensitive to technology, doing tech work can be a very effective form of activism.
- GoodJokes 5y agoPolitical CAN be sensitive, but again even then not in necessarily in positive ways. We have developed the agricultural techniques and technology to significantly mitigate food insecurity and climate change, yet we don’t. So how sensitive and in what ways. At some point government and economic systems have to change.
- dennis_jeeves 5y ago>Problems like climate change and food insecurity are not technological problems at this point. They are political problems Excellent and simple analysis. I should also add housing (in most parts of the world ) to the list.
- throwaway210401 5y agoLooks cool. Where do you source these jobs from? How do you make sure to update these frequently.
- tndl 5y agoIt’s very manual for now, I used hn who is hiring posts and companies I found during my last job search that are still hiring. Now the at I see a real interest in this I’ll put some more work towards more sources and frequent updates.