On March 17, Blueprint hosted its semesterly panel “Bridging Tech and Social Good” — a dialogue on the intersection of technology and public welfare! We invited speakers from UC Berkeley, Adobe, Palantir, Samasource, and Linkedin, and you can read part one of their insights here.
The event hopes to spark discussion about the divide between the tech industry and the social sector, hear about the people and organizations working to bridge this divide, and understand the ways in which students can engage in this movement.
What Students Can Do (Now)
Practical advice on building the skills necessary for pursuing tech and social good-oriented careers in the future
I. Technical Majors:
According to Professor Fox, there are two common problems when it comes to pursuing the intersection of technology and social good:
- Some people really want to help others, but don’t build up the technical expertise first.
“It’s great to be enthusiastic about wanting to put pro-bono skills into tech to help people. But enthusiasm is one thing — you have to have the chops.”
He says the solution to such a problem is relatively straightforward: find and invest in great organizations that will help support your technical growth. One place to start? School. While the degree may be demanding and the technical work, challenging, Fox sees both being effective in steering students and helping them develop the skills necessary to help people in the future.
2. There’s a “brogrammer” culture that needs to change.
With more men than women in technical majors, an off-balance ratio particularly apparent in classrooms, Fox says that the student culture associated with code/software has become increasingly misogynistic. These perspectives, on both the field and the women within it, need to signficantly change.
While speaking, Fox cited recent studies at MIT about collective intelligence, which reveal that a highly correlated factor of success in a group is the number of women in it. Many audience members warmly applauded in response.
II. Other Majors:
While plans are always good to have, they can also easily change (and sometimes for the better). Thus, the more important thing to define is your foundation, on which these plans will ultimately stand.
How do we develop this foundation? The speakers suggest:
- setting your vision high. You never know what kind of knowledge, expertise, and network will come together to achieve what you want to do. Karin Knox (Palantir) shared a personal example: although she’s currently an engineer working in data integration, Knox was originally a laywer, working in international development prior to joining Palantir. She says that she will never be “the best engineer,” but continues to connect her vast experience and skill-sets with the work she does today.
- getting involved. Know what skills you have and find opportunities that will help utilize them. According to Esther Ray (Adobe), working with a community org can help you discover what you’re most passionate about. Whether it’s a pro bono initiative, case competition, or consulting project, she says, the possibilities are endless.
- networking and being bold enough to “knock on any door.” Getting introductions through compatible friends/ acquaintances is always a good thing, Knox says. Ariana Younai (Linkedin) suggests that students also look at the Linkedin profile of someone they really look up to, and see how s/he got to where s/he is today. This can help spark inspiration and provide insight into a certain career.
“Networking is so important, especially interacting with peers who have similar interests and meeting people who can share their ideas with you.” — Younai
“Keep Your Brain Limber”
How to take what you learn beyond the classroom — and why this is so crucial
Most students are often frustrated with classes and homework, perhaps even school as a whole. But according to professors like Armando Fox, the main function of such classes and their grueling work (particularly technical ones) are to develop the basics.
It is then on the students to go outside of the classroom and actually apply them.
“Instructors are trying to teach you basic skills, so they have to artificially constrain and mold their homework assignments and exams to build a skill. But the reasons we want to give you these skills is to do real projects, most of which you’re not going to be able to do in a classroom.” — Fox
What if you end up throwing these personal projects away or only doing half of them? Fox still argues that the pursuit of them is rewarding, intellectually stimulating, and necessary.
Necessary because like chess, he believes that code is something that you must regularly practice in order to excel.
Necessary because these projects help reveal people, groups, and exciting causes out in the world (who need great talent).
Necessary because in the process of trying something different with the strengths and skills we have, we foster and achieve what we envisioned in the future — today.
Thank you to the panelists for your incredible insight and contributions to the community. And thanks for reading!
To learn more about Blueprint’s mission and team, visit our website and follow us on Twitter!
We also had a recent fireside chat with Watsi co-founder Chase Adam, who shared insight on how aspiring entrepreneurs can use simple ideas to power global change (read about it here).
