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Re:Show HN: Why the most popular ways to do good in careers ... by eterm on Tuesday June 21, 2016 @02:29PM (#11948147)
Your stated aim is to change career plans. Why is that?
Re:Show HN: Why the most popular ways to do good in careers ... by eric-hu on Tuesday June 21, 2016 @04:34PM (#11949185)
I'm not in any way associated with the site or the group who made it, but this makes sense to me. I'll offer my take.

I read a book recently called "So Good They Can't Ignore You." One of the author's points is that a popular idea in the last couple of decades is that one can find their passion, then all will be well in the world.

I bought into this passion principle and spent nearly a decade trying out, among other things, RF engineering, tutoring, cooking, and volunteering in a restaurant and in a drug rehab clinic. This was all after I graduated with good grades and a major in CS. I don't regret my path, but I also don't think I did much social good in that time. The volunteer work at the rehab clinic was social good, but it was low skill, so I now question it's effectiveness in the world.

Another point in that book is that people develop a lasting love for fields they get good at. I'm finding that again in software, over time as I become a better developer. I believe people don't stumble across a happily ever-after career, which is what "find your passion" implies.

As an aside, I'm glad to see this project, as it's a step in a well intentioned and more intelligent direction than "find your passion."

Re:Show HN: Why the most popular ways to do good in careers ... by BenjaminTodd on Tuesday June 21, 2016 @04:39PM (#11949219)
We think the primary way we have impact is shifting people from options with lower social impact to higher social impact. Tracking "number of plan changes" is a reasonable proxy for that. We also evaluate what the plan changes were in more depth - doing a quick review every week and an in-depth review once a year where we interview a sample.