Ask HN: As an engineer, how do I become more involved in politics?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13452201

by politicaleng • 10 years ago

3 3 10 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I'm sitting at home watching the march and wish there was a way I could apply my skills, engineering skills in particular, to help people be heard and help make a difference in this political climate. What can I do?

ramtatatam• 10 years ago

Help people to reach to facts. Who promised what and then was the promise delivered. Who voted what, especially when it comes to dangerous acts. Who was found to support shady individuals. Such historical horizon should go far back into the past, not 10 years or 20 years but at least until WWII - since great grand parents of current political establishment was holding power during this uneasy time and they obviously had influence on their descendants.

Eridrus• 10 years ago

Find local political/nonprofit groups and ask them what you can do to help. They will probably have a tonne of ideas with no idea how to implement them. Their ideas may not all be good, but as long as you've reached out to groups who have a track record of being effective, they're probably better than yours/mine. If you want to dig even deeper, try and really understand what they're doing and use your knowledge of what is possible to find opportunities they didn't know existed.

I spent this afternoon readings about housing policy and one of the nonprofits literally said on their website that they were seeking funding to do web development for an interactive visualisation. Is this the most effective way of using dev resources? No idea; maybe these visualisations help them influence decision makers in this area, but it's a start if you're really keen.

daedalus13• 10 years ago

I'd try to meet up with like minded people. At the very least, put your email in your profile.

Ask HN: As an engineer, how do I become more involved in politics?

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