Can software engineering be meaningful work?

The world is full of problems—from poverty to climate change—and it seems like software ought to be able to help. And yet your own programming job seems pointless, doing nothing to make things better. Far too many jobs are just about making some rich people just a little bit richer.

So how can you do something meaningful with your life?

There are no easy answers, but here’s a starting point, at least.

Don’t make things worse

Even beyond your moral obligations, working on something you actively find wrong is bad for you:

• Either you end up hating yourself for doing it.
• Or, in self-defense you become cynical and embittered, assuming the worst of everyone. This is not pleasant, nor is it an accurate view of the surprisingly varied threads of humanity.

If you find yourself in this situation, you have the opportunity to try to make things a little better, by pushing your organization to change. But you can also just go look for another job elsewhere.

Some jobs are actually good

Of course, most software jobs aren’t evil, but neither are they particularly meaningful. You can help an online store come up with a better recommendation engine, or optimize their marketing funnel, or build a web UI for support staff—but does it really matter that people buy at store A instead of store B?

So it’s worth thinking in detail about what exactly it is you would find meaningful, and seeing if there’s work that matches your criteria. There may not be a huge number of jobs that qualify, but chances are some exist.

If you care about climate change, for example, there are companies building alternative energy systems, working on public transportation planning, and more broadly just making computing more efficient.

Your job needn’t be the center of your life

You may not be able to find such a job, or get such a job. So there’s something to be said for not making your work the center of your life’s existence.

As a programmer you are likely get paid well, and you can even negotiate a shorter workweek. Given enough free time and no worries about making a living, you have the ability to find meaning outside your work.

• Make the world a better place, just a little: I’ve been volunteering with a local advocacy group, and the ability to see the direct impact of my work is extremely gratifying.
• Beauty and nature: Programming as a job can end up leaving you unbalanced as a person—it’s worth seeing the world in other ways as well.
• Religion: While it makes no sense to me (apparently even as a very young child), apparently many people find their religion deeply satisfying.
• Creation for creation’s sake: Many of us become programmers because we want to create things, but having a job means turning to instrumental creation, work that isn’t for its own sake. Try creating something not for its utility, but because you want to.
• Find people who understand you: Being part of a social group that fundamentally doesn’t match who you are and how you view the world is exhausting and demoralizing. I ended up moving to a whole new country because of this. But if you live in a large city, quite possibly the people who will understand you can be found just down the block.

No easy answers

Unless you want to join a group that will tell you exactly what to think and precisely what to do—and there are certainly no lack of those—meaning is something you need to figure out for yourself.

It’s unlikely that you’ll solve it in one fell swoop, nor is it likely to be a fast process. The best you can do is just get started: a meaningful life isn’t a destination, it’s a journey.