Where can I write socially-responsible software while living in Boston?

October 29, 2015 1:26 PM

I'm moving from Seattle to Boston sometime in the first half of 2016 and I'm looking for a software engineering position at an organization with strong social purpose. Help me find some places to investigate that are either near Boston or support working remotely.

A bit about me:

• 12+ years industry experience with everything from full stack web development to kernel hacking for distributed systems to AAA video games.
• My tech interests are broad, but I do have a soft spot for AI, functional programming and linguistics.
• I'm very passionate about social justice and diversity in tech.

I'm really just trying to get more leads since I know there is a lot of software going on on the Boston area, but I'm not sure how to find places that have a good social mission. To give some examples of places that interest me:

• Etsy (B-corp, supports small creative businesses)
• Community Sourced Capital (crowd-funding of local business)
• Socrata (government data transparency)
• EnergySavvy (energy efficiency)
• 18F (modernize government tech)

I'm mostly in need of Boston-area suggestions or other places that would support working remotely. Working remotely for a Seattle-based organization could be great since I'd like to visit regularly, but I think I know about most of the purposeful software opportunities here.

posted by Cogito to Work & Money (9 answers total)

There are a tons of options, but here's the first one that popped into my mind: Bridj, which has an interesting new model for better shared transportation and getting people out of cars.
posted by three_red_balloons at 1:51 PM on October 29, 2015

I have a bunch of friends at athenahealth, which is regularly recognized as a great place to work, and they all feel really good about the work they do there.
posted by olinerd at 2:22 PM on October 29, 2015

EnerNOC, my employer. PM me for more info.
posted by PercussivePaul at 2:34 PM on October 29, 2015

Dimagi or Vecna/Vecna Cares?
posted by KevCed at 6:02 PM on October 29, 2015

The City of Boston, State of Massachusetts or Boston Public Schools.
posted by amaire at 6:05 PM on October 29, 2015 [1 favorite]

I currently work at athenahealth, so if you want to hear more about it, feel free to reach out!
posted by spindrifter at 5:58 AM on October 30, 2015

Blue State Digital?
posted by jacquilynne at 7:42 AM on October 30, 2015

There is a lot of interesting, socially positive, and potentially world-changing work going on at the intersection of bioinformatics and electronic health records. See, for example, the SCILHS Network (SCILHS = Scalable Collaborative Infrastructure for a Learning Health System). One of the leaders of this work is Ken Mandl at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital.
posted by alms at 8:11 AM on October 30, 2015

When I was job-searching here a month or two back, there were a half-dozen positions open at Children's Hospital, building out portions of their web app or internal tools for doctors/nurses. Children's is Harvard-affiliated, and one of the best two or three pediatric hospitals in the country, so you'd literally be helping kids with cancer. They're also public-transit accessible from most anywhere in the city.
posted by Mayor West at 10:56 AM on October 30, 2015