I think people sometimes set expectations too high for "what good?" I used to provide a lot of nearly free IT service for senior citizens that lived near me. Was I changing the world? No. But I changed the world for several dozen people who were no longer paying for $120 Geek Squad trips to get bare minimum quality service. I saved people a lot of money and taught them some good practices for using their computers and maybe that's enough?
Biggest thing though in software development is: Don't end up creating harm trying to change the world for the better. You might think you're developing free services for the world, but if you're violating their privacy, censoring their speech, and radicalizing the disenfranchised, you may be affecting billions but it may not be for the better.
I think people sometimes set expectations too high for "what good?" I used to provide a lot of nearly free IT service for senior citizens that lived near me. Was I changing the world? No. But I changed the world for several dozen people who were no longer paying for $120 Geek Squad trips to get bare minimum quality service. I saved people a lot of money and taught them some good practices for using their computers and maybe that's enough?
Biggest thing though in software development is: Don't end up creating harm trying to change the world for the better. You might think you're developing free services for the world, but if you're violating their privacy, censoring their speech, and radicalizing the disenfranchised, you may be affecting billions but it may not be for the better.