pipo098

I am a young engineer studying at one of the best schools in the US and I am from a developing country. I aspire to have a positive impact on the world and I have spent the last 5 years trying to find out how. I look everywhere and see very few places that "get it": between the opportunities to work for big consulting firms that charge millions for questionable impact and the start ups that are in love with technology and their own ideas, I feel crushingly lost.

I have been reading your columns for years, and you get it. Would you have any advice on what to do next with the privileges (both of my degrees/education and the fact that I have seen poverty) I have to actually make a difference? How do I find my path?

Hi, thank you for doing this AMA. I have had the chance to work with you in the past, and I have a simple question that stems from my fascination at how you are one of the rare people who seems to have been able to keep your "children's curiosity/sincerity" while still being able to negotiate depressing and convoluted politics. How do you do it? How did you keep your innocence, your sense of wonder, and your trust that we can work to make the world better, while still having had so much experience dealing with uncooperative people, and the general crass of human behavior? I ask because I want to learn from you.

First thanks a lot for your support to Aaron. He is a great soul.

Second: How can we encourage more Aaron's in the world to happen? AKA Aaron was a genius, granted, but what can we do to encourage more innovation/political engagement through technology?

what can we do to make a difference? where can we learn more?

Hi Joi, thank you for your answer. I find what you wrote very helpful and insightful and given that I am a young professional, I will try to do the same with mine. If you have any time, could you provide some practical examples of how you do it please? For example, how do you choose who to work with? How do you choose your environment, and how do you hone your intuition about people? What do you look for? Are you sometimes wrong? I know this is hard and long question, and I appreciate that you already answered some. If you prefer to recommend a book/people to learn from etc, that would be great too. :) Thank you again for this AMA.