9:37 p.m. almost empties the office. Almost. Me, the coffee maker that’s surrendered to life, and the glow from the downtown Los Angeles skyline seeping through the blinds.
My Slack is blowing up. Picture from students in a classroom in East L.A. testing the mentorship app our team created for a nonprofit program. It’s real-but they look unsure, awkward. There’s something about that picture that helps me feel better at the end of the day.
I have been in tech for 15 years, and this is the first time I have seen our code make someone smile instead of scroll.
The Change from Growth to Good
We chased growth like it was a religion for a long time. More users, quicker engagement, better retention. At the end of each meeting, everyone asked the same question: “What’s the metric?”
We made money that made money, but not meaning. I even stopped asking myself why we were doing what we were doing.
All that changed last year. We made a quiet but big decision at my company, a mid-sized software and design firm in Los Angeles: we would put some of our profits back into projects that really help people.
Not as gift. As duty.
At something our CEO said stuck with me: “We already made things that make people scroll for longer. Maybe it’s time to make things that make life better.”
It didn’t sound like a pitch this time.
Making technology that feels human Los Angeles
The first project was rather tiny: an app helping families in the region find housing and health resources. It was not glamorous; there were not many downloads—less than a thousand.
However, one review from a user changed everything. “Therapy center for my daughter found through this app.” Thank you. Any quarterly report I’ve ever gotten hit me less than that one sentence.
In Los Angeles, where tech and inequality often live on the same street, that kind of small change feels enormous. Such success has been defined not necessarily in terms of size, but impact.
And maybe that’s what tech companies in the region, especially in creative hubs like ours, are starting to shift their focus toward: Not to stop being creative but giving it a reason to be.
How Local Developers Are Redefining Social Responsibility
Changing the culture within the developers, I can feel it among the late-night office talk, the type which was about fixing bugs in the UI or improving performance now people are asking things like:
“Is there a way to get this to be easier to get to?”
“Does this feature work for Spanish speaking people?”
“Can schools actually use this app for free?”
It’s not apparent, but it’s there.
One of our new partners, a mobile app development Los Angeles collective, helped us to launch a mentorship platform connecting tech professionals with high school students in LA County who don’t have many opportunities.
What they said hit me like a line of clean code: “Social impact isn’t just a side project anymore; it’s a design principle.”
That’s how people think now. Tech companies are taking matters into their own hands. They’re adding the fix to their process.
Why Tech Teams Are Finding Meaning Again
To be very honest, most of us rolled our eyes when our leaders first began talking about “purpose-driven design.” We felt that would certainly clarify nothing but yet another ‘flavor of the quarter’ corporate initiative. But something strange happened.
The work started feeling good.
No programmer was staying late because of any pressure; they found genuine interest in the work. Designers debated color schemes in an aesthetic manner akin to art criticism. Quality assurance testers offered to help local non-profits by testing early versions of our products.
It didn’t guilt. It relieved.
Long time working with technology seemed abstract—writing code that didn’t seem to do anything. Now, every feature had a name, face, and story.
Los Angeles as an Example of Tech That Cares
It all feels very L.A. This could be the amalgamation of creativity and contradiction that’s interesting. Take for example that Silicon Beach startup is a few blocks from centers reaching out trying to help homeless people.
LA tech has always been raw, experimental, and emotional. It’s only fair that a good portion of the city’s emerging tech companies are investing back in technology for the people.
I’ve even heard of app developers collaborating with environmentalists to build air quality trackers specifically for schools. Telemedicine-enabled mobile clinics from health-tech entrepreneurs. E-commerce startups that are using their sites to support local artists rather than big stores.
It’s not guilt; it’s proximity. We can’t turn a blind eye to the issues in L.A. any longer. You see them everywhere.
Who builds apps here? Us, right smack in the middle of it.”
When Technology Meets Real Impact
We went to that same high school last month—the one using our app for mentoring.
Initially, the students were a bit shy and clicked through the screens as if they were inspecting a gadget. Heuristic evaluation tests had been handed out to them, accompanied by an application. After some time, a girl raised her hand asking, ‘So this actually can lead to real tech mentors?’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Everything’s live.’
She whispered to her friend, “Then I want to be one of them.”
I realized, then, that it was not about entering; it was using our imagination. We created something to demonstrate what was possible.
And that is the kind of impact that analytics cannot measure.
The Usefulness of Doing Well
People do not say this out loud, but social impact is not bad for business. It is a good business move.
Morale would go up, people would stay longer with the company, and even productivity would go up every time we worked on a project that had am “impact.” Not because it’s a “feel-good campaign” but because people were finally proud of the code they wrote.
We still, of course, make apps for clients. The energy, though, feels different now. You build better when you think your work is important. And it turns out users can feel it too. Apps that are kind do better; you can trust them more easily and recommend them more easily.
Why the Industry Needs to Start Over
Reputation: The last 10 years have been one’s where scandals hurt the privacy of users, misinformation, exploitation, burnout, and thus, the reputation of ‘big tech’. Even before the ‘move fast and break things’ era, people were getting hurt.
There is a quiet correction taking place now. Businesses have learned that to move fast without a plan is just chaos. To have that new idea minus people is only noise.
Everywhere: AI being built with ethical limits; SD with sustainability reporting; money poured into tech equity programs.
Moderately good, but not perfect — something to work on a new calibration.
A Thought Late at Night in Downtown Los Angeles
‘It’s 11:00 now. ’I say. The city outside my window makes a humming sound, like it always does at night. Freeways glow and cranes stand bold against the neon haze. I look again at the picture of those students testing our app. I used to think that the “impact” part of technology was unimportant-something for charities. For later. It seems like the main story now.
Maybe this is evolution: not bigger, faster, or smarter, but kinder.
Not sure it’s about charity and redemption to re-invest in social impact. It could be all about keeping trust, talent, and meaning alive.
What good are lines of code if they can’t make the world even a little bit better?
Final Word:
Sometimes glitzy Los Angeles is not just what it is most famous for, as a quiet shift is also going on beneath that covers how tech culture in the city is being changed. Innovators from AI labs to mobile app development studios are making everything the work stands for, anew.
Add ‘moral’ to the text: Change your morals.
And maybe, just maybe, that’s the most unique bit of code we ever wrote.
