How to find technical worker cooperatives
Hard to find fulfilment using your tech skills for good
Are you a disgruntled tech worker?
Feeling sick and tired of job hopping from one capital-dominated firm to the next, in the vain hope a new massa will treat you better?
Upset with “having” to work within the trifecta? Using your technical skills to:
- Kill black/brown people (smart bombs, DoD)
- Invade privacy (most B2C tech)
- Exploit/destroy rather than empower your fellow workers
The broader solidarity economy and economic democracy movements need your skills. The trouble is, finding the people and organisations with whom you’re aligned technically and ethically.
The current state of affairs is that the community is very fragmented.
For oppressive work, job boards and recruiting products are numerous.
For less oppressive work — “New economy”, solidarity economy, “Just Transition”, cooperative economy , economic democracy— labels abound; but, to the best of the authors knowledge there exists no clear transition path. Rather, a list of scattered and incomplete resources:
General directories
Community-maintained Github lists: tech-coops, awesome-tech-cooperatives
Internet of Ownership Directory, Sub-section on developer coops
US Federation of Worker Cooperatives
Coops.tech (UK workers coops)
Location-specific directories
Boston: Worker-Owned and Run Cooperative Network (WORCN) of Greater Boston
New York City (NYC): NYC Worker Coop Business Directory
Job boards
B-work (includes some cooperatives)
Mailing lists
Network of American Tech Worker Cooperatives
Technology Worker Cooperatives
Attend a conference
Eastern Conference for Workplace Democracy
