volunteering (in IT)

[tim123]

Having been benched for 8 months (with no sign of any improvement) I'm getting a bit fed up with alternating: going on holiday with watching the old films on day-time TV, so I'm looking for some real work to do, even if unpaid.

I'm a lazy bugger and I can't motivate myself to "code" at home unless I actually have a target to achieve. So I've been looking at volunteering for something.

Does anybody have any ideas about how to find this sort of thing. I answered an ad at the local library but the one and only "computer" position was filled before I applied and all that was left was making tea at the oldies home (or similar)!

I'm open as to where I go/what I do, but I'm a developer not an IT support person so I guess that doing VSO in Africa is out

tim

[dozer]

http://www.it4communities.org.uk/it4c/home/index.jsp

they have lots of different projects running.

[RichardCranium]

I've done a few small IT 4 Communities tasks; it's all above board and kosher. With them you get to choose what you do; there is big / small / support / development / techie / soft skills stuff.

There's also ITCH - IT Can Help - "We are a network of volunteers who are able to offer free local computer assistance to disabled people"

Edit: these tasks all go on the CV both as experience and as "Other interests" by the way.

Edit edit: as for VSO, when I enquired a few years ago they would not consider IT people unless they had at least an MSc; many posts required an IT PhD, FFS.

[Shimano105]

What and undercut those ICT chappies? You heartless bastards.

[RichardCranium]

What and undercut those ICT chappies? You heartless bastards.

They mostly tend to be tasks for individuals or tiny local charities or action groups that would never be paid for but need to be done.

Mind you, the other 2% are: "For Oxfam / Cancer Research UK / Some Other Huge Pretend 'Charity', identify and procure suitable CRM software then set up a nationwide call centre including disaster recovery etc. Train 150 call centre staff and then provide ongoing support for two years. As a charity, we cannot afford to pay the volunteer any expenses."

[dozer]

has anyone ever had a response from ITCH? ive registered but never got as much as an email?

[tim123]

I've done a few small IT 4 Communities tasks; it's all above board and kosher. With them you get to choose what you do; there is big / small / support / development / techie / soft skills stuff.
.

Thanks to dozer for the link, but I'm wondering how fussy are the "clients".

The only section which brings up any quantity of opportunities is the "website" one.

I've never done any website programming - well I written a home page in html :-), but have plenty of PC based GUI experience. Whilst I wouldn't suggest that I could write a website from scratch, I feel confident that I could do the tasks requiring "small modifications" of which there are many. I'm quite happy to learn whatever language is necessary to do the task - it is why I'm interested in doing this in the first place

How should I play this?

[RichardCranium]

How should I play this?

Like this:

How iT4Communities works for volunteers

Volunteering through iT4Communities is a simple process:

1. Register as a volunteer.
2. Sign in to the site and search for opportunities to volunteer.
3. Alternatively subscribe to our RSS feed.
4. Request contact details for any opportunities that interest you.
5. You'll be e-mailed the phone number and e-mail address of the charity.
6. Make contact with the charity and discuss whether you can help them. Agree to start only if everyone is happy.
7. Work with the charity to complete their IT project.
8. Celebrate a great piece of work!

If you can't help, nobody will tell you off!

With one of them, I couldn't help, but I was able to re-write their request for assistance in the correct jargon to ensure someone else could.

Sometimes people volunteer to assist with a problem but instead write the spec. for the solution, then walk away. That is very helpful and valuable consultancy.

Just being able to tell some of these organisations what can or cannot be done is of great help to them.

I suspect some of these 'problems' simply go away once the recipient has been able to get it off their chest to someone who will listen, understand, then explain why the problem exists.

[nomadd]

So I've been looking at volunteering for something.

Looking at some of the rates being offered on Jobserve these days I'd say stick to contracting, it's starting to amount to the same thing!

Nomadd

[mace]

Sent off my CV for a couple of opportunities just down the road from me last night. Nothing back so far.