Any IT contractors up for fighting Covid for free?

[caffeine man]

Saw this on JobServe. It’s 3-4 hours south for me. But anyone Essex way interested?


* CALLING ALL IT PROFESSIONALS WHO WANT TO VOLUNTEER IN THE FIGHT - Colchester Essex England - April-03-2020 (Hv9ml)


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[vwdan]

With such limited info I'm going to have to go ahead and assume it's some cheeky firm looking for a freebie.

Volunteering to help stand up a field hospital or something, yeah. Volunteering to help GSK or somebody save a massive IT Project bill.....mmm, not so much.

[eek]

With such limited info I'm going to have to go ahead and assume it's some cheeky firm looking for a freebie.

Volunteering to help stand up a field hospital or something, yeah. Volunteering to help GSK or somebody save a massive IT Project bill.....mmm, not so much.

It's strange that a firm in Birmingham seems to be trying to find people for Essex Partnership University NHS based on the locations - and it would be better all round if they said that was what they were doing.

[ladymuck]

I'm not against helping in principle but I would like to know a bit more about the project first.

You won't get that from an advert, granted. It's tough to convey a genuine need for volunteer resources of this type.

[redgiant]

With such limited info I'm going to have to go ahead and assume it's some cheeky firm looking for a freebie.

Volunteering to help stand up a field hospital or something, yeah. Volunteering to help GSK or somebody save a massive IT Project bill.....mmm, not so much.

Agreed.

On a similar note The State of New Jersey has been asking for volunteers yesterday to look at their COBOL code for free due to the number of unemployment benefit requests in the state making their existing claims system fall over. I suspect IBM (or similar) will step in to offer their cloud services to virtualize some of their environment quickly get them over this hump and then once locked in they will put on the thumbscrews to NJ. The years of underinvestment and mismanagement in NJ are showing.

COBOL-coding volunteers sought as creaking mainframes slow New Jersey's coronavirus response • The Register

[thelastrosbif]

It's shockingly hard to find opportunities to use our skills to help out in any way. We've PMs, Programmers, Analysts, Engineers, Specialists of every sort ready and waiting to do their bit. I'm sure we'd be of better value using these skills, no offense to those who do it but I can't see myself stacking shelves at any point soon. Seems like a waste of a whole community of consultants specifically practiced in successful remote/home working on tight budgets and timelines!

I already tried to offer a hand to my local Mutual aid group, said I would setup a nice dashboard, some email automations, maybe a basic task management system, cheeky blighters told me sorry they were fine with Whatsapp groups and FB messaging

[eek]

It's shockingly hard to find opportunities to use our skills to help out in any way. We've PMs, Programmers, Analysts, Engineers, Specialists of every sort ready and waiting to do their bit. I'm sure we'd be of better value using these skills, no offense to those who do it but I can't see myself stacking shelves at any point soon. Seems like a waste of a whole community of consultants specifically practiced in successful remote/home working on tight budgets and timelines!

I already tried to offer a hand to my local Mutual aid group, said I would setup a nice dashboard, some email automations, maybe a basic task management system, cheeky blighters told me sorry they were fine with Whatsapp groups and FB messaging

Sorry but that to me seems good enough for their needs. It works, uses technology people are already using and doesn't require any real effort.

Now show me a system that requires days of admin to do things or needs confirmation that tasks are completed and I would sell them a suitable solution but given their requirements they have what they need with no change management requirements.

Edit to add - a salesman sells solutions to pains and issues the customer is aware of. If you can't solve their current issues don't waste time and find another customer.

[thelastrosbif]

Sorry but that to me seems good enough for their needs. It works, uses technology people are already using and doesn't require any real effort.

Now show me a system that requires days of admin to do things or needs confirmation that tasks are completed and I would sell them a suitable solution but given their requirements they have what they need with no change management requirements.

Edit to add - a salesman sells solutions to pains and issues the customer is aware of. If you can't solve their current issues don't waste time and find another customer.

they're managing a group with 5000+ members and hundreds of requests a week, with 5 guys and a fb account its carnage, especially when you are potentially dealing with vulnerable people & god knows how many liabilities. That level of tracability could be vital

just because they havent figured out their problems yet doesnt mean they dont exist

[eek]

they're managing a group with 5000+ members and hundreds of requests a week, with 5 guys and a fb account its carnage, especially when you are potentially dealing with vulnerable people & god knows how many liabilities. That level of tracability could be vital

just because they havent figured out their problems yet doesnt mean they dont exist

Which means you haven't sold them a solution to their problem, you just offered to sell them the things you understood probably in a way that didn't help them understand what you were trying to offer (and I say that as I see it all the time).

[Scoobos]

I've just done it (hopefully) by reaching out to NHS national.

If you want to help, they won't knock back free / cost labour in I.T, just write to them!

I should add I wouldn't really claim to be "fighting covid" but I am hopefully helping them to increase capacity and the ability to operate in general!