Any advice on donating programming skills?
13 comments
There are numerous issues that need to be considered.
If you are employed, what disclosures do you need to provide to your employer? What disclosures do you need to provide to the folks you are helping? Check your contractual relationships for possible conflicts. Get written riders to contracts as needed.
Will you treat your programming as an "in-kind donation" for tax purposes? If so, you should check with your tax professional to find out exactly what is needed.
What will be the intellectual property status of what you create? If you are creating code or compiling data, who owns the results of your effort? If you are working as part of a large multi-participant project there needs to be a work-for-hire agreement for all concerned.
As with any project, you need to have a plan and execute to the plan but provide a way to adapt the plan as situations change. It is usually smart to define how decisions get made and who is responsible.
Finally, you need to consider what happens when the project is in production. How do bugs get fixed? Who is responsible for maintenance? Will you be supporting your creation forever?
If you are employed, what disclosures do you need to provide to your employer? What disclosures do you need to provide to the folks you are helping? Check your contractual relationships for possible conflicts. Get written riders to contracts as needed.
Will you treat your programming as an "in-kind donation" for tax purposes? If so, you should check with your tax professional to find out exactly what is needed.
What will be the intellectual property status of what you create? If you are creating code or compiling data, who owns the results of your effort? If you are working as part of a large multi-participant project there needs to be a work-for-hire agreement for all concerned.
As with any project, you need to have a plan and execute to the plan but provide a way to adapt the plan as situations change. It is usually smart to define how decisions get made and who is responsible.
Finally, you need to consider what happens when the project is in production. How do bugs get fixed? Who is responsible for maintenance? Will you be supporting your creation forever?
The goal here is to do something constructive with my free time, hone my skills, network, give back to my community, etc.
Good points about disclosures, intellectual property, and never ending support. Makes me a bit weary.
Good points about disclosures, intellectual property, and never ending support. Makes me a bit weary.
I'm doing Random Hacks of Kindness this June. http://www.rhokaustralia.org/
There are tons of ways to donate time to charities. But yeah, time can be a factor if you're busy with work projects.
I used to balance military with donating time to an SPCA rescue unit. We did high-angle technical rescue of trapped animals. I did struggle balancing the two time-wise, but ended up being more of a do their website, help with exercises, photography, general dog's body... Great people and I loved helping out.
I'd totally recommend doing whatever you can...
There are tons of ways to donate time to charities. But yeah, time can be a factor if you're busy with work projects.
I used to balance military with donating time to an SPCA rescue unit. We did high-angle technical rescue of trapped animals. I did struggle balancing the two time-wise, but ended up being more of a do their website, help with exercises, photography, general dog's body... Great people and I loved helping out.
I'd totally recommend doing whatever you can...
>How did you find organizations/businesses/non-profits/just regular ol' people that needed help?
One rarely-discussed issue is that most organizations, even the ones that say they want volunteers, don't actually: https://jakeseliger.com/2014/06/19/most-volunteering-is-a-wa... and the volunteering infrastructure is actually more expensive and difficult to maintain than actually hiring employees.
I like the advice someone else proffered: teach coding instead. There does seem to be a lot of demand for that, and the people trying to learn are likely to be motivated.
One rarely-discussed issue is that most organizations, even the ones that say they want volunteers, don't actually: https://jakeseliger.com/2014/06/19/most-volunteering-is-a-wa... and the volunteering infrastructure is actually more expensive and difficult to maintain than actually hiring employees.
I like the advice someone else proffered: teach coding instead. There does seem to be a lot of demand for that, and the people trying to learn are likely to be motivated.
One alternative to donating programming skills to other people's problems is to donate your time to teaching programming through organizations like Girl Develop It.
See also:
Ask HN: How can I do social good through programming?
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14375014
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14375014
Haven't used it but some folks find it helpful:
https://www.freecodecamp.com
I am a junior python/ django dev in need of mentorship.
I am an avid learner.
If you are interested in mentoring me, Please reach out.
There have to be some limits on the utility of "drive-by" coding. I suspect it's much more useful to (encourage your organization to) offer free/discounted products to nonprofits that are maintained over the long term for other reasons, or to directly give money.
I have not tried to donate programming skills outside of younger family members and junior programmers I work with.
I was at a NY Tech meetup a few weeks ago, and there was an intro about TEALS where they were looking for people to teach high school students in the NYC high schools.
I was at a NY Tech meetup a few weeks ago, and there was an intro about TEALS where they were looking for people to teach high school students in the NYC high schools.
[deleted]
just join kde, its a huge umbrella organisation. kmail and akonadi need some serious code love :)
If you're employed did you have any issues balancing your time?
How was your experience?