> Site Tours
> Features
> Off the Web
> Dr Know
> Celebrity Surfing
> Web Logs
Movie Pages
> Sur
> More...
Specials
> Education
> Travel
> More...
TIPS to search 1
billion Web pages fast!
|
|
Shirley Singh
Knowledge is free, believe many of the geeks responsible for new innovations on the Internet. That's the reason why many Web applications are made available to us without payment. It also explains why many techies devote part of their time volunteering their services online.
For many, it's just stop gap. When they're between jobs or awaiting their next professional assignment, these tasks ensure that they're still practicing what they do best.
"Most of the time, techies are just sharing information online amongst themselves for fun," remarks Vancouver-based Asif. "And along their way, they're responding to the plethora of pleas for help on the Net," he adds.
Web developers at evolt.org, for instance, post comments, give insights and respond to requests for assistance. You'll find articles titled 'The Good, Bad and Downright Ugly of Flash Email' and 'Using XML with PHP without any apache changes' besides appeals for a site redesign at a non-profit organisation and a freelance ASP development project at a small firm.
Says member Dean Mah, "evolt.org's goal is to share information and enhance our members' skills. In return, we hope they contribute to the community with their ideas, time, skill and experience." Volunteers at evolt.org as well as at VITA (Volunteers In Technical Assistance) are on listservs and respond informally to information requests, sometimes even assisting local NGOs hands-on.
Unlike evolt.org, a community of Web developers, CompuMentor is itself an NGO that aims to volunteer technical assistance to others. In May 2002, CompuMentor launched Techsoup, slated as an online technology resource for non-profits. Users can find tech articles, news, tools and resources like free downloads and worksheets. There's also a discount technology store exclusively for nonprofits.
Where can you find opportunities?
- At CharityFocus, volunteers help out by building Web sites, providing networking solutions and extending related assistance to those who need it. Take a look at some of their open projects.
- InterConnection seeks to link NGOs in developing countries with Net-savvy volunteers who can provide them with Web site assistance and technical support. Their bulletin board gives a glimpse into their activities that include internships with grassroots development organisations.
- Several techies find volunteer work by way of casual reference in their online groups.
- Others may find interesting assignments at a regular job message board.
- Virtual volunteering opportunities abound at NetAid, with requests varying from a few hours of technical guidance to more sustained efforts at Web site building or network management.
- The United Nations Information Technology Service (UNITeS) sends technical volunteers from any country for specific projects in developing countries, paying travel expenses and a small living stipend.
- If you're keen on travelling to volunteer, several general volunteer sites have techie sections, offering interesting cross-cultural opportunities.
Why volunteer?
Essentially, it's an impulse to help someone else and also share your knowledge. You have the skills, someone needs the skills; it's a pleasure to be able to do something. And it's not without some benefits to yourself:
- Work experience - Says Nan, a volunteer with evolt.org, "While unable to get a job as a Web developer, I spent hours and hours working on volunteer sites, honing my skills while reading the evolt.org List emails to improve my knowledge of things, like font tags being deprecated, etc. Now, I can honestly say I have much more experience." Besides, says Franziska Marks, press representative for Techsoup, "If a technical volunteer works with an organisation on an ongoing basis, the project makes a great resume builder."
-
Opportunity to explore - Doing different volunteer projects gives you the chance to experiment with varied technologies and applications, something you might not get in a regular job. And it's a personal victory when you accomplish a task within the limited resources that usually accompany such an undertaking.
Keep it temporary
Job recruiters warn that too much time away from the corporate world could raise doubts as to why you did charity work so long. Besides, constant volunteering might distract you from a concentrated job search and you may miss out on opportunities.
Tech volunteer Joshua complains, "People who ask for volunteers fail to put a proper value on the work since they got it free. One organisation simply forwarded me a huge envelope full of outdated flyers. They expected me to go through them and somehow derive the greater purpose for their existence."
You might still want to volunteer to do some good, like this American techie who has gone to rural Kenya to teach computers for two years. But what do people think of his undertaking? Here's one comment: "Going to a third world country as a low-paid volunteer (and one the host country doesn't pay for at all) is doing negative things. It's driving the value of work down to zero in that country (why hire an IT guy when you can get a foreign volunteer for free). What Kenya and the rest of the third world need is investment in jobs for their own countries."
The remark is humbling, even as it raises existential questions. Why am I here? Where am I going?
|