Ask HN: Best ways to volunteer? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Best ways to volunteer?

#71

Post by perl4ever » Fri, Dec 13, 2019, 10:16 PM UTC

There are two things I've tried -

- Choosing a place that is looking for my skills, and incidentally seems like a good cause, vs.

- Choosing a place with a cause I care about, that might or might not particularly need my skills.

I find the second one works better, although it might be possible to have a bad enough fit to try something else. If you have a pre-existing connection to an organization, possibly have made donations, and you show up and ask what you can do, and then you prove that you don't mind doing simple tasks, you will likely graduate into technical stuff if that's what you want.

My impression is a lot of non-profits have a great need for technical help that their usual interns, volunteers and employees can't provide, but if you don't connect with them in the right way, it won't work out.

Re: Ask HN: Best ways to volunteer?

#72

Post by pfranz » Fri, Dec 13, 2019, 10:19 PM UTC

Matticus_Rex wrote: post #22

Donating money is almost always more valuable than donating time, especially if you're not going to donate a lot of time. The time may feel better (or it may not -- I've had volunteer gigs where I didn't feel I could accomplish much, and that sucks), but the money is more useful.

I wanted to add to your comment. When I've looked to volunteer in the past I've seen places that ask for a 6+ month commitment because bringing someone up to speed sucks up resources (not unlike training a new employee). Other times I've shown up early and you see how much wrangling is needed to organize volunteers.

Volunteer labor can often be a resource suck whereas money is money.

Re: Ask HN: Best ways to volunteer?

#73

Post by eeZah7Ux » Fri, Dec 13, 2019, 10:22 PM UTC

LfLxfxxLxfxx wrote: post #17

> product management, project management No, thank you. FOSS developers are usually skilled and self-motivated engineers, so corporate-style control is unnecessary or harmful. Money, quality code, bug fixes, documentation, publicity (there are so many great but little-known FOSS projects), or a simple display of appreciation for the authors' work are all welcome.

Why all the idiotic downvotes?

Re: Ask HN: Best ways to volunteer?

#74

Post by Matticus_Rex » Fri, Dec 13, 2019, 11:01 PM UTC

hprotagonist wrote: post #70

Matticus_Rex wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that's the goal, only a small subset of volunteer work is a good way to achieve it.

it's _a_ goal. it's not the only one.

And for the other goals, the statement holds: If in other contexts it would be a waste of your time, it's still going to be a waste of your time for you to do it.

Re: Ask HN: Best ways to volunteer?

#75

Post by Matticus_Rex » Fri, Dec 13, 2019, 11:05 PM UTC

jspotanski wrote: post #24

Matticus_Rex wrote: post #22

Donating money is almost always more valuable than donating time, especially if you're not going to donate a lot of time. The time may feel better (or it may not -- I've had volunteer gigs where I didn't feel I could accomplish much, and that sucks), but the money is more useful.

Donating technical skills with a market rate of a couple hundred bucks an hour can add up much more quickly than donating cash in many cases. And it doesn't have to be a massive investment - in a few hours you can make a much more manageable and better looking website for a lot of organizations that can't afford to pay for one.

How does it add up much more quickly? Even if there's no time necessary for me to get up to speed on their situation, etc., donating my salary for those hours is not only at least even with donating my time (since they could hire out), but unless my skills are the absolute highest priority thing they need in the organization, cash would be better because it allows them to get that highest priority thing.

Re: Ask HN: Best ways to volunteer?

#76

Post by UnFleshedOne » Fri, Dec 13, 2019, 11:19 PM UTC

MegaDeKay wrote: post #27

Matticus_Rex wrote: post #22

Donating money is almost always more valuable than donating time, especially if you're not going to donate a lot of time. The time may feel better (or it may not -- I've had volunteer gigs where I didn't feel I could accomplish much, and that sucks), but the money is more useful.

I read all of the comments to this post and I don't your's stands up. Donating time can be very valuable. On the other side of the coin, there are a lot of charities and other causes that have substantial overhead costs. It is possible that only a fraction of your donation might be a direct benefit to the intended recipient.

Low overhead is a tempting metric, but often charities try too hard to get it low enough, and not do things like monitoring if whatever they are doing actually make things better.

Re: Ask HN: Best ways to volunteer?

#77

Post by Mati_Roy » Fri, Dec 13, 2019, 11:23 PM UTC

There's a Facebook group for Effective Altruism Volunteering which has some ideas: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1392613437498240/

Re: Ask HN: Best ways to volunteer?

#78

Post by hprotagonist » Fri, Dec 13, 2019, 11:40 PM UTC

Matticus_Rex wrote: post #74

hprotagonist wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's _a_ goal. it's not the only one.

And for the other goals, the statement holds: If in other contexts it would be a waste of your time, it's still going to be a waste of your time for you to do it.

unless, of course, handing out sandwiches or making beds up in a shelter opens one’s eyes.

then it’s the exact opposite of a waste.

Re: Ask HN: Best ways to volunteer?

#79

Post by ageofwant » Sat, Dec 14, 2019, 12:09 AM UTC

Why have another job that's the same as your current job ? I volunteer at my local botanical garden. I pull weeds, collect seed and botanise. Volunteering can and perhaps should be a world-expanding experience.

Re: Ask HN: Best ways to volunteer?

#80

Post by jptoor » Sat, Dec 14, 2019, 12:10 AM UTC

kendallpark wrote: post #46

On the contrary, I use volunteer work as a time to take a break from tech. In the past I've volunteered as elementary school classroom help, tutored students of various ages, and coached line for a local high school football team. Yes, as tech workers, we have the ability to use our valuable skills pro bono. But I think it can also be beneficial to step out of the tech bubble and integrate with the rest of non-tech s…

I also agree. One-on-one mentoring is fulfilling in a different way than project oriented volunteering. I recommend doing a longer term commitment as well. Most are 2-4 hours a week, ideally for at least a year. I was at a large near-IPO startup, and it was super supportive of me hopping out for 3 hours every Wednesday for a year to volunteer at underresourced schools. I brought my classes in to meet people at my company and many kids became more interested in design & programming careers as a result.

I worked with build.org in NYC - it's entrepreneurship oriented programs. The students are wonderful. BUILD is large and has a strong presence in SF, DC & Boston as well.

In SF, I worked with Reach & Rise through the YMCA, which is similar to the Boys & Girls Club Big Brother/Big Sister program. I'd highly recommend that as well.