Volunteer Programming For Dummies?

Tios writes "I've been studying programming languages (C++, Java, C, Visual Basic) on my own with the self-guided, basic textbooks and tutorials, and I'm starting to get tired of working with examples that are not put into real use. I'm motivated to utilize my programming potential, but I've not had any experience programming in a team environment with lead developers, mentors, or collaborators. If finding a programming job isn't an option, I wonder if I could volunteer for programming in an open-source community. If this is a good idea, how do I start? What resources are out there that could get me oriented in volunteering? What kind of basic projects are out there, with a supportive team/mentor for me to develop, practice, learn, and contribute?"

Comments

Non-Profits

[Snap E Tom]

I've had a lot of experience volunteering for non-profit organizations. Granted, it's not the same type of "volunteering" that you mention, but it is a very good path to gain not only coding experience, but leadership skills, business experience, and of course, contacts. On the resume, it is definitely a differentiator. In interviews, I am always asked about my volunteer work.

That being said, there are several pitfalls:

1) The vast majority of non-profits are inherently very conservative and risk adverse due to their unique cash flow situation. You cannot just go into a group and say, "I'll build you X,Y, and Z and it will be fabulous." You must spend time gaining their trust in a volunteer capacity they ask for. If they're advertising on a volunteer site for a programmer, great. You're in. If there is an organization you want to help, but they're not asking for IT help, you may have to spend a long time volunteering for them in whatever role they need, buddy up to the higher ups, then offer advice on how you can streamline things for them.

2) Be careful of the organizations you list on the resume. They might not always help. The homeless, animals, and children are all very good causes that won't offend anyone. Sadly, though, gay and lesbian causes may turn off a born-again HR screener. I'm not saying don't volunteer for controversial causes, but I am saying be careful of what you put on the resume.

3) Be sure you know what you're doing. Even though it is a learning experience for you, it isn't. You are not giving any long term help to a organization by selecting obscure tools and sloppy coding. You will not be there forever. This goes for paid work and non-profit work. You may be hit by a bus, you may have a falling out. However, the product you create will be used for a long, long time. Use best practices and common tools. Mod me down, RoRers, but I recently talked to a non-profit that couldn't find anyone with RoR experience willing to help modify an app that some fly-by-night volunteer developed. They spent months posting on Craigslist and the usual volunteer sites, and eventually had to agree on a complete rewrite in PHP from another volunteer.

Re:make your own stuff

[DriedClexler]

I'm in largely the same position as the submitter, and I think the problem is that jumping into existing programs like you suggest is not the simple step you make it out to be. Stuff that may same "duh!" to you, may not be obvious to others. Stupid as it sounds, what I really need is some step-by-step instruction set like:

"If you want to contribute to [OSS project or class of OSS projects], download the source files [here], and compile them using [program], which you can download [here], by [following this compiling procedure] with [these settings]. If you're a beginner, check out the part of the code that [does simple task x] which is in [file], and see how it interacts with the rest of the program. This program depends on [other files], which you can get [here]. [Here] is an example of where it uses them."

But I have yet to find some tutorial like this anywhere.

Gee, it's almost like they don't want people to learn to how to contribute.

Re:make your own stuff

[fishbowl]

I wish more projects were as well-organized as KDE.

http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/PIM/KMail_Junior_Jobs#KMail_Junior_Jobs