During my senior year of college, I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do with my life, so I applied to some graduate programs. I knew one thing for sure: I wanted to make a difference. Thankfully, I was rejected from both graduate programs I applied to.
While I may not be making a difference in the Army or anything like that, I think that there are definitely ways to make a difference using web development.
At my company, we are broken up into 4 teams, each of which has a pro-bono client:
- Doorways
- WEAVE: Women Empowered Against Violence
- Timothy Aycock Melanoma Research Foundation
- The Washington Animal Rescue League
While there are times that we have to tell our pro-bono clients that we are simply too busy to fill their needs, we always try and get to them as quickly as possible.
A few weeks ago, some of the employees from Doorways came in to talk to us more about their organization. It was pretty powerful to hear what they had to say. To think that these people sacrifice so much time for the betterment of others is amazing to me.
I think it is extremely important for those of us who can to give back to those who are less fortunate. Whether it is donating time to a local non-profit to help them establish their web presence or just to provide some consulting time, it all will help.
Last year, I donated time to slice and integrate the Worldwide Breast Cancer site into WordPress, and I encourage everyone to try and find something to donate their time or services to.
Make a difference.
Categories
Recent Articles
February 2012
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
3 Comments
Timo
03.27.2008I think that this is a very interesting topic that you brought up. I’m working as a corporate web developer and showing the sites you have built in your corporation network may be tricky in job interviews. But I have been thinking of volunteering: web development for the organizations that need help in their web apps or pages. This way you can help them but can also demonstrate that you have actually built something outside the corporation intranet/extranet. It’s a win-win situtation and perhaps the biggest reward is that you were able to help somebody else!
Trevor
03.27.2008@Timo-
I think you bring up a great point. Not only are you donating your time to help others, but you are also advancing yourself professionally. It certainly could give you some great sites to add to your portfolio.
Mari
11.20.2009Thank you for writing this blog. I work for a non-profit and we would greatly appreciate a developer donating their time to help us with online fundraising or with some of our other projects that relate to online video. It’s encourage to read an article like this.
——-
Too late, comments are closed!
Don’t worry, you can email me or contact me on Twitter.