
Ask HN: How can I volunteer my software skills online? - Srishti101
What the projects&#x2F; NGOs that I can help online using my software engineering&#x2F;data analytics skills? Perhaps you can share personal projects that you were able to use to help people and community around you
======
patio11
(Disclaimer: not trolling.)

Consider specializing in making money and donating the money to people who
specialize in $PICK_A_CAUSE_DEAR_TO_YOU, if your primary concern is about
impact and not about personal fulfillment. NGOs are often not well set up to
metabolize the labor of developers, and at some things which you think are
helpful will be perceived by the organization as a threat (e.g. at many
organizations, anything which decreases the required headcount to operate
attacks a primary reason for the organization to exist).

You're also unlikely to be an expert at $PICK_A_CAUSE_WHICH_IS_DEAR_TO_YOU for
the same reason you're unlikely to be an expert at heart surgery or filing
business taxes. Those strike me as important enough to be done by someone who
knows what they're doing; your mileage may vary with respect to causes dear to
you.

~~~
visakanv
Relevant LessWrong article – Purchase Fuzzies and Utilons Separately:
[http://lesswrong.com/lw/6z/purchase_fuzzies_and_utilons_sepa...](http://lesswrong.com/lw/6z/purchase_fuzzies_and_utilons_separately/)

> There is this very, very old puzzle/observation in economics about the
> lawyer who spends an hour volunteering at the soup kitchen, instead of
> working an extra hour and donating the money to hire someone...

> If the lawyer needs to work an hour at the soup kitchen to keep himself
> motivated and remind himself why he's doing what he's doing, that's fine.
> But he should also be donating some of the hours he worked at the office,
> because that is the power of professional specialization and it is how
> grownups really get things done. One might consider the check as buying the
> right to volunteer at the soup kitchen, or validating the time spent at the
> soup kitchen.

I think about this a lot.

~~~
user5994461
Disagree with all of it.

Money and time are not interchangeable at all.

One can take 1-2 hours of his time, when he has time free.

One cannot give 1-2 hours of money, when he has to pay for his rent, bills and
family.

There is noone who can decide to work one hour more at his workplace and get
paid for it, then donate the money to charity.

~~~
chrisatumd
> There is noone who can decide to work one hour more at his workplace and get
> paid for it, then donate the money to charity.

There are plenty of people that can make this exact choice. I'll work extra
hours on occasion when my job is willing to allow us overtime, but not
requiring it. Admittedly it's generally my stove broke and I need X dollars to
replace it, not me donating the money.

------
Melk
You should start off by limiting yourself because it's easy to get in over
your head once you start down the path of unpaid work. I volunteer 20% of my
time (one day a week) to non-profits so they know what they're getting.

Most of the jobs I got at first were through volunteering in other ways. I was
a driver at a summer camp for underprivileged kids when I found that they
needed a registration system they couldn't afford. And an animal shelter where
I used to walk dogs had a little gift shop that sold handmade items so I set
up an online store and their revenue went up 800%. Little projects like that
can make a huge impact with little effort.

Then I blogged about the projects and now I regularly get requests through
that. There are a lot of NGOs searching online for people like you so all you
need to do is make yourself visible.

~~~
vijayr
could you please link to your blog?

------
VLM
If the project isn't primarily a software engineering/data analytics group,
ask yourself what they'll do when you're gone. Its not unlikely that setting
up something complicated can be short term profitable while you're around and
long term a net loss after you're gone.

There are hacks against that such as doing grunt work where its not about the
volunteer who is interchangeable with any other volunteer (perhaps installing
wifi or cat5 cabling, whatever) or helping something with a closed timeframe
(An election campaign has a clearly defined ending and presumably you can
commit to not leaving before the finish line).

Your best bet would be to find whatever FOSS they use and then work on the
FOSS project. Your research shows that people and community users of some FOSS
project would really benefit from feature whatever or bugfix whatever or
documentation whatever, so ...

------
DanBC
The UK has a bunch of open data sets.

You could find one that interests you and wrangle the data into something
useful for the public.

I'd be interested to see some of these sets combined. For one example, the
Office for National Statistics releases information about death by suicide,
and the NHS releases prescribing data. (Also available on the excellent
openprescribing.net site)

I'd like to see something that combines the two. Maybe a map of deaths by
overdose and by prescribing of the top 5 meds used.

This work could help reduce death by suicide which is a significant cause of
preventable death, and attempted suicide which is a significant cause of
avoidable harm. (Sadly we can't just say "reducing human suffering is the
right thing to do", we have to say "it's the cost effective thing to do".

Open Prescribing: [https://openprescribing.net/](https://openprescribing.net/)

ONS "Suicides in the UK":
[https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsde...](https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/suicidesintheunitedkingdom/2015registrations)

National Confidential Inquiry:
[http://research.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/cmhs/research/centrefor...](http://research.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/cmhs/research/centreforsuicideprevention/nci)

------
llccbb
I have posted this before, countless times, but techies who want to volunteer
their skills and knowledge to advance the democratic process should think
about joining the PROGRESSIVE CODERS NETWORK[0]. They are a non-profit that
helps organize and direct volunteer coders, programmers, designers into open-
source political projects. They are about connecting and facilitating
projects, not dictating what projects should be. They are party-neutral, but
seek to empower the people and provide tools for running successful campaigns
and being engaged as a citizen.

If you can take away the need for millions of dollars to run a campaign then
policy makers aren't beholden to the few wealthy supporters that helped get
them elected.

They help connect volunteers to projects that range from building an open-
source voter database to an Uber-like app that helps the mobility-limited get
transportation to vote. They are extremely transparent and always interested
in growing the network. Many members of the network are engineers, product
managers, or independent coders.

[0][http://progcode.co](http://progcode.co)

------
oelmekki
I have volunteered for the UN Online Volunteer [1] program about a decade ago,
but (sadly) I won't recommend it.

Most people volunteering there have no experience in the field, they are
mostly students or retirees who "want to try". I joked at the time saying that
I would not have accepted that work if it was paid for. Worst part is, you
can't really tell people they won't do, because they're doing this for free
and with good intentions. Actually, scratch that: worst part is that survey at
the end of the mission where you had to rate people you worked with on tons of
criteria ; that was horrible.

I would say, if you want to be helpful but not have the worst "work"
experience you can have, you should probably find yourself a problem and fix
it with a side project. Either host the service and allow people to find it,
or just open source it with easy install steps (but there are more chances
here that it won't be actually used).

[1] [https://www.onlinevolunteering.org](https://www.onlinevolunteering.org)

------
razin
Here are a few ideas:

\- Digital Service
[https://thedigitalservice.org/](https://thedigitalservice.org/) (this was
made by YC partner, Adora Cheung)

\- Bayes Impact [http://www.bayesimpact.org/](http://www.bayesimpact.org/)

\- DataKind [http://www.datakind.org/](http://www.datakind.org/)

------
lazylester
I have been writing software, pro-bono, for non-profits for over a decade now.
I get most of my "work" through idealist.org, which is a trove of
opportunities. You might have to monitor for a few months before you find just
the right project for you. Be patient.

My most recent gig, however, was found through the United Nations volunteer
program. I can't find the link atm but I'm sure it'll come up for you with a
bit of Googling.

It has been incredibly rewarding, and you might be able to write off some of
your computer, conference, books, internet and travel expenses.

I love this kind of work for many reasons, but from the developer's
perspective it's rewarding because the client is always very grateful for what
you are doing and there's never a deadline, so there's always time to do it
right and not take shortcuts.

I have traveled to some very interesting places, albeit mostly (but not
always) at my own expense, with this work. I am fortunate to be in a financial
position that I can do it, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

------
jumasheff
Contribute to [https://freecodecamp.com](https://freecodecamp.com)
Contributors' gitter chat:
[https://gitter.im/FreeCodeCamp/Contributors](https://gitter.im/FreeCodeCamp/Contributors)

------
jlg23
There are two big problems with your question:

a) By the time some NGO can specify requirements like "data analyst should do
X to prove Y" they also have someone who can formulate those, i.e. some person
who at least had some exposure to professional IT work. That person most
probably has a list of 100 or so people s/he'll ask first (people known to
work for the cause anyway are prime candidates).

b) "Perhaps you can share personal projects that you were able to use to help
people and community around you."

Yes, I can but I won't: My stories don't help you except for maybe serving as
inspiration. You can find enough inspirational stories via google, so I won't
have to write down yet another one. But, much more important: NGOs are usually
not set up to deal with any offer of help by someone who is not an expert in
their specific domain. Your great ideas will be ignored simply because people
don't have time to think about it. While you might see the potential "800%
increase in revenue" (mentioned in another comment) the others won't be able
to see it or won't trust you to stick to the project for long enough (drop out
rates in NGOs are very, very high in my experience).

Summa summarum: Find a cause you want to fight for, make a list of NGOs in
that area. Then: Try it and don't be disappointed if they don't see the value
you _could_ bring but only judge you according to what you do in their
specific domains (i.e.: no praise for the idea of a souvenir shop of the dog
shelter, lots of praise for walking the dogs). Once you found a pleasant
environment to work in, start hacking it: Make PoCs at night, after doing the
official work. Swear in your room at all those idiots who fail to see the
benefit of your work but turn it into something productive; create some turn-
key solution that creates some real benefit for the NGO. After doing this you
will have a much better standing when you explain your next project idea -
they might not _get it_ , but they will trust your expertise enough now that
they have seen that you deserve that trust.

------
pavlov
Sounds like you could volunteer for DataKind:

[http://www.datakind.org](http://www.datakind.org)

They're an awesome non-profit that connects your kind of expertise with
traditional NGOs that have data and domain knowledge, but typically don't know
how to make full use of it.

You can volunteer even for a weekend project, and it makes a real difference.

------
jeffmould
If you live near a large city with a big newspaper (i.e. Washington Post) you
can often find volunteer software development and web designer opportunities
for various organizations in their employment section. Just note that many are
truly volunteer or offer a small stipend in exchange for your work. On the
flip side these can be great opportunities for someone just getting started to
build references, a portfolio, and gain experience.

------
onion2k
[http://socialcoder.org/](http://socialcoder.org/)

------
moriartyx64
One initiative that comes to mind is the Humanitarian Toolbox:
[http://www.htbox.org/](http://www.htbox.org/)

~~~
cjCamel
I saw Richard Campbell talking about the Humanitarian Toolbox at his NDC
London keynote - seems like an interesting option if you want to use your dev
skills for good causes.
[https://vimeo.com/204070784](https://vimeo.com/204070784).

~~~
jlg23
Thank you for the pointer to the video - the guy really knows what he is
talking about (at least it 100% reflects my experience)!

------
pedrokost
Think about the problems in your neighborhood and try to imagine creative
solutions to them that you can implement with your skillset. It doesn't need
to be a global problem to be worthwhile solving - sometimes helping our just a
handful of people can feel extremely worthwhile.

This is how I got involved with a personal project. A few years ago I had
trouble finding a listing of all Karate dojos in my vicinity. I compiled a
list of such dojos in Excel, and later decided to put them online [0]. By
putting this dataset online, and maintaining it up to date I am helping other
people who are looking for a new place to train a sport.

This project not only helps the community (who can now easily find karate and
other sports clubs easily through the project website) but also helped me
learn new technologies and practice skill that I don't excel at, like design,
writing, marketing, etc. Just yesterday I took the project to the next level
and started doing same simple data analysis of the dataset [1].

While the project may not have a very large impact on the community, it does
sufficiently so to feel worthwhile. Moreover, being able to play with
different skills in a low stress environment makes is very enjoyable.

[0] [http://www.klubi.si/](http://www.klubi.si/) [1]
[https://medium.com/@pedro.kostelec/analyzing-the-market-
size...](https://medium.com/@pedro.kostelec/analyzing-the-market-size-of-
karate-clubs-in-slovenia-90c85440d8c7)

------
guico
Check out [https://www.project501.com/](https://www.project501.com/)

It's platform for skill based voluntary work

------
arvind_devaraj
Consider sharing your knowledge to help graduate students and guide them take
good career decisions. This is a forum for discussing computer science careers
with more than 150,000 students.
[https://www.facebook.com/groups/core.cs](https://www.facebook.com/groups/core.cs)
It is like stackoverflow - but for students who can't express their questions
in a rigorous format expected by the stackoverflow community. We help students
with their questions on various CS topics like algorithms, datastructures and
programming. We are a group of 30 moderators answering thousands of questions
posted daily and obviously our knowledge is limited and would like to expand
to other areas like machine learning / datascience. It would be great if you
can share your knowledge with the community. We believe that giving knowledge
is the best form of giving, as it empowers the receiver for life time.

------
robinsongreig
First - I run a platform that connects creative/technical volunteers with non-
profits for project-based volunteer opportunities. There's a bunch of
organizations looking for people like you - take a look: www.project501.com

Second - really interesting conversation here. It's incredibly important to
make monetary donations, but that isn't an option for anyone. It's also
possible that your time/expertise could save the organization far more than
what you might have been willing to donate.

I'm a fan of the guiding ideas of effective altruism (few have mentioned it
already). Basically, give what you are able to give to the cause that needs it
most. There's plenty of behavioral issues though that might prevent us from
giving more of our money than we probably could - it seems easier to donate
our time when doing what we love doing and do best.

------
amelius
One idea is: build a platform where people can submit what projects they would
like to see realized, and where they can specify a rudimentary requirements-
analysis and/or design. It may include a mechanism where people can upvote
projects, and perhaps a way for people to collaborate on designs.

------
dandelion_lover
I am surprized no one has mentioned FSF yet. They have a very good list of
what is important for the community:

[https://www.fsf.org/campaigns/priority-
projects](https://www.fsf.org/campaigns/priority-projects)

------
agrafix
If you're into functional programming (Haskell + PureScript), I know that
UnionizeMe [1] is looking for volunteers.

[1] [https://unionize.me/get-involved](https://unionize.me/get-involved)

------
vonklaus
This is as impossible to answer as:

What charity should I give money to?

I would love to have a talented teacher, so I would say mentorship, ect.

The EFF although they have more technical resources than most.

Depends on 100% what you are passionate about. Without that info the target is
any non-profit

~~~
tyingq
Not quite the same question to me. Finding lists of charities that take
donations is easy and obvious. Finding lists that would take volunteer coding
is less easy. OP seems to be looking for a list, not specific advice on which
organization to select.

------
splitrocket
[https://labs.robinhood.org/fellowship](https://labs.robinhood.org/fellowship)

5 month, paid fellowship to research, develop, test, and the launch tech
products that fight poverty.

------
palehose
I'm not affiliated with Taproot, but am aware of them and that they have been
successful with their model.

Taproot Foundation - WHAT WE DO: The Taproot Foundation connects nonprofits
and social change organizations with passionate, skilled volunteers who share
their expertise pro bono. Through our programs, business professionals deliver
marketing, strategy, HR, and IT solutions that organizations need to achieve
their missions.
[https://taprootfoundation.org/](https://taprootfoundation.org/)

------
weisser
My friend Robinson recently launched a site called Project 501. It matches
non-profit organizations with talented professionals who want to donate their
skills.

Site: [http://project501.com](http://project501.com) Medium post: ‪
[https://medium.com/@robinsongreig/project-501-a-platform-
to-...](https://medium.com/@robinsongreig/project-501-a-platform-to-volunteer-
your-expertise-to-non-profits-a09cbbd7baec#.mdrpgumrw‬)

------
philip142au
Find a project on github you like, fork it and submit pull requests.

------
exception_e
Could use some more people on a code modernization project I'm running for
OpenEMR (free EHR solution that is used all over the world).

www.open-emr.org

Feel free to email me.

------
secfirstmd
Hey,

Over at Security First (www.secfirst.org) our small, non-profit team builds
Umbrella App - a free open source tool that helps people like activists and
journalists manage their digital and physical security.

We are always looking for people who are able to volunteer some time to help
us on things like Android Development, back end work, UI/UX, design, marketing
and copyrighting.

------
aw3c2
Have you heard of Open Source software? You can literally find hundreds of
thousands of software projects that publish their sources under free licenses
for you to improve upon. I am sure you have some hobbies or niche interests
where software could use a little help.

~~~
Twisell
Indeed but what about when your skills set don't involve software
developpement? What's interesting in this question is actually that what work
for FOSS might be working for other tasks.

Like for instance à project like "let's develop together a good blueprint for
a eco-neutral house" where
architects/carpenters/engineers/electrician/phd/lawyer/mason/painter/layman/etc
could contribute in a Git Like fashion.

------
illnewsthat
Check out [https://www.catchafire.org](https://www.catchafire.org)

I haven't completed any projects yet but it integrates with LinkedIn and seems
like a pretty good platform to find skills based volunteering opportunities.

------
known
List of unsolved problems in computer science
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unsolved_problems_in_c...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unsolved_problems_in_computer_science)

------
strawberrysauce
Try this: [http://www.doinggoodfellows.org/](http://www.doinggoodfellows.org/)
It's by a friend for this exact same purpose

------
fosco
I think here [0] is a great general introduction

[0] [https://opensource.guide/](https://opensource.guide/)

------
bitshiffed
thorn ( [https://www.wearethorn.org/](https://www.wearethorn.org/) ) is
another project that takes technical volunteers:
[https://wearethorn.typeform.com/to/pZtK7Z](https://wearethorn.typeform.com/to/pZtK7Z)

------
artsim
[https://www.catchafire.org/](https://www.catchafire.org/)

------
profpandit
I don't think you should restrict yourself to NGOs Even commercial
organizations help people and community You should identify what kind of work
interests you and use that to drive your decision.

------
godmodus
Freenode #newguard and #oldguard

------
brilliantcode
I'm in the process of launching
[http://letsopensource.com](http://letsopensource.com) which is a commercial
software alternative marketplace. It will be also relevant towards data
science, design projects not just software.

You can contribute your time towards open source projects that people request
and will fund.

You can contribute your money towards open source projects you need and other
features and functions for your business.

My vision is to help developers who have a track record of open source work
but also looking to help fulfill business open source needs.

You get money or portfolio cred backed by real references from backers. You
get business value from open source software developers contribute to in a
much more directed way. You can vote on features and functions with money.

