I've been interested in programming since Grade 8. I used to "give back" by helping out strangers online. I had an online forum where I helped people from south asia make websites.
Lately, I've been feeling like a clog in the machine, just writing code that barely has any real impact on anyone (I work for a bank).
What are some of the ways you use your knowledge/skills to help people? I've volunteered as mentor for new immigrants, junior devs, and helped fix computer at community centres, but it looks like that's all I can offer with tech skills.
Top comments (3)
I contribute regularly on Stack Overflow. I try to mentor college students and early career developers. I also volunteer at career events like resume writing and interview workshops. These are some fun parts of my career.
In my local community, several volunteer organizations have "work days". Where you can just show up and be assigned tasks. Mowing grass for the elderly, or serving food, or packing emergency supplies, or weeding the flower beds at a community center. You could always do this kind of thing even though it is not technical.
It's also a great way to network with people and discover opportunities to help in more technical ways. Many of these volunteer organizations operate on a shoestring budget, so they could certainly use it. Even very large organizations, you might be surprised by how lean your local chapter operates. Fixing computers especially, but it could also be networking or setting up a local server. Developing apps are a much larger commitment generally, so it is harder to get that going.
I am not good at mentoring in public ! But with my friends circle I always encourage people to write some blogs whatever they learned so that other people can get help from the article.