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Have any of you ever done volunteer development work? If so, was it for a large organization, perhaps nationwide? Or something smaller, like a local cause? Through my girlfriend's mother, I got in contact with a local non-profit group. Their Web site was horribly put together by some guy, a slackjob. Luckily it isn't very complicated and we could keep the design and just rework the small amount of server-side stuff.
Anyhow, have any of you ever done something like that? I've been looking for places to volunteer my skills for a long time. I just didn't find it until now. Just curious. 
djj55: Nice but may have a permission problem
Pete O'Hanlon: He has my permission to run it.
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Based on how long its taking for some of my customers to pay me, all my work is volunteer
I've done work for friends on websites, I also worked for a non-profit[^] (but didn't volunteer). I also do a lot of R&D work for myself that doesn't pay (yet) if that counts...
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Ron Beyer wrote: but didn't volunteer
You were sent there by a judge?
Sent from my BatComputer via HAL 9000 and M5
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Some days it felt like it, yes. Government run program, so we had more meetings about work than work to perform. As it turns out I spent about a year re-writing the survey tracking and reporting (STAR) system that they were running in MS Access when they cancelled the program with the group who was running it and transferred control to a new company, hence everybody was let go.
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If you are in New England, several of my cow-orkers volunteer here.
"GiveCamp is a weekend-long event where technology professionals – including designers, developers and database administrators as well as marketers and web strategists – donate their time and unique
talents to provide software solutions for local charities and other non-profit organizations. "
http://newenglandgivecamp.org/about/[^]
Send lawyers, guns and money
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That's great! I've never seen anything like that. Unfortunately, I'm not in New England. I'm in Middle Tennessee. I wonder if they have anything like that around here -- I may have to do a little research this evening. Thank you.
djj55: Nice but may have a permission problem
Pete O'Hanlon: He has my permission to run it.
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Cow-Orker? Is that some variety of super-Ork, or a particularly vicious Cow? Or an Ork riding to Gondor on the back of a cow? 
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Simon O'Riordan from UK wrote: Ork riding to Gondor on the back of a cow?
Nay, nay. Saruman's minions are orCs. In this case, Ork is a verb. I leave finding the definition as an exercise.
Send lawyers, guns and money
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Simon: Cow-worker is a Scott Adams phrase used when talking about the idiots we are sometimes forced to work with.
Matt: Hardly unfortunate that you're not in New England, I'd say. 
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Ah, Dilbert. I'm more a Douglas Adams fan.
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I've been involved in volunteer development work projects over the years.
You can read about a few in my Coder interview here:
A Coder Interview With Bryan Carter[^]
Or, continue reading for a less verbose/boring version.
For the Santa Clara County Public Library Reading Comprehension Program (1989 to 1992) I used HyperCard to program a series of modules to enable patrons from 3 to 83 learn to read English, including English as a Second Language (ESL). Over 500 successful “graduates” in the 2+ years it was in use.
For the American Red Cross, back in October, 1989, I developed a server-client app using FileMaker Pro. Created the Resource Management System (RMS) within 32 hours of the Loma Prieta earthquake of '89 hitting the San Fran Bay Area. Used 4 Apple Laptops, all "networked" via Apple's then "AppleLink" internal worldwide communications system (AppleLink later became AOL!). RMS would match up resources (blankets, food, clothing, money) & volunteers donated to those in need of such having been impacted by the earthquake. The sync between Macs was exporting out a CSV, send it as an attachment, downloading & importing it. That alone "wow'd" non-techies of the day.
I've developed a few websites for some now-defunct "non-profits".
These were all back when I was single. Since marriage, I've tried becoming involved in a few volunteer projects, but time constraints and my being needed, well, at home take priority.
_____________
Life is Precious.
CarryTheTruth
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The lack of time to devote to volunteer work is certainly understandable. But that's quite an impressive list of volunteer work. That's awesome.
djj55: Nice but may have a permission problem
Pete O'Hanlon: He has my permission to run it.
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In regards to my lack of time, that lack is wholly attributed by my, well, "volunteering" to be a Dad, the best volunteer work I'll ever do, 'cept when volunteering to being a Grandpa (Lord willing) comes around!
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When I was living in California I decided I was going to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity to do electrical work, as in design and wire the houses for free (I'm an Electrical Engineer). I set out to figure out what I had to do to obtain an electrician's license in the state. Low and behold, they make it VERY difficult to get licensed and there's no exceptions for engineers, which doesn't make sense to me (same amount of time for an engineer to get licensed as for someone who has NO experience at all). You essentially have to be in an apprenticeship for some ridiculous amount of time (7 years if I remember correctly).
So... I ended up not doing it. Don't understand the crazy regulations some states have. It almost sounds like they're controlled by a union.
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That does sound rather ridiculous. Of course I would want someone with the knowledge to wire my house. But come on, 7 years thereabout? That's just crazy...
djj55: Nice but may have a permission problem
Pete O'Hanlon: He has my permission to run it.
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I just think it's a lot for an electrical engineer... they should have exceptions that allow certain people (like engineers from accredited universities) to just take the tests rather than require them to go through the "dummy" training you'd get from an apprenticeship.
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Albert Holguin wrote: which doesn't make sense to me
At least when I was in college the courses necessary to get an electrical engineering degree did nothing at all to prepare one to wire a house much less something like a restaurant or office correctly.
Didn't actually prepare one to do much at all in the real world for that matter.
And although good intentions are admirable they will not prevent a house fire caused by incorrectly installing an electrical system.
In comparison I am rather certain as well that I would not want a civil engineer building a house and very definitely wouldn't want them building a bridge if their only experience was a degree from a university. Doesn't matter what university either.
FYI Texas requires "Engineers" to pass a test and to have some real world experience as well before they can use that term.
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Electrical engineering college material makes sure you understand electricity, at least it should, if it didn't, you should ask for a refund. I do agree it won't teach you everything about wiring a house, it should allow you to quickly learn what you need to if you decided to get into that line of work. There really isn't much to wiring a house really... the seven year apprenticeship was set up for getting an 18 year old kid fresh out of high school and getting him trained to be an electrician, not for an electrical engineer to learn the ins/outs of wiring a house.
jschell wrote: FYI Texas requires "Engineers" to pass a test and to have some real world experience as well before they can use that term.
This is most states... I'm not against testing, but to categorize an electrical engineer in the same way as you would someone fresh out of high school is pretty extreme (reeks of union/political moves).
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Albert Holguin wrote: it should allow you to quickly learn what you need to if you decided to get into that line of work
So in college exactly which class taught you the following?
- Exact gauge of wire to run to the kitchen light, the kitchen oven and the dryer? And the type of wire that meets code?
- Where in a joist you can run a wire?
- How many and far apart electrical sockets are needed to meet code?
- How do you run a wire around a pipe? Around a corner?
- What sort of junction box do you need in a bathroom versus against a cement wall versus in drywall?
- What paper work do you need to present when the home is inspected?
Myself when I took my classes in Electrical Engineering I learned a great deal about how to prove what an idealized magnetic/electrical fields should do, how an ideal refrigerator should work and a lot about calculus and quite a bit more about literature, social theory and psychology. Far as I can recall I had about two semesters total of "electrical" labs one of which involved building a bread boarded computer and another which built trivial amplifiers. I got through the later because my two lab partners were 'working engineers' whose company insisted they go back to school to get a real degree.
Now it might be quite possible that an above average person doesn't need 4 years of actually working as an electrician to do the job. But by definition the vast majority of people are not in fact above average. And it seems rather unfair to allow someone's house to burn down because someone insists that they are in fact the exception to the rule, based on nothing more than their word that they are above average.
Not to mention of course that just because someone is familiar with some aspect of science that that means that they are completely competent to undertake everything else. If that were the case then everyone would need do nothing more than train as a mathematician and everything else would follow.
Same holds for a civil engineer. I simply do not want to drive across a bridge built by someone who did nothing more than pass a test regardless of how certain that individual is that they are competent to build that bridge.
Albert Holguin wrote: I'm not against testing, but to categorize an electrical engineer in the same way as you would someone fresh out of high school
All I can say is that you must have had completely different classes than me in college. I have done some electrical work around the home and read quite a bit about what it takes to be up to code in doing such work and there was absolutely nothing in the classes that I took that had anything to do with that. And doing the practice is quite a bit different than learning theory. It is also quite a bit different to mess about ones house versus actually doing the same in the 'real' world for someone that you don't even know and who is depending on you do to it correctly.
Other than that learning the practice is not that hard but it takes time because one must encounter all of the cases that might occur in the real world. For example one might need to deal with buried cables or overhead wires. Or acquiring right of way. Or dealing with water in unexpected places. Or recognizing that some product is substandard. And yes a high school graduate who is enthusiastic can in fact learn all that with experience. And someone with a bunch of theory under their belt isn't going to learn that by studying up for a written test.
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jschell wrote: Other than that learning the practice is not that hard but it takes time because one must encounter all of the cases that might occur in the real world. For example one might need to deal with buried cables or overhead wires. Or acquiring right of way. Or dealing with water in unexpected places. Or recognizing that some product is substandard. And yes a high school graduate who is enthusiastic can in fact learn all that with experience. And someone with a bunch of theory under their belt isn't going to learn that by studying up for a written test.
Takes you 7 years to learn that? Same thing with the whole wire gauge comments above, that's all small potatoes stuff that wouldn't take you very long to pickup. Pretty sure all that has to do more with the union controlling who gets licensed than how long it takes someone to learn something.
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Albert Holguin wrote: Takes you 7 years to learn that?
Are you claiming that it would take a high school graduate that long to learn that?
Albert Holguin wrote: Pretty sure all that has to do more with the union controlling who gets licensed
than how long it takes someone to learn something.
Quite possible. But a electrical engineering degree doesn't teach one how to do it either.
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Most work like that *is* controlled by unions.
In many states the use of a Car computer Diagnostic reader is free. It's a minimum $49 just for it to get hooked to your car in Calif.
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Unfortunately, I know it is controlled by unions... that's what makes it worse, because in those cases there's no rhyme or reason other than the unions either getting a cut or keeping tight control. I'd be willing to bet they push all electricians into joining the unions or else they won't get licensed.
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Albert Holguin wrote: I'd be willing to bet they push all electricians into joining the unions or else
they won't get licensed.
The reality is nothing that one does can insure that licensed professionals are actually competent to do the work. So at best one strives to make it more likely.
And as with everything involving humans politics are part of it.
But despite both of those allowing someone to just start doing it solely because they think they are competent is not going to work either. So claiming that the current system is inappropriate is not an excuse to completely eliminate the system.
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No, but I've been volunteering with Camp Quality for a decade, and it's been wonderful to make a tangible difference in the lives of children living with cancer and their families...
I think more people (particularly blokes) should volunteer their time to whatever charitable causes they deem to be worthwhile, because it's been my experience that there are never enough male volunteers to go around!!
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