Volunteer monthly (The Goal List 2018)

2018, code-nation, personal-growth, the-goal-list

This post is part of my series on The Goal List, where I write about each goal I set and achieved in 2018.

The goal in question

Volunteer monthly

Why this goal?

I got into volunteering for two reasons, one totally selfish and one mostly selfish:

  1. I felt stuck. Most of the people I saw everyday were a lot like me: white, able-bodied, upper middle class. Their/our problems and priorities were starting to feel hollow. I wanted to infuse my life with some purpose and inspiration.
  2. I wanted to make my community better. My experience working on technology teams is across the board better when the people I work with come from diverse backgrounds, but it is very difficult for people of color and women to break into the industry. (That is an essay for another time.) Most teams end up being dominated by young white men, and this homogeneity disadvantages all of us. There are loads of opportunities as a programmer to help change this trend.

How did I accomplish it?

I asked around about organizations I could work with to promote diversity in tech, and a friend recommended I look into an organization called ScriptEd. They’ve since changed their name to Code Nation, so I’ll use the new name here. Code Nation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that works with public schools in New York City to add coding classes to their curriculums. As a volunteer, I came in to a classroom in Brooklyn two mornings a week and taught high school students HTML, CSS, jQuery and JavaScript.

The idea behind Code Nation is that if we get students from underrepresented groups into Computer Science early, they’ll be more likely to enter the workforce in the technology field. It seems to be working. From the Code Nation 2017-18 annual report:

Of our reported alumni who completed at least two years of our programs, 74% are majoring or employed in a STEM field. 63% are studying or working in Computer Science specifically.

This commitment ended up being way more than monthly, but it was absolutely among my best decisions of the year. The kids I teach are intelligent, funny, and creative, and I leave every class feeling lighter. This work makes me feel like I am making a real impact on my industry and my community. When the schoolyear ended in June I immediately signed up to volunteer again, and have been working with another incredible class since September.

Code Nation has expanded to the Bay Area and is working on Chicago. If you’re a programmer interested in volunteering with Code Nation, feel free to drop me a line.