I’ve been spending the weekend at the "We are Microsoft Charity Coding" event. They believe it is the first of this kind of event.
One of my classes asked me why and my best response, and the one that was gotten was: "well, you don’t see me running a race or building a house do you? Seems like sitting around and writing code would be the best way to ‘give back’." Not that I don’t do that on a regular basis. (Let’s see, I have phone number for a runaway’s phone on my cell, and the district currently owes me $1,800.)
It would be best to look at their website to see what it was about. It’s wearemicrosoft.com. I’ve spent the day transferring lots of content from an old website to a new one.
Some things learned: I did learn how to use some newer technologies — and how not to use one. BUT, this isn’t for someone who isn’t confident in their abilities. You start on the project on Friday night, and the deadline is 3:00 pm on Sunday.
They’ve done things really well — the work area is fairly comfortable, the caffeine is plentiful and in lots of varieties — it was really nice to be able to get Diet Cokes and not have to worry about refilling the refrigator, the food is plentiful, but they don’t follow the schedule well, I’ve figured out that the schedule means they are going to order the food and it will take an hour after that to get there. That’s okay, but hard on diabetics.
I think I would do it again. The charity I ended up on was the right one for my current skill level, and I was able to produce some good websites. However, I need to work up to what is really needed.