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Volunteers needed to teach web dev in NYC and Bay Area

61 points by ewong ↗ HN
Hi HN! ScriptEd (www.scripted.org) is looking for volunteers to teach twice a week from September until June, to students attending under-resourced high schools. This is a great way to give back, volunteer in your community, and network with like-minded individuals. Volunteers teach as part of a four-person team, with support from ScriptEd staff. Apply at bit.ly/ScriptEdVolunteerNYC or bit.ly/ScriptEdSFBAYvolunteer for San Fransisco and Oakland.

45 comments

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rashkov
Started volunteering with ScriptEd a few weeks ago and really enjoying it. The support from the organization is great, the curriculum is made for you, and the students themselves have been a pleasure to work with
ewong
We love to hear this! Hope your school year goes really well!
toephu2
The last thing the Bay Area needs is more web devs flooding the market. Coding bootcamps have already done enough damage.
bcherny
Care to explain what you mean?
wavefunction
OP is obviously concerned about competing with these web devs.

I'd have more faith in yourself OP!

toephu2
Obviously? No, don't have so much faith in your ability to read other people on the internet. I am not a web dev. I was in a previous life (years before bootcamps even existed).
tarboreus
Sounds pretty self-evident to me.
jlgaddis
If you feel your career is being threatened by high school students, perhaps you should consider "stepping up your game"?
toephu2
Maybe you read too much into my statement, I am not a web dev. I was in a previous life (years before bootcamps even existed).
infecto
While I tend to agree on the bootcamp side I would disagree in context of this post. This is teaching students in high school . I am guessing their aim is to get kids interested in CS where no courses exists in their school system. I don't think there will be a flood of kids hitting the market based on volunteering here.
yellowapple
My impression was that the demand for web devs (especially in the Bay Area) is still outstripping the supply. Maybe that's starting to change.
mtaylor
There is something to be said for exposing these high school students to some of the technology that runs their lives, and giving them the opportunity to learn something they would otherwise not have, regardless of whether they choose to pursue it as a career.
BeccaScriptEd
All of the above, AND - I think our community of staff, volunteers, etc. are thinking more along the lines of Toni Morrison..

"I tell my students, 'When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else. This is not just a grab-bag candy game.'"

raulgil90
Had my first volunteering session today and it was amazing to see the look on the students' faces when we showed them what anyone can do with a browser inspector! Anyone who knows how to code should volunteer and help train the future workforce!
[dead] devopsproject
This is a shill account. Created about the same time as the post and the language and punctuation feel more like marketing copy.

Nice try though

ewong
lol Raul is one of our volunteers... We just told everyone that we posted on Hacker News today. He's real and his class just recently started, but glad his comment is so awesome that you think it's fake!
wgyn
Mission Bit is an organization doing this on a local scale in SF: https://www.missionbit.com/. It looks like the main difference is that Mission Bit works directly with SF public schools. Personally, it feels like there is plenty more space for non-profits reaching out to underserved communities.
ianmclaury
I'm sure there are other organizational differences, but ScriptEd also works directly with public schools.
ewong
We agree that Mission Bit does great work too! But yeah, we also work directly with SF and Oakland public schools, just not the same ones. Another thing that makes us different is that we focus on preparing our students for paid internships in high schools. Sounds like we agree that more students should access CS education.
mtaylor
This will be my fifth year volunteering with ScriptEd! There's nothing quite like teaching others to solidify your own understanding, and nothing as rewarding as seeing the light go on when one of my students grasps a concept. I strongly encourage devs to volunteer!
glossybrown
As a fourth-year returning volunteer, I strongly agree with all of this!
j4pe
Seems promising! I've been looking for opportunities like this. More information would be helpful, specifically:

* What does the time commitment look like? My work won't allow me to spend two full school days out of the office every week, but I can probably get away with teaching in the morning and starting late.

* What are your curriculum resources? Teaching scratch/pygame is a different story from trying to ram a CS101-style course into high schoolers' brains.

ewong
Haha, I don't think many employers would be too happy about two full school days out of the office every week. We generally have volunteers teach in the morning or in the afternoon. It depends on school sites, but it's a total of 2-3 hours per week in the classroom. Apply at the link and we can tell you what's available and see if something works!

You can check out our curriculum here: https://github.com/ScriptEdcurriculum/curriculum17-18

Hope that helps!

j4pe
Thanks for the info! Much appreciated.
citurbe
I teach twice a week from 8:15 - 9:15 - I'm not even late to work! Curriculum is pretty intro - basic html and css, jquery, then some beginning javascript.
sluggg
I am attempting to apply for the SF area. I thought that the url did not include "volunteer" at the end b/c the NYC link did not and it took me to a "daily session landing page" ScriptEd google doc that I could edit. Odd. Y'all should fix that.
BeccaScriptEd
Thanks for pointing that out - we've changed the editing rights!
ewong
we use a lot of bitly links... you found something that we use for our classes!

The NY and SFBay bitly links don't have the same naming convention. This is what you are looking for: bit.ly/ScriptEdSFBAYvolunteer

DrScump 

  we use a lot of bitly links
Why, exactly? This isn't exactly Twitter 2015.
[deleted]
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grayhatter
Let me know when you need volunteers to teach something other than web-development. C, Python, hardware.
BeccaScriptEd
Hey - sure thing! If you send us an e-mail at info@scripted.org we can make sure you're on our mailing list. In the meantime, I'd recommend checking out organizations like TEALS ( https://www.tealsk12.org/ ) - I believe they teach python in some of their courses, and they're in many cities.
talindras
Is ScriptEd paid / sponsored, or is the company all volunteers? If the former, it's disingenuous of them to ask for volunteers.
ewong
I'm not sure that I fully understand the question, but students participate in the class free of charge. It is offered either as an elective or afterschool club. ScriptEd has staff that helps manage logistics and other operational needs, but the volunteers teach the class with support from ScriptEd staff. Hope that answers what you are asking!
devopsproject
How are you making money?
ewong
We're a nonprofit, so our goal isn't really to make money. But we apply for grants and receive donations like most nonprofits!
SilasX
Sent in an application today and will talk to them Friday!
lostdog
Do you require finger printing in order to volunteer?
BeccaScriptEd
Hi! Yes we do - in compliance with school district policy, we require all volunteers complete a fingerprinting and background check process.