Why you should join as technical
Really, why should I? I have my problems
Hey there! I know what you're thinking. Something along the lines,
- I don't have time
- I don't have experience
- I don't see how this is useful for me
- I already work so who cares
Well then, let's get this straight: you should contribute to the project because you are a student. A student wants to find a job, and in order to find a job, s/he must be cooler than the other students who graduate with him/her.
Now, let me tell you something as former student/job seeker/employee of a multinational company/startupper: nobody cares about exams you have taken or such. Employers only want to see if you're the One. You can write that you're an HTML ninja, but if people go to your website and see a shitty interface that was trending during the 90's, then they will just laugh at you and skip to the next person. Employers want to see proof of what you claim, that's why recently with the advent of GitHub/Bitbucket, you gain points if you have something to showcase.
The showcase
Now, what's cooler than showcasing a project that is:
- an open-source;
- made by international team;
- no profit;
- scalable;
- with technologies asked at job interviews;
- serving as backbone of a NGO?
How many of your classmate can have this bomb on their CV? Most importantly, how many can have such a big project on their GitHub/Bitbucket?
Could it be worth as credit for university?
That I can't know, it depends on university. Just know though that for my bachelor I did some sort of web service for a local student club of 25 members, and it was good as bachelor dissertation (without even being open-source). This is open-source, for more than 100 times as many students, and in an international organisation.
But it takes time...
If you already work, well why not contributing to a good cause? It is not really that much time consuming. In fact, I don't want to ask you your time; I want to see your contribution, in form of.. anything. Discussion over mailing list, suggestion or change on the wiki, proofread of documentation, a pull request, anything goes: as little as this may seem to you, it is still a small step towards AEGEE's final goal.
Imagine yourself giving 15 minutes a week: say, you had an idea on a small thing (correcting a documentation paper, e.g.) and you carried it out - bam, done, smooth. Took away 15 minutes of your time. Now imagine if 10 other people did the same, the total time that the project reaches is 2.5 hours (let's say per week). You think it's a little? Well maybe, but it's 2.5 hours more than nothing. A small improvement is better than no improvement.
Anybody can do that. Your time will be invested in a very good manner. Your skillset will grow and the experience you think you lack of will arrive without you even realising. YOU will be happy, and especially YOU will make many other AEGEEans happy, how does it feel? ;)
I have no clue of those things you mentioned, though
About the experience, as said it will increase without you even realise. But mostly, what makes a person experienced is his/her curiosity. Do you think I am an expert in that field? Wrong. I studied Computer Vision and Augmented Reality and that sort of engineering. However I recognise that the future is web technologies, and I do my best to be the main man. It's just about stepping out of the comfort zone.
To wrap up
So, in the end, join me in this adventure! As you've realised by now, I am
- not your boss;
- very motivated to get this done;
- very excited to work with you;
- a person like you, not a wiseman of any kind.
I am your peer, so just ask me stuff without worries!
Always at your service, Fabrizio