This page describes our three main programs:

1. Volunteer Software Engineer

2. Hackathons

3. Senior Capstone Projects

4. Summer Volunteer Internships

We'll talk more below about our goals for each and provide you with more detail in how we think about them.

vSWE: Apply on LinkedIn (we haven't posted anything for vPM, vPgM or vUED yet, but what follows below applies to everyone)

This volunteer software engineering program allows us to provide an "always-on" opportunity for those who have the passion.

Everyone who runs Opportunity Hack has a full-time job (with PayPal, Meta, Spotify, Amazon, or Google).  We dedicate our extra time to helping others, either by helping nonprofits to better write software requirements for problems they have, or from mentoring and guiding others.  

Goals

1. Allow anyone, regardless of background or current employment to learn about software engineering, program management, product management, and UX.  You can be a volunteer as a high school or college student, a software engineer bootcamper, or someone looking to sharpen their skills and give back to the world.

2. Create a portfolio via demo videos, and obtain a certificate of achievement that will allow for marketing to industry when the time is right.

3. We provide open-ended problems to emulate the experience of a real-life job in industry.

Expectations

1. Never be afraid to send a note asking questions or comments. Since we have full-time jobs, we favor asynchronous communication on Slack as much as possible.  Join Slack over at ohack.dev.

2. If you're stuck and async isn't helping, join us for Office Half-Hours every other Friday.  Sign up for a slot at oh.ohack.dev.

3. You pick what you work on! Our main ask is that you consider a project that improves ohack.dev by joining one of our Opportunity Hack Inc. projects.  If none of that looks interesting, we have added a few projects that we'd like to invest more time to complete for other nonprofits here.

4. Work with us as long, or as little as you want.

5. Because we're a nonprofit, we cannot sponsor visas (see more here) as you are technically not an employee, but a volunteer (still pretty cool though!).  We'd love to write a letter that illustrates the work you've completed along with any other important milestones or contributions you've helped with.  We'll also consider writing you a LinkedIn recommendation and providing prospective employers our support of you as a reference.

Goals

1. Educate software engineering concepts from industry

2. Create durable bond between volunteers and nonprofits

3. Provide nonprofits with innovative solutions to their challenges

4. Select winning ideas that have a potential to create the most impact

5. Incentivize completion of projects within 3 months of the hackathon

Process

1. Identify nonprofits via email, social media, collect projects via Google Form application

2. Select 5-10 nonprofits based on their need and ability for software solutions to be created

3. Pre-2019: Weekend hackathon that starts at 8am Saturday and completes by 6pm Sunday, usually in October

4. 2020-2021: Week-long hackathon

5. 2022 and beyond: still figuring the right blend out

Schools we've partnered with

• ASU Tempe (4)

• ASU Polytechnic (1)

• Grand Canyon University (GCU) (1)

• University of Arizona (1)

For more information see this article from 2019: Sponsor a capstone. Disrupt ancient talent acquisition methods, mentor, give back, increase innovation.

Goals

1. Expose Computer Science, Computer Science Engineering, Computer Engineering students to nonprofit work before they obtain their undergraduate degree

2. Instill a concept of innovation for social good

3. Educate on software engineering industry best practices that are not taught in school

4. Connect top talent students with recruiters to ensure they have a job post-graduation

5. Provide a connection between engineers in industry with students graduating college - allow for industry engineers to coach students both technically and non-technically for their own career growth

Goals

1. Allow anyone who was unable to find a summer internship the ability to still apply themselves to learn about software engineering principles

2. Create a portfolio via demo videos, and certificate of achievement that will allow for marketing to industry upon graduation

3. Provide open-ended problems to emulate the experience of a software engineering internship within industry