Riding The Latest Rails for Charity

RailsConf 2016

by Joseph Dean

The video titled 'Riding The Latest Rails for Charity' features speaker Joseph Dean at RailsConf 2016, focusing on how developers can leverage their skills for charitable causes. The talk emphasizes the importance of social responsibility within the tech community and shares Dean's personal journey of advocating for coding education, particularly among youth.

Key Points Discussed:
- Personal Motivation: Dean stresses the significance of introducing children to coding at an early age, aiming to change the narrative that programming is only for a select few.
- Teaching Initiatives: He shares experiences teaching coding to kids, including tailoring lessons to students' interests to enhance learning.
- Active Community Engagement: Dean highlights his involvement with local charitable initiatives, such as CoderDojo and LittleBits, to promote coding skills among underprivileged children.
- Corporate Philanthropy: He discusses how his company organized hackathons aimed at developing open-source projects for charities, enhancing team cohesion and improving communication.
- Case Studies: The talk includes examples of specific charities the team supported, such as the Housing Industry Foundation, which helps prevent homelessness, and Grateful Garments, which provides clothing for sexual assault survivors.
- Technical Solutions: Dean explains how they developed tailored software solutions to improve operational efficiency for these charities, showcasing the substantial impact developers can have through their skills.
- Collaboration and Learning: He emphasizes the importance of understanding charities’ needs for successful project alignment and long-term partnerships.

Conclusion and Takeaways:
- Dean encourages all developers to seek out opportunities to contribute to causes they are passionate about, emphasizing that even small contributions can lead to significant change.
- He concludes by urging attendees to reflect on how they can be the change they wish to see in the world through coding and philanthropy, highlighting the extraordinary potential within the developer community to effect positive change on a global scale.

00:00:10.580 Welcome to 'Riding the Latest Rails for Charity.' How many teachers do we have in the room today? Just one? How many of you are programmers? You're all teachers! And since this is Teacher Appreciation Week, I want to take a moment to thank you very much for being awesome teachers. Today is Wednesday, May 4th, and may the fourth be with you.

00:00:29.369 There's something special that my team does every Wednesday. We have a tradition called 'Bad Joke Wednesday,' and I emphasize bad. So to kick off today's talk, I'll start with a bad joke. Since it's May 4th, here’s the question: What do you call a Jedi who uses Adobe PDF files? Answer: Adobe Wan Kenobi! Yep, bad joke Wednesday!

00:01:08.460 The quote, 'Be the change you want to see in the world,' is a powerful one, and it becomes even more powerful when acted upon. My goal today is to motivate you to take action and be the change. I hope, since you're a small group, that you can be inspired to help create change at RailsConf and in the world around you.

00:02:01.870 I'm going to start by sharing how I personally am trying to be the change I want to see in the world. Then, I'll explain how my company has empowered its developers to make a difference.

00:02:20.870 How am I trying to be the change that I want to see? Personally, it's important to me to teach kids how to code. It's not just about programming; it’s about giving every child the opportunity to learn. Many think only certain kids are drawn to programming—those who play games, for example. I want to change that narrative and ensure that computer programming is seen as a required subject as early as kindergarten. This is how I envision changing the world today.

00:03:44.760 Understanding how to use a computer as a tool gives children the edge they need to succeed in whatever field they choose to pursue. This is my passion and my mission. I regularly look for opportunities to teach kids programming and introduce them to coding, believing that it impacts their future and helps them achieve their dreams.

00:04:10.359 My motivation to pursue this goal comes from my own children. Here we are at 'Super Pi Day,' enjoying pie together. Having a nerdy dad means celebrating these fun little holidays! My eldest son is a significant source of inspiration for me. Back in 2012, he was reading algebra textbooks for fun—asking me how to solve problems. I immediately realized he could be an excellent programmer, so I introduced him to computer programming using Ruby for Kids, which he loved! The joy of watching your child overcome challenges in coding is an unforgettable bonding experience.

00:05:09.300 I have two other children, and I want the same experience for them. I didn’t learn to code until later in high school. Programming really took off for my son, and we began playing games like 'Ruby Warrior.' I experienced many bonding moments while coding with him. I wanted to share this with my middle son and youngest, who are avid fans of Minecraft. I introduced them to the ComputerCraft mod, and even though my middle son began losing interest in Minecraft, it sparked their enthusiasm for programming.

00:06:25.930 Teaching kids programming isn't just about telling them about commands. It’s about understanding their interests and using that to teach them; this is what's important. Then, I discovered Scratch—a graphical programming language. It was the perfect fit for my middle son, who aspires to be a Broadway star. Teaching him through creating Broadway skits in Scratch got him excited about coding. He was learning while having fun, creating without realizing he was coding!

00:07:40.700 I became really frustrated one day when my oldest son told me he thought he wasn’t good at math. This was the same child who studied algebra textbooks for fun! I felt frustrated not with his teachers but with the educational system that seemed to discourage him. The system sometimes leads students to believe they can't be good at something when, in reality, they might just not have had the right support. After attending a parent-teacher conference, I felt that I needed to be part of the change in the education system.

00:09:03.320 Motivated by my frustrations and my wife's encouragement, I considered teaching and making a difference. I learned about a friend's Saturday computer science program for underprivileged kids in downtown San Jose, and I volunteered to teach Scratch programming to thirteen-year-olds. Many of these kids had never even sat in front of a computer before! And while a portion of the class engaged with it, I had to find out what interested the rest.

00:10:34.700 One day, I asked the students about their interests. When they expressed a desire for One Direction, I knew I had a way in! We created a Scratch project that allowed them to interact with their favorite band. It was a breakthrough moment; I saw them coding and enjoying it, wanting to stay longer. That experience taught me that to be a successful teacher, you need to adapt to your students' interests.

00:12:25.660 I had a second impactful experience at Sacred Heart; one of my students, who I believed in deeply, had come from a challenging background. A local high school dropped off old computers, and with some friends, I volunteered to fix these computers to give to kids like him. Upon witnessing the students cheer as they received their own computers, I was filled with joy. This experience fueled my desire to help others.

00:13:41.720 That's when I became involved with CoderDojo in Silicon Valley, where I currently teach kids how to code monthly and lead robotics lessons. I’ve also joined a littlebits chapter where kids learn about electronics through play, creating something fun together. I find that engaging with my children through these avenues not only teaches them valuable skills but fosters a spirit of exploration and creativity.

00:15:18.420 One realization for me was that my work supports other charities and nonprofits. At my company, we started sending teams to RailsConf years ago. The culture that emerged inspired us to create our own internal conference called DashCon. We recognized the importance of developer happiness and team bonding through shared knowledge and skills, leading to tremendous productivity and unity in the workplace.

00:16:37.000 Motivated by this experience, our team decided to conduct a hackathon for charity. It wasn’t just about competition; it was about identifying core charities where we could help make a meaningful difference. We chose charities dealing with sensitive and important issues, such as homelessness and providing support for those whose lives have been affected by domestic violence, and we wanted to help them through technical solutions.

00:18:10.080 One of the charities we worked with is Housing Industry Foundation, which provides grants to those facing possible eviction. They give people a chance to avoid homelessness during times of crisis, and it is a tremendous mission. To empower them, we helped develop a solution for managing their grants, making the process more efficient.

00:19:51.389 Another charity we looked at was an organization in San Francisco creating a low-income housing database. However, due to the already established partnerships they had, we concluded that helping them wouldn’t be a good fit for what we were focusing on at the time. It’s essential to find the right match when looking to provide support to charities in need.

00:20:29.579 A passionate developer on the team brought forth a charity that meant a lot to him, Grateful Garments. This charitable organization supports individuals who have been sexually assaulted by providing them with clothes, allowing them to leave a police station or a hospital with dignity. Everyone on our team felt compelled to help them. We started a product called Stockade as part of our hackathon efforts in collaboration with this charity.

00:21:20.410 In order to plan effectively for these hackathons with charities, it’s important to engage with them: understand their needs, technology stacks, and existing processes. Even if you aren’t directly in the field with them, just learning about their mission can be greatly beneficial while employing technical knowledge to support their processes. Furthermore, your skills in software development can significantly impact the charity’s effectiveness.

00:22:19.000 As developers, we often have the opportunity to provide technological solutions to organizations facing challenges. We helped GrantZilla, which was previously stuck using an Access database and manual data entry. We developed something that allowed them to manage their grants more effectively and alleviate their burdens—a platform that essentially redefined and streamlined their operational processes.

00:23:48.390 With the Grateful Garments project, we saw how inefficiently they were managing their inventory through Excel spreadsheets. These limitations caused mistakes that impeded their service delivery. So, we set out to build a responsive, user-friendly system to succeed this and deliver a better experience for them. Our responsibility as developers is to ensure that we create practical solutions while being mindful of their unique operational context.

00:25:09.520 During the hackathon, we learned many valuable lessons, particularly the importance of adjusting project expectations and delivering minimum viable products before expanding functionalities. It became clear from our experience that focusing on managing expectations from the outset was necessary to foster trust with these charities we were helping. We realized that building relationships and understanding their needs will ultimately lead to successful long-term collaborations.

00:26:15.710 As we concluded our brainstorming and commitment on the hackathon projects, everyone was feeling inspired. We finished our projects, but the commitment didn’t end there. The excitement and energy built during the event continued into the subsequent weeks as team members chose to work on these initiatives during their free time as well. You could see transformations throughout the team dynamic as they embraced the idea of being the change.

00:27:49.400 It's essential for every developer to seek opportunities where they can contribute to a cause they firmly believe in and to realize the impact they can create within their community. Volunteering for charities offers a unique way to gain experience and improve your development skills for real-world applications. If you want to do meaningful work outside of standard job expectations, stepping into the nonprofit space can be extremely rewarding.

00:28:52.670 Many people perceive contributing to transition work as a challenge due to tight schedules and responsibilities. However, I assure you, with an intentional approach, it’s feasible to incorporate these endeavors into your life. If you think about your motivations and the time you give to hobbies, you could create significant change in your personal life and the lives of others by dedicating your skills to charity projects.

00:30:07.490 As developers, you have the ability to choose which charities you want to work with and discover which movements inspire you. Identifying a suitable charity is critical in developing that personal connection—realizing that your work can and does have value. If you connect deeply with a mission, the work becomes easier and the passion will guide you, enabling you to create transformational impact through the code you write.

00:31:30.200 In conclusion, I urge you to ask yourselves what you will do to change the world. Don’t be afraid to start small. I encourage you to engage with the charities we’ve discussed today. Every contribution counts. If you have a passion for teaching and inspiring children in tech, reach out—we can create change together. And remember, sharing your message can also empower others to join the cause. As the saying goes, ‘Be the change’—so let’s make it happen!

00:32:40.620 Thank you! I'm Joseph Dean from On-Site. We're always looking for new team members, so if you're interested, come talk to us. I appreciate all of your time and attention today!