At AZGiveCamp, our teams self-organize around the Non-Profit Organizations, and their projects. This means that, when you arrive at the start of the event, you will be able to talk to the different non-profits and select the one you wish to work with. There are at least 2 criteria that you’ll want to consider in selecting a project:
- Does the mission of this organization spark my passion?
- Are the requirements of the project in line with my goals for the weekend?
Since #1 above is self-explanatory, let’s take a deeper look at #2.
Fact : The team working on a project will decide what tools and technologies work best for the organization and the development team.
- If you are an expert at a particular tool or technology, you might feel you can provide the maximum value by working on a project that is centered around your area of expertise.
- If you have the desire to learn, or hone your skills on a particular tool or technology, you might feel that it is best for you to work on a project that is centered around the skills you want to improve.
- If you are a self-starter and want to do the most good for the community by fitting-in wherever you are needed, or by working for a particular organization, you might find it best to pick the organization, and then work in whatever technology fits best for that organization and the other members of the development team, whether those fit with your current skillsets or not.
Whatever your goals for the event, you’ll want to make sure you discuss your ideas for tooling and technologies with the organization and other members of the development team.
Some other things to consider when selecting a project:
- If you have friends at the event you want to work with, you are more than welcome to select the same team. You are also welcome to spread out and get to know others from our great development community here in the valley.
- We’d like to keep people fairly well distributed around the different teams. If we find that the teams are out-of-balance, we may ask some people to move around to make sure we can support the volunteers from all of the great organizations who are also giving up their weekend for this event.
- Since teams will fill up, get to the event as early as you can for the widest selection.