Growing Out of Office Hours

In 2016, while planning winter holidays, I decided to make some time to chat with folks getting into tech. I’m thankful to have worked in the tech industry for the better part of 16 years, and wouldn’t be here without the managers, mentors, teachers, coworkers, and friends who took me under their wings. I wanted to pay if forward to folks who didn’t have the same opportunities as I did, growing up in a supportive, middle-class family in Canada. And more importantly, my unfair privilege as a cis straight white man.

After tweeting about donating my time, many other wonderful folks decided to open up their calendars, too. Over the 2015 holidays collectively we met with newcomers to the technology industry for over 100 hours. Wanting to continue the momentum, I created a place Out of Office Hours, where volunteers and newcomers come together, and virtually meet every month.

Now there’s almost 1500 newcomers and volunteers registered. Every month a diverse group of people from all around the globe connect for 1:1 conversations about many aspects of the technology field. People have found jobs, realized that everyone suffers from imposter syndrome, and created relationships which will hopefully last a lifetime. I’m incredibly thankful for everyone who has volunteered their time.

Out of Office Hours has now grown to a place which deserves more attention than I am able to give alone. And in spirit of the original motivation of paying it forward, I have an idea.

I’d like to hire newcomers to work on the Out of Office Hours project. Ideally, this would be the first time some of these newcomers have done paid work after completing school or a bootcamp (if they were lucky enough to attend either). They would be paid proper rates for their experience, and get to work on a modern tech stack on a live project which they could add to their portfolios. And in the spirit of Out of Office Hours, they would have an opportunity to work on a meaningful project which will directly help others trying to get into tech.

To start, I’d like to pay a volunteer for one week a month to help with Front-end engineering work (and perhaps backend if they’re up for it), to improve the system which pairs newcomers and volunteers together. The experience wasn’t initially designed to handle the amount of folks we have now, and because of that, we’re missing out on opportunities to connect people.

Up to this point, I’ve managed the design, engineering, hosting, support, and social media for Out of Office Hours in my spare time. To cover the costs of bringing on a newcomer every month, I’m hoping to find financial sponsors. As a sponsor, your brand will be featured on the website and will be mentioned in our outgoing emails and on social media. I’ll continue to work on the project for free, and your financial support will directly go to the newcomer helping out with the project.

Is supporting Out of Office Hours something you or your company would be interested in? Please get in touch. If sponsoring isn’t an option, an RT goes a long way.

Thank you,
Dustin