Experience using non-profit organizations.

From speaking with some HR folks they say it's a great way to gain experience. What have been your experiences getting IT networking experience with non-profit organizations, or just providing IT network services without pay. If you can list the organizations or how you did it that'll be super great.

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TheFORCE

I have been thinking of doing something like that and volunteering some of my time to ISC2. They have a program called safe and secure online. You can also connect through the various chapters they have. Your local school or church also is a great way to start.

jamthat

TheFORCE wrote: »

I have been thinking of doing something like that and volunteering some of my time to ISC2. They have a program called safe and secure online. You can also connect through the various chapters they have. Your local school or church also is a great way to start.

I presented the Safe and Secure Online content to a couple groups of kids (<13 years old) at a 'boys home', most of which had been bounced around multiple foster homes and pulled out of the state system due to behavior, substance abuse, etc...all very sad situations. I was a little nervous going in because none of them even had access to the internet or cell phones, but it actually ended up being a really great experience. The ISC2 content is pretty good and the kids were, for the most part, actively listening and participating.

Verities

I found a volunteering opportunity, while I was attending ITT Tech, with a local non-profit that provides refurbished computers to low income families at a extremely reasonable price:

Computers 2 San Diego Kids | C2SDK | Making Their Future a Reality

I agree with whoever you talked to in HR; non-profits are a great way to get your foot in the door with experience as they often take volunteers on and will train you instead of paying you.

egrizzly

I'm actually speaking of gaining networking experience from non-profit organizations not donating items.

RHEL

It is a common misconception that non-profit means low-budget/struggling. In some cases, sure. However, my wife and I both work for two different non-profit organizations with insane amounts of cash. Some receive boat-loads of grants and donations. Others have so much stocked up, that they can actually perpetually operate on their investment earnings alone. All non-profit means is that the company's mission is to break even.

I work for a regional non-profit with about 6,000 employees. Pay and benefits are out of this world (especially for upper management). IT budget is also quite huge -- for a company of this size, our annual IT budget is north of 100 million. As far as the business goes, we LOST money this year; however, billions of dollars in investments put us >90 million in the green. So, absolutely some non-profits can be an excellent experience and career as well.

How did I find it? I work for an insurance company that has 90% of the market share for the area -- I've had them for insurance at other employers. As far as the job itself, I applied directly to the website.

Verities

egrizzly wrote: »

I'm actually speaking of gaining networking experience from non-profit organizations not donating items.

I know what you're speaking of. You also said list the organizations you gained hands on experience from volunteering with. I guess I should have explained better in that volunteering there I was able to work with a lot of technologies, since we had to DBAN the drives, push network images, and replace hardware with the computers. Just giving you an example.

Anyways good luck finding somewhere to teach you what you're looking for.

jdancer

RHEL wrote: »

It is a common misconception that non-profit means low-budget/struggling. In some cases, sure. However, my wife and I both work for two different non-profit organizations with insane amounts of cash. Some receive boat-loads of grants and donations. Others have so much stocked up, that they can actually perpetually operate on their investment earnings alone. All non-profit means is that the company's mission is to break even.

I work for a regional non-profit with about 6,000 employees. Pay and benefits are out of this world (especially for upper management). IT budget is also quite huge -- for a company of this size, our annual IT budget is north of 100 million. As far as the business goes, we LOST money this year; however, billions of dollars in investments put us >90 million in the green. So, absolutely some non-profits can be an excellent experience and career as well.

How did I find it? I work for an insurance company that has 90% of the market share for the area -- I've had them for insurance at other employers. As far as the job itself, I applied directly to the website.

^This. I also work for a non-profit but with half of the employees. It's good experience.

jmanrta

I was out of IT for a few years due to health issues, and when I started interviewing for jobs i wasn't having any luck because my skills and experience had gone rusty, so about year ago I started volunteering with a local mission where I got experience with things like Active Direcotry, Windows server 2012, group policy, and vmware vsphere. I also went back to school during this time (I am still in school) for microsoft certifications (MCSE: Windows 2012 server infrastructure and the CCNA as an added bonus. Results so far: I have passed the 98-365 and the 70-410, and I just scored a paid internship that could go permanent. I am also still volunteering at the mission. Just thought I'd give you my experience to give you some inspiration.

OctalDump

First off try TechSoup. It is a global organisation that helps non-profits with tech support, and helps volunteers hook up with organisations.

As others have said, the non-profit (or not for profit, depending on where you are in the world) is very varied. Some organisations really struggle, and have issues with funding certainty which makes planning difficult. They also might be subject to different accounting practices which can change how they make decisions (eg capital expenditure, depreciating assets against tax etc, means they might purchase equipment differently). Also as a non profit, their motivations can be different which can lead to different strategic direction, tactical and operational decisions.

So, some of what you discover working in a not for profit is that the standard IT rules might not apply. For example, it might be perfectly reasonable to procure 2nd hand equipment for 'mission critical' roles, or downtime of days might be more acceptable.

One trap to be aware of, is that 'free support' can paradoxically carry higher expectations. It can shift responsibilities much more onto the support person. So where a company is paying for support, they will have financial incentive to stop asking for 'fine tuning' etc, but if you are a volunteer it can become difficult. On the upside, this can encourage you to be more direct, stand up for yourself, make realistic promises, and better understand the whole implications of what you do.

So, yes, might be worthwhile. But also realise, don't give away too much for free because ultimately it can lead to your skills and knowledge being undervalued.