It's not like all developers come from upper-class backgrounds - and are just born affluent - but as designers and developers we're in a position of power. We create the things! We get to learn on the job - while getting paid pretty dang well.
Have you found any great ways to help pay it forward? Do you mentor other developers - or help people on question and answer sites / or on StackOverflow - or run a local meetup?
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Our little group all happened to go to art school. That's where some of us met. A few of us were on the dole as kids and a few of us had things pretty dang good financially / so, there's a mix - but we all ended getting educated well, and we have a deep respect for teachers. Instead of attempting to transfer knowledge / we seek to create a space where students create the knowledge. You can read all about those ideas in Pedagogy of the Oppressed.
We run a few discord servers / offer free career guidance advice / scholarships - and a bunch of stuff... but the people we want to help most - just aren't really around those forums. We're working on some plans to reach out to people through less digital ways by opening up discussions with schools in under represented communities. But - even just jumping on a zoom call and helping someone out for an hour - can make a huge difference. Stuff like this is fun: latinxswhodesign.com - What do you think the best way to spread the love of learning is?
If you made a post about code w.r.t. Pedagogy of The Oppressed I would read it. I think you have some real insight there.
With regard to? We can do that. The basics would be to introduce people to tools instead of teaching them procedures. Anyone can "make a website" - and follow the steps that someone told them - but showing someone a way 'to think' about discovery and how to feel safe talking things slow - and how to listen and research and hypothesize and prototype / is how you can set people free - and they'll take that mind-set and share it. Right now, people are herded into packs of opposing consumers and taught to identify by association instead of by their true self and connection to our world. It's not specific to "code" or programming... but the things we are building are reinforcing the mindset that allows the people to be oppressed and to oppress themselves.
My co-founder and I coded everything we've learned about development methodology and communications into our opinionated product. The hope is for more in our industry to become free of ridiculous meetings, effectively working from the office even when you are WFH, communication that pings you constantly, endless email threads, etc.
The menu at the beginning to route people to the right info is great. We've been doing that a lot too. Anything that stops a bunch nonsense in the workflow is helpful to the world for sure!!! Then there's more time to be present and human. That's the key.
Just went to your site. Didn't realize part of your course is relevant to us:
Teamwork tools
Learn tools like Google Drive to stay organized and collaborate on ideas in real-time. No more emailing zip files and chasing down outdated PDF’s. Save your time for what matters.
If you like Google Drive for collaboration I think you will appreciate what we have done with Uclusion.
We introduce the students to a few tools. Drive (proper app style), trello, but mostly just explain how a lot of them are a waste of time! We'll be sure to check it out.