Can't get work experience? Volunteer in IT
Thursday, 7 August 2003
After many phone calls and e-mails I found I could not get any work experience in IT. Many companies would not do placements due to workers compensation liabilities. The general reply was get an ABN and your own insurance and charge us $5 per hour. When I inquired as to the cost of this I was mortified. I had to outlay $500, to get work experience where I was going to be paid $5 per hour!
Then one day whilst searching on Seek I looked up volunteers under IT. I then found Computerbank.
What is Computerbank?
Best described by the Computerbank NSW website, “Computerbank NSW refurbishes computers to give to charities, schools and disadvantaged individuals. CBNSW offers a range of support from the supply and installation of computers for office functions such as word processing and spreadsheets to the installation of networks. Servers are used for file and print sharing, Internet connectivity and other such services. All our solutions are based on GNU/Linux and other zero cost software such as StarOffice.”
Computerbank operates branches in most areas of NSW. The group I am involved with is Computerbank Hunter. As a Training Coordinator I am involved in the following areas:
- Training package development.
- Delivery of training to volunteers and end users.
- Technical support for end-users.
- Project Management.
- Other tasks as required.
The great part about this organization is that volunteers who may or may not have IT skills get experience in:
- Real projects where computers are built and installed into the premises of community groups.
- Experience in training and supporting the end users of donated computers.
- Learning how to trouble shoot, build and install systems using Linux.
- Network with like-minded people.
- Gaining valuable skills and experience whilst performing a community service that helps disadvantaged groups.
We are always looking for new volunteers and if you want to get some real world work experience contact us via the links below.
Computerbank NSW
Computerbank Hunter
Darren Osborne (Darren_J_Osborne@hotmail.com )
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