Geekternship

When I was first getting started out in the wide world of web development, i yearned for someone to show me the way. I eventually just sucked it up, posted a bunch of questions to a bunch of forums, and bought a metric ton of books. In the end I turned out okay and my latest app, disposable email seems to have come out just fine. Even so, now I’m left with no experience working with others, and even more importantly no experience with (multi-person) project management.

Now, I don’t have a ton of money to hire full time developers, and I would prefer not to piecemeal out work to contractors. What I do have is plenty of real world experience in web developement and a little money. If I could go back in time and offer my college self a little bit of cash and an experienced developer’s time, I would have jumped on top of the opportunity. That’s exactly what I want to do with UT in Austin students interested in web development right now.

I envision seasoned developers willing to devote a few hours a week to be mentors to a small group of students (I’m thinking a one to three ratio). In exchange they would get a dedicated and agile team at a cut rate price. It would be a win-win symbiotic relationship, the mentors get some extra hands on their projects as well as management experience, and the students pick up real world programming and project skills as well as a little beer money. Mentors can certainly use this opportunity to network with other developers and entrepreneurs. They say the best way to find a good fit for a co-founder is to work with them, so why not work with them on a project together without spending a fortune.

This is still just an Idea, for now, but i think it could go places. If you’re interested in getting some extra help on your projects, or just want to make a difference let me know by filling out this google doc spreadsheet. If you have any constructive criticism, or good ideas please leave them in the comments.  I’m calling this idea a Geekternship though that may change if someone has a better title.

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