MoveOn.org has launched an interesting program to recruit and place what they’re calling “geek organizers” — motivated, politically savvy people with the basic technical skills required to be successful in online advocacy. If you think you’ve got what it takes, take their online “geek organizer” test and put your money where your mouth is.
Alternately, if you’re with an advocacy group that needs this type of person, you can post your job opportunity so that they can hook you up with candidates that meet your requirements. (MoveOn is planning to hire some of the Geek Organizers themselves, but they’re organizing the program as a job fair, so other organizations are encouraged to participate.)
What a fantastic idea! Big ups to the MoveOn folks for doing this.
Posted by Jason Lefkowitz at February 26, 2004I hate to be a snob, but I was turned off by the code sample they asked if you got intimidated by in the test. I mean, I'm not intimidated, I'd just recommend against promoting any programmer who left that sort of garbage in a document. Yes, you can do hideously complex things in a couple of lines in Perl, but it really slows down readability and maintainability.
So far from being "excited" by that code sample, I got this knot of dread that the code I was going to look at was a pile of idiosyncratic crap. I spend enough of my time cleaning up other people's messes at work, I really don't want to be doing it in my spare time. ;-)
Posted by: Sandy on February 26, 2004 11:35 PMAh, young Jedi, but you miss the point of the article... they are looking not for volunteer coders, but to place people in *full-time jobs* that combine tech and politics. So it wouldn't be your spare time, it would still be confined to work hours.
I'm excited just to see the idea of this type of job getting some traction... I'm getting tired of explaining to people what I do at work :-)
Posted by: Jason Lefkowitz on February 26, 2004 11:42 PMAnt's Eye View is edited by Jason Lefkowitz, a consultant and Web developer in Alexandria, Virginia. Got a question, comment, or concern? Let me hear it!
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