Why The Hell Do We Need $100,000?
As you know by now our nonprofit has launched a KickStarter to create a platform for Vets Who Code and we are trying to raise $100,000 for it. I am sure you are asking, “WTF do you need $100,000 for?” The answer is really simple. As a remote nonprofit, we are using some of the best tools out there to teach veterans in demand skills for the new economy. We use Skype for AMA’s with such amazing people as Feather Knee, Zed A Shaw, DHH and Angela Copeland, Google hangouts for classes, Basecamp for curriculum planning, Github for building, Repl.it for homework, Cloud9 for project building with our troops, slack for communication, CodeWars to practice Problem Solving( Very Important), PluralSight to shore up on skills when not in session, Interview Cake to shore up on the terrifyingly challenging Technical Interview and ScreenHero for pair programming.
We also provide our troops with amazing donated resources such as Watch and Code or Angular and Rails so they can see different points of view in learning how to build products. So far getting these resources for a few veterans hasn’t been easy, but it has been rewarding. However, we have a problem, which is huge: troops and companies are hearing about our great work and they want us to do more.
I am currently writing this before I go into Facebook HQ due to being invited back here after the recruiters met Y’Eli Buonya, one of our troops. They were so impressed that they have invited me back and back again, cause our work is not only important, but good. We only believe in “Skills Pay The Bills” and while networking and resume writing are important, in the end, you need to be able to do your job. That’s what we focus on. No frills, no bull, just drilling the skills cause skills pay the bills. We focus on data and impact, not story telling and we are finally getting the recognition we have deserved for so long, but we need your support.
While many of the tools we use are donated, use of the API’s costs money, especially for the amount of people we know will be using our app, not to mention the maintaining a project of this size in itself. Repl.it’s app will cost $1300 a month alone. That’s $15,600 a year when we go live, but it will be worth it. With this platform any veteran verified through ID.me will have access and be able to start learning with our resources and curriculum, able to attend AMA’s and live learning sessions and work with our mentors and our job network, which includes companies like Times, ESPN and now Facebook, looking for talented veterans. Could you imagine the level of impact we can have in veterans lives by simply putting how to learn the planet’s most in demand skills at their fingertips? A platform that will be updated regularly with new stacks, new resources and our experience in making talented developers would be an amazing asset for America’s heroes. Help us create something that will enrich America’s most deserving with skills to have the life they have earned and back our KickStarter.
