Be a RHoK Star
Have you heard of RHoK? We certainly hadn’t until we came across their website - www.rhokaustralia.org. Sorting through the myriad options for community engagement, ‘Random Hacks of Kindness Australia’ is not your average non-profit. They’ve assisted over 100 charities and social enterprises to gain tech-enabled solutions for free. Since starting in 2011, RHoK have engaged more than 500 hackers who volunteer their time to weekend-long hackathons.
Inspired to know more, we reached out to Eddie Chapman, RHoK’s Community Development Manager. He called RHoK’s hackers their “lifeblood”. Dedicated software and IT professionals and students who may often be working or studying long hours during the week, they decide to work an entire weekend for the benefit of organisations making a positive difference in our communities. Eddie explained that apart from a great learning opportunity, RHoK’s lifeblood engineers simply want to help those organisations who are helping those in the community who need it most. Fantastic!
An important contributor to RHoK’s hackathons are what Eddie calls the ‘changemakers’. They’re the people on the front lines working for a charity or social enterprise who have a problem and are seeking a technical solution.
Intrigued to see how RHoK gets things done, we attended their virtual Info Night last week, where over 40 volunteer Hackers and various Changemakers met to collaborate. Hackers listened to three Changemakers from different organisations outline their problem, as well as their preferred outcome. The Hackers then had the opportunity to network and engage with the Changemakers to understand each their problems in more detail and decide upon which project they would like to support. All of this activity was in preparation for RHoK’s Melbourne Hackathon 2021, which is coming up this weekend, starting from Saturday 11th September at 9am and finishing on Sunday 12th September at 5pm.
At RHoK’s Info night, many of the volunteer hackers expressed their enthusiasm for what was taking place - “we’re hacking for good” was the overriding sentiment. Instead of being engaged in the numerous Hackathons (aka Fedex days) staged by commercial enterprises that may be keen to devise solutions but also are designed to build their brand amongst the engineering fraternity, these volunteers were crafting solutions for purpose-driven non-profits who ordinarily can’t afford their time or skills, with many running off the smell of an oily rag to deliver their much needed services. Also overheard were new Hackers chatting with “veterans”, saying what a great learning experience the entire event was for them.
Recently, we interviewed talent who, on paper, didn’t have the critical piece of blockchain dev experience needed for the role. However, during the interview the talent mentioned a Hackathon he had recently attended, giving them the opportunity to roll up their sleeves and code using a reputable blockchain platform. Evidently, this level of experience was sufficient, as he was successfully shortlisted for the role. It seems a Hackathon is a learning experience that can also positively impact your career.
To become a Hacker with RHoK you don’t need to be the ultimate systems engineer or jedi coder. Students, IT professionals and more broadly business professionals were present at the Info Night and adding significant value. So if you’re based anywhere in Australia, want to give back to your community, and boost your learning (as well as your career), register your interest with RHoK (www.rhokaustralia.org/for-hackers) and become a RHoK Star today!