Stories

全球游牧民:为世界各地的年轻人建立一个在线社区

我想建立一个应用程序来连接世界各地的年轻人? Start by asking young programmers what they'd want to see...and how they'd build it!

June 15, 2022

Global Nomads Group had a problem. 这家非营利组织将来自世界各地的学生联系起来,以促进同理心、理解和行动. It was in the process of introducing a new program, Seat at the Table, 在那里,年轻人可以联系起来讨论从家庭作业到全球饥饿的一切问题.

The trouble was, Global Nomads使用的是Zoom,而且正如世界各地的工作人员可以证明的那样,该应用程序在跨时区调度方面存在局限性, registering students from different countries, and ensuring access to meetings. Beyond that, Global Nomads没有足够的员工来扩大Zoom的会话数量.

Global Nomads需要找到一种适合使用它的精通技术的学生的技术工具, 同时提供程序增长所需的带宽和充分利用其有限劳动力所需的自动化. In short, 它需要熟练的程序员来开发一款连接世界的应用,而且价格要在它能承受的范围内.

Brainstorming a Dream App

梅根·沈还不知道,但她将成为解决方案的一部分. 这位20岁的马里兰大学计算机科学专业学生最近得知澳博官方网站app正在组织一场黑客马拉松, called Code for Good. Held in Jersey City, New Jersey in September 2019, Code for Good有一个简单的前提:让许多技术爱好者聚集在一起24小时,让他们想出帮助非营利组织的想法.

于是,她发现自己和三家非营利组织以及大约300名其他程序员在一个巨大的房间里, including several JPMorgan Chase engineers. 她回忆道:“房间里的气氛绝对令人兴奋。. “After we met up with our teams, 每个团队和所有团队一起坐在一个大房间的圆桌旁, and it was so invigorating working alongside each other."

Shen's mission? 去帮助一个听起来很酷,但她从未听说过的非营利组织:全球游牧民组织.

那里有披萨和苏打水,还有很多咖啡因,还为那些想睡觉的人准备了小床. Most of all, there was coding and conversation, 一群致力于帮助他人的陌生人组成了一个团队. After it was over, 沈对这次经历感觉非常好,尤其是她提出的学生可以点击一个国家的国旗与来自那个国家的人联系的建议. And, after she graduated from college, she applied to work full-time for JPMorgan Chase, where she is now a software engineer.
 


Making a Dream a Reality

While the hackathon was over after just 24 hours, the work on Global Nomad's app was just getting started. 主持这次黑客马拉松的澳博官方网站app(JPMorgan Chase)团队“行善代码”(Code for good)提出了一系列建议. 现在,把学生们的想法变成现实,成了“为善的力量”(Force for good)的工作——一群澳博官方网站app(JPMorgan Chase)的程序员和工程师.

Hasnain Aziz, an Executive Director at JPMorgan Chase, 自愿领导由12名成员组成的Force for Good团队,负责将黑客马拉松的想法转化为Global Nomads Group的功能齐全且可持续的应用程序. The project lasted eight months, Aziz says. 程序员们首先把他们每周的一部分工作时间奉献给它——这是“为善的力量”项目的标准程序. However, as it progressed, they also began working in their spare time, in between regular work and, often, in evenings or weekends. In other words, it became a labor of love.

“It was a joyful experience," Aziz recalls. “使用我们在工作中可能无法使用的技术工具是非常有趣的."

There were plenty of interesting wrinkles to iron out. For instance, Global Nomads希望将他们的用户群从青少年扩大到包括25岁以下的年轻人, 因为他们发现大学生也渴望接触世界各地的年轻人.

But with that age range, Global Nomads需要建立这个应用程序,这样年龄相仿的人就可以互相交谈, as opposed to a 15-year-old and 25-year-old chatting. 这家非营利组织还希望增加其他安全功能,包括自动录制所有视频对话,以及对话过程中弹出的讨论提示等参与功能. Making that happen was the job of the Force for Good team.

Christine Goussous, Global Nomads regional director in Jordan, 估计澳博官方网站app提供的工作可能为非营利组织节省了80美元,000 to $120,000. 更重要的是,改进后的技术使更多的学生能够注册. 反过来,用户基础的增加使Global Nomads Group能够吸引更多的资金合作伙伴.

Ever since the app went live, Goussous says, 世界各地的青少年和年轻人都从中受益, just as everyone hoped. In the words of a teen user from Tanzania, “《澳博体育app》是我与世界各地青少年交流的完美平台, 分享不同的经历和在我们脑海中酝酿的绝妙想法."