About our Volunteer Interns

Internship Program

EqOpTech offers an unpaid internship program where team members can be engaged in the following project initiatives all year round: 

• Computer-in-a-Box Refurbishing

• Research lightweight Linux distributions for older laptops and/or troubleshoot problematic laptops

• Organize laptop drive

• Computer workshops

• Recruit tech guest speaker & draft pitch letter

• Graphic Design, create flyers/ads & marketing collateral

• Mailchimp & newsletters

• Blogging

• Creative writing project

• App development: Volunteer signup and hours tracking system

• Develop Laptop inventory database system

• Corporate donations campaign

• Grant proposal writing

• Media outreach

Where do we work, meet and learn? Do we work online or in person?

Each Intern or volunteer will collaborate with teammates virtually via Slack, Meet, face-to-face meeting as appropriate. We also make available installation guide, YouTube tutorial, how-to hitchhiker’s guide to participants through the EqOpTech intranet. Interns can also meet at the library or at The View Teen Center if they so choose. During school season, we meet once every month at Sra. Rodriguez (Room 911) for computer workshops hosted by EqOpTech Club at LAHS.

In addition, we host in person workshops/speaker series at The View Teen Center in Mountain View from time to time during the summer months.

How do we collaborate with teammates?

We communicate with each other via e-mail and/or Slack, please feel free to post or respond to any technical question(s) using various channels to share insights or solutions.

What kind of computers, operating systems do we work with?

We refurbish Windows laptops, Macbooks, Tablets, iPad, Chromebooks as well as iMacs and on occasion Desktop computers. As to OS, we install Windows, Mac OSX, Chrome, Linux Ubuntu/Lubuntu and Neverware CloudReady.

Do I have the opportunity to work with the hardware aspect of computers?

From time to time, we receive computer donations from corporations without hard drives (due to Company’s Technology Equipment Disposal Policy) or insufficient memories, or defective computers, and as such we will have an opportunity to get more into salvaging parts from these problematic unit to build fully functioning systems.

Where do we deploy the refurbished computers to?

Our mission is to provide free and easy access to technology for underserved students in the Bay Area schools including students in Los Altos, Mountain View, East Palo Alto and East San Jose.

What is the difference between interns and volunteers?

Volunteers are assigned to certain tasks of a project and work within given instructions. Interns are assigned to projects as independent contributors and grow into leadership/mentorship positions. EqOpTech works with interns to develop meaningful real world experience alongside technical and soft skills. Most of our interns stay with the organization for an extended period and average at least 8 to 10 hours per week. Our learning-by-doing approach allows students to not only hone their problem-solving skills but also to give back to the community.

How often do interns/volunteers communicate?

Communication is an important aspect of this internship. In the event that you become unavailable for an extended period of time, you will need to inform us ahead of time. We expect our interns to stay in touch with us on a weekly basis which will allow us to monitor progress and provide helpful feedback. If you do not respond in a timely manner on 3 separate occasions, we will recalibrate the project and reassign your workload to another team member.

Let’s talk commitment and expectation.

School work is always top priority, in the event of a conflict between school work and internships, school always comes first. Our commitment to you is to provide opportunity, support and guidance, your commitment to EqOpTech is that you will put in your best efforts and follow through on your commitment. If you are not sure about this internship/volunteer opportunity, we would like to know upfront so we can offer this opportunity to someone else who can commit. We also understand that families travel in the summer; we ask that you communicate your timeline with us to set expectations. If you are not sure, please take the time to think about this before committing.

The EqOpTech program enables students with a platform to gain real-world experience and leadership skills while serving the community. The interns that get the most out of this experience are the ones who show their commitment, willing to run the extra mile, and treat it like a real job. You get what you put in.

Is there a deadline to the assigned project?

If you collaborate with others on a team project, please set your deadline and deliverable with the team or project lead. If you are an independent contributor working on refurbishing computers, please communicate with your program manager or mentor to align your refurbished laptops delivery date to the next laptop deployment.

Can an intern be assigned to multiple projects at the same time?

The answer is yes, please work with your program manager to set goals and communicate time commitment.

How do we communicate with team-mates?

We use e-mail and Slack. We will invite you to join Slack, please feel free to post and share insight with teammates via Slack channels.

How do we track work progress?

Students share a google drive weekly status report to track the following milestones:

·         Tasks accomplished

·         Tasks not accomplished

·         Tasks expect to work on

·         Issues

·         Solution/lesson learned

Questions?

E-mail contact@eqoptech.org

To Apply:

Complete this Google Application Form