Volunteering for Web Development

Working within the STEM field has been absolutely great for me. Growing up in a disadvantaged and underprivileged environment made me consider very carefully which field I wanted to join. IT has given me so many opportunities for growth that I never saw for myself growing up. I jumped at the opportunity to work with an organization that sought to bring more diversity and talent to my profession. 

The following is a brief overview of the work we did to update https://blackgirlsdoengineer.org/ make the site meet the requirements needed for the organization, broken down into ITIL’s Guiding Principles (we weren’t stringent in using this method, it’s just a great way to break down the effort).

Focus on Value

Black Girls Do Engineer's (BGDE) original website handled most of their needed requirements. I wanted to make sure we chose a product that would allow for the staff to update all items of the site with minimal effort, the user experience (UX) was easy and intuitive, and was reasonable in price and accessibility.

I first went through the requirements with the staff and then searched for products and services that would meet what they were looking for. After a few discussions with various vendors, we landed on using GoDaddy. GoDaddy was an excellent all-in-one option for the organization. It allows for web hosting, purchasing, and account management. Most of what was required was “out-of-the-box” from GoDaddy and needed little IT experience after go-live.

Start Where You Are

A majority of the site’s requirements where static and informational. This was an excellent starting point for the update. We could use almost all of the information from the original site and could be used for the update. 

The staff were technical (reminder that they’re STEM professionals!) enough that any unforeseen issues after the launch could be handled from their previous experience with the current site, as well as vendor support from GoDaddy. 

The organization already had most of the new requirements fleshed out through previous experience and feedback from the students and their guardians. 

Progress Iteratively with Feedback

Over the course of the update, we worked together and made iterative updates to the site. We received buy-in from both training to use the site and from the end users. We made sure during the collaboration that we discussed any new information and updates as needed.

Think and work holistically

We kept in mind the overall intent of the site, which was to inform existing students/guardians of new information, as well as provide information for other users, such as potential students, volunteers, and donors. We wanted an intuitive and easy experience and made sure all individual parts of the website met the overall goal of the organization – to get students ready to go for STEM activities provided by BGDE.

Keep it simple and practical

With any IT project (or project for that matter), it’s very easy to get bogged down to the requirements and overcomplicate. With this project, the staff were very easy to flesh out the flow of the website and we were able to keep the overarching goal in mind. This site delivers easy to digest information, posted in a clear-cut way, that allows the viewer quick and easy access to exactly what they’re looking for. 

Optimize and automate

One of the great aspects of this project was using GoDaddy for the original posting and any updates after my separation. They have all the tools and resources needed in the event that something can be improved in the future, and any new versions of the site (hopefully!) will be easy to integrate through. 

Updating a home to a smart home can be a daunting task, but the benefits (in my opinion) outweigh the effort. In my experience, I started by researching the different types of smart home devices available and their compatibility with each other. I found that the best way to start was by focusing on the essentials: lighting, temperature control, security, and entertainment. I then made a list of the devices I needed and started to look for the best deals.

Lighting:

This seemed to be the easiest avenue to start. Before moving into my house, my apartment complex decided to update some of my fixtures. They changed some of the kitchen lighting to smart switches, so this was an easy way to begin. Taking the plugs and a few smart bulbs from my old configuration, I updated some basic lights in the living room. 

After the living room, I did a few other rooms in the house as well. I now have my living room, bedroom, and some study room lights, and our outdoor lights set to turn off and on during specific times, or to trigger during dusk and dawn.

The benefits of having a smart home are numerous. One of the most significant benefits is convenience. With a smart home, you can control all the devices in your home from a single device, such as Alexa or Google Home. 

Lighting was the main task I wanted to configure, and despite some issues with different versions, setting up different apps, and getting the routines correct, I’m very happy with our current configuration and look forward to adding more smart lighting in the future.

Temperature:

This was probably one of the easier things to set up. Our thermostats are a very popular model and the initial setup is done almost automatically with our smart system as soon as you login and set up the Wi-Fi on the devices. 

Security:

For obvious reasons, I won’t go into too much detail for this. Security was probably the most time-consuming feature to configure. You really, really have to make sure you have done your research before going forward. It’s insanely easy to make the settings too difficult or too easy, based on the desired outcome.

Entertainment:

Entertainment is hands down the most fun item on a smart home configuration. There are so many angles and preferences available. My favorite thing to set up for entertainment is a good routine. Having a fireplace going, turning off lights, and having a movie switch on simultaneously is very rewarding to set up. Entertainment is probably the largest complication to set up. With so many moving parts, it’s easy to not “debug” or forget a use-case on the initial set up.

In all, I think it was worth the pain to have my house a little smarter. I'm excited to do more but I absolutely would never fault someone for not wanting to do this. If it's not your cup of tea, hands down I would see if I could have someone assist.