Volunteer Experience with Asha Hope Amanaki – Johanna Weiss
Johanna was a volunteer software developer (GitHub Repo) with Asha Hope Amanaki and helped us develop a tool to execute our flagship project Operation HOPE. The entire project management tool was was developed using Google Apps Script. Here is the first half of Johanna’s volunteer experience with Asha Hope Amanaki as a part of our Volunteer Spotlight Series. You can also connect with Johanna on LinkedIn.
Hi Johanna, Thank you for sharing your experience with us. Tell us a little about yourself to our readers?
My name is Johanna Weiss. I’m from Germany. I am studying data science which is why I starting volunteering with Asha Hope Amanaki. I was doing my degree and I wanted to get some hands-on experience next in my studies. So I was looking for a project that is interesting and where I would learn at the same time.
Are there any interests that you would like to share?
So, I like drawing a lot. I like going outside and enjoying and just listening to some music and sketching a little bit. I enjoy that a lot. But I’m also a very social person, I like hanging out with friends and talking and I read a lot as well. I also like to read books with friends and talk about it and other things like that
Since you like reading a lot, what is your favorite genre?
I read a lot of nonfiction. At the moment, I’m actually reading a book about data analytics. Its not very technical or complicated but rather about applications of Data Science in society and that is very interesting to me.
Moving gears a little bit, can you talk about your current job or profession?
I am just doing my Master’s. I completed all my courses and just did an internship at a Data Science start-up. So I was working there for the last 8 months and I am now writing my thesis about a client project during that internship.
Could you enlighten our readers about your role at Asha Hope Amanaki?
My role was a developer I would say. We were building this small web application to manage a database with data about donations. So it was some front end and some back end; and migrating and automating the existing application, so that it is easier to use and more robust. A lot of different people were using the application and the new version made sure that data cannot be accidentally be deleted or changed.
Were you working alone or did you work in a team? Was it a virtual opportunity or an in person one?
It was all online. But I was working together with one other volunteer, Justin, who did the project with me. It was a bit weird for me because it was my first time volunteering entirely online. It was the period of the pandemic after all, but it was still a nice experience.
How was your experience working remotely?
It was different from my previous volunteering experiences. If you are volunteering in person, there is just way more time to, lets say sit around and chat with your fellow volunteers and you don’t really have that online. Like you have your meeting and that’s it. You don’t really get the chance to spend more time together.
But it was still nice working together on the project. We were having regular calls to talk about the progress and help each other out. So I still had that feeling of working in a team even though it was online.
How was your experience working with the team at Asha Hope Amanaki, the processes, the time you spent with the organization’s members?
We worked on the project for about half a year. We were primarily coding in a programming language I didn’t have much experience in, so I learned quite a bit during that time. And it is very rewarding to build something that people are actually using. You see the progress of your work and how it makes other people’s work much easier.
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