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codeforamerica / apply

If you can read this, you should apply for a 2016 @codeforamerica fellowship! Ask current and former fellows questions at https://github.com/codeforamerica/apply/issues
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Application question: project samples #5

Open mollymcleod opened 10 years ago

mollymcleod commented 10 years ago

The other threads here have been very helpful! I've been excited about applying for a long time.

I have an application question: what types of projects would be best to share for the two project samples? Should we link to case studies/processes, or just finished products? Is CfA mostly interested in seeing web/app based projects, or can we include non-web based projects too (i.e. print, installation, event organizing, &c.)?

Thanks! Molly

max-mapper commented 10 years ago

My two cents: I don't think web development experience is a requirement or is even as important as having passion and past work that shows you can finish things and get people engaged.

yesezra commented 10 years ago

I'd echo @maxogden. CfA is looking for people who are going to be successful working collaboratively with teammates on a small team, government stakeholders, and the community at large. Any kind of project that demonstrates your leadership, skills, and experience could be a good one.

If you have tech/design skills/experience, that's good to know too – but there are other places on the application where you can demonstrate those in detail. And keep in mind that most fellowship teams do more than app development: we also serve as community organizers, innovation/open government promoters, and event planners.

FWIW, I made a "projects" page on my personal website so I had a chance to show off a variety of my experiences. I'm not sure if anyone at CfA ended up looking at it, but it felt good to do anyway.

Ezra (2013 fellow)

louh commented 10 years ago

(2013 Fellow here) I'll weigh in to confirm the words of @maxogden and @ahhrrr, as my background and work experience is in architecture/urban design. Prior to the fellowship I had some HTML / CSS / JavaScript knowledge, but nothing professional. But I did enough of it to show something civic-oriented as one of my projects on the application. The rest of it was all print design / graphic production / project management. It's easy for me to say, but I think showing the range of projects definitely helped.

SloanHawthorne commented 10 years ago

Thanks @louh

mollymcleod commented 10 years ago

Thank you all so much, this is very helpful!

antislice commented 9 years ago

Asking a CfA fellow I know personally as well, but what about when your most significant projects are for work, and as such don't have an external link that I can share? I can write a summary and share that link, but there's all sorts of NDA stuff involved otherwise.

junosuarez commented 9 years ago

@antislice: that is understandable - the same is true with people who apply who are programmers. Later in the interview process there are opportunities to demonstrate your skills and thought process.

mollymcleod commented 9 years ago

@antislice I had a similar problem for one of the projects I wanted to share. I created a hidden page on my personal site where I wrote up a brief case study of my role on the project, leave out some specifics since the project wasn't public yet, and I shared that link.

As others have said above, any project (personal or work) that allows staff reviewers to quickly see your skill and passion is totally fine.

acnatta commented 9 years ago

I've got a follow-up question about project samples: Let's say one of the sites submitted as an example has been having hosting issues and is currently not available (save for maybe its Wayback Machine archive) - will its lack of current up time affect the application as a whole?