Equinox IT team members contribute to Charity IT weekend

While the rest of us enjoyed the Wellington sun this last weekend, three Equinox IT team members gave up their weekends to join a group of 40 volunteers to work on IT projects for charity organisations.

The event was the third hackathon organised by Charity IT, a New Zealand-based volunteer group that brings together charity organisations and IT professionals to overcome challenges the organisations are facing using IT.

Over the weekend Charity IT worked with four charities, building a web presence for Nature Through Arts Collective, an automated payroll system for Able Pet Care, an alumni sign up system for Big Brothers Big Sisters, and a more robust website back end for Kiwi Community Assistance.

The team from Equinox IT included Ben Hughes (systems analyst and agile coach), Hana Pearson-Coats (systems analyst) and Sean Tomlins (development specialist). Ben and Hana played central roles as organisers. Ben helped facilitate the whole event, allocating and managing teams, moving resources, motivating, and keeping activities on track. Hana met with charities to understand their requirements and championed one of the projects to successful completion. Sean played a key delivery role in a project team for one of the charities.

“It was insanely fun to work on something so worthy with such an inspiring group of people” said an enthusiastic yet tired Hana Pearson-Coats on Monday morning as she stepped straight back into her busy day job.

The next Charity IT hackathon will be held in Christchurch in May.