Matthew's Volunteer Experience

CDMUG: (November 2006 - Present)
Title: Organizer

Chicago Drupal Meet Up Group (CDMUG) has been around over two years. Our group has grown tremendously in size and will continue to have a bright future. Members range in experience but always bring topics for discussion. Group members are mainly developers and/or represent non-profit organizations. The group currently has 200+ local members between our 3 web sites, but only draws 15 – 40 members, on average each month. The environment is very open – we discuss ideas, debug problems, and brainstorm current personal or client Drupal projects. (ie: what module would work best to solve this need? etc.)

onShore enables me to utilize the conference room for these monthly meet ups. This is great because we have access to a projector that we use to share projects, comfortable chairs, a large meeting desk, white board, and also a free WiFi network. I have been able to do tremendous amounts of industry networking because of CDMUG. I am truly happy I have put in as much time into the group as I have. The group members seem to give back more and more each month.

DLUG: (September 2005 - Present)
Title:Web Master

The DePaul Linux Users' Group is a bunch of people who are interested in everything Linux. For anyone wanting to learn Linux this is the place to come for the first time or for those who simply want to share ideas. The group meets every Thursday at varies locations around campus. DLUG members also attend other user groups around the city. Being able to meet with other advanced Linux users has truly made my college experience better. Going to DLUG meetings helped me find nerdy friends right away. The wealth of knowledge these students are is remarkable. I believe the most interesting topics come from alumni that still attend meetings.

Willow Creek : (December 2002 - Present)
Title: Volunteer

Tuesday night volunteer group who manage various IT tasks. I started college level networking classes while still in high school. My teacher wanted to embrace my interest within the industry. So he recommended I start volunteering at Willow Creek because they will accept any volunteers. Getting experience with in the IT industry is one of the hardest first steps to take. I jumped for this opportunity at Willow Creek. Instantly I was taking care of real IT duties. The best part was industry networking and meeting professionals who had been in the field for years.