Bill Nicolich (9/17/2008)
... If one was willing to do a little looking around for volunteer work locally, one might try looking at some of the essential service providers that always seem to have tight budget constraints like police offices, schools, parks and recreation - and perhaps help them automate some tasks, collect lists, etc. ...
Police departments sometimes have an easier time getting money than the rest of the city because of the availability of Federal funding and grants. Also, if the police department is properly diligant, even volunteers have to go through the same screening process as civilian employees: background investigation and polygraph. (I worked for a big PD for nine years as a database developer/DBA/network admin).
That being said, there are always piddly little databases that they need. You might need to approach it not from the "what databases can I develop for you" so much as "what administrative tasks can I help you automate". They may not recognize that something could be put in a database that would help them. You can also approach them from the "do you have any databases that could use a tune-up or more features added" angle. Just expect to see some REALLY horrible designs! You don't want to know the horror stories that I could tell you.
And also be prepared to see some old equipment and really weird database systems (DataFlex, anyone?!) *shudders*
:hehe:
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[font="Arial"]Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it. --Samuel Johnson[/font]