Volunteer Opportunities

Help us change the face of the tech industry.

If you’re looking for coding volunteer opportunities, Code the Dream connects software developers with students from underrepresented backgrounds who are learning to code, for free. Our volunteer mentors and instructors make that possible.

Apply to Volunteer

We have two tracks: web development (React.js, Node.js) and data engineering (Python, data pipelines, and cloud infrastructure). Volunteer coding mentors for our data engineering track are especially needed. We provide detailed teacher notes for both tracks, so you don’t need to be an expert across the whole curriculum to be effective.

Consider joining us if you:

Are an experienced developer who wants to actively invest in diversity in the tech industry.
Are a tech leader involved in your organization’s hiring process who wants to support an equitable talent pipeline.
Are a recent college or bootcamp grad with strong technical skills who wants to give back to the next cohort of developers.

All volunteer opportunities are remote.

Individual Volunteer Opportunities

Group Mentor

Group Mentors lead weekly one-hour sessions focused on concepts and live demos. Sessions typically have 5–10 students, though this varies by class and time of day. We aim for two group mentors per session, so you’ll always have a partner and students will always have consistent coverage.

While students aren’t formally assigned to a group mentor, they tend to show up to the same session week after week, ensuring you do build real familiarity over time. Group mentors become trusted, familiar presences students return to. This is the role we’re most actively recruiting for, and if you’re deciding between roles, it’s where your time will have the greatest impact.

~1-3 hours per week, with a 3-month commitment

1:1 Mentor

1:1 Mentors are matched with a small group of CTD students and meet with them individually to troubleshoot problems and work through blockers. Where group sessions focus on concepts, 1:1 mentoring is hands-on problem-solving. This looks like digging into a specific bug, a confusing assignment, or a concept that isn’t clicking. Sessions typically run 30 minutes to an hour, and mentors may meet with multiple students in a given week depending on where they are in the course.

1–3 hours per week, with a 3-month commitment

Practicum Project Lead

Practicum Project Leads guide a team of 4-5 students through our capstone practicum, where students build and deploy a real software project. You’ll lead team meetings, help define project scope, and keep the team on track toward a working product.

This role requires genuine technical experience, not because you’ll be writing code, but because scoping decisions, prioritization, and team guidance all require developer judgment. A project management background is helpful; technical depth is necessary.

3–5 hours per week, with a 3-month commitment

Practicum Technical Lead

Practicum Technical Leads partner with a Project Lead on the same student team. Your focus is on the code: reviewing pull requests, providing feedback on technical decisions, and helping students understand how their work maps to professional software development practices. Many of our Practicum Project Leads started as Technical Leads, so this is a great on-ramp for volunteers looking for more experience leading a team.

3–5 hours per week, with a 3-month commitment

Group Volunteer Opportunities

Companies or groups of volunteers can support our students by hosting mock interviews, panel discussions, company tours, or days of service. We typically schedule group events on Fridays, but can be flexible.

If you are interested in planning a group volunteer event, please visit our Employer Partnerships page.

Voices of CTD Volunteers

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Helping students learn something new or figure out a problem they’ve been stuck on is always a bright spot in my day. I can remember struggling through the very same types of issues when I was first learning.

Akosua Asante, CTD Class Mentor

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I came from a boot camp that was not structured to be accessible to people who really needed help. CTD is different – I feel passionate about getting more diverse people into the tech field. I feel good about signing in each week and working with CTD.

Rebekah Callari-Kaczmarczyk, Practicum Project Lead

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I love volunteering, mentoring, teaching! The best part has been watching the light bulb moments with the students. It’s an almost addicting feeling.

Janika Hortizuela, CTD Class Mentor

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CTD offers so many different ways to volunteer, so it’s a great place for exploration! I’ve worked as a 1:1 mentor, taught larger groups, reviewed code, overseen group projects, and contributed to the curriculum.

Darga Darga, CTD Class Mentor

Become a Volunteer

Ready to volunteer as a coding mentor or instructor? We’d love for you to join our community as a volunteer!

What You’ll Need

To volunteer as a mentor, you should have:

Professional or project experience with code. You don’t need to be an expert in everything we teach, but you should be comfortable building projects on your own. Recent college and bootcamp graduates are welcome.
Experience with Git and GitHub, and a GitHub account. You will use your GitHub account to log in to CTD Learns, our learning platform.
Time for the role you choose. Each role above lists its weekly hours and length of commitment.
You must be 18 or older.

Still learning to code? If you’re currently a student or teaching yourself to code, we’d love to have you as a CTD student first. Many of our volunteers started that way. You can submit a student application here.

How to Get Started

Apply. Complete the volunteer application. It takes about 10 minutes.
We review your application. Our team reviews applications twice a week. If it looks like a good fit, we’ll email you within a few days with an invitation to schedule an intro call.
Intro call. In a short call, we’ll learn about your background, answer your questions, and help you choose a role and class.
Get set up. You’ll join our Slack workspace, register as a mentor in a class, and attend a mentor orientation before your class starts.

Apply to Volunteer