Tufts Blogs

When it comes to clubs and organizations, Tufts has a seemingly infinite supply. Scrolling through the list can feel overwhelming, so instead of trying to cover everything, I want to give you a look inside one club that has really shaped my time here: JumboCode.

Before coming to Tufts, I did some research on clubs I might want to join. Looking through the pre-professional options, JumboCode immediately stood out as the software development club. What drew me in was how it works. JumboCode partners with nonprofit organizations and builds software for them, for free. So, you're building something an actual organization is going to use.

When fall semester started, I waited (impatiently) for JumboCode to announce the date of their GIM, or General Interest Meeting, and showed up with a friend. The president opened by explaining what the club does, and then each team's project manager, tech lead, and design lead pitched their project. They talked about the nonprofit they'd be working with, what the software needed to do, and the tech stack they'd be using. Afterward, I filled out the application, which was a Google Form asking why I wanted to join, what experience I had, and how I'd rank the projects in order of preference.

What I really love about JumboCode is the fact that you don't need any web development experience. JumboCode welcomes people at every skill level. I came in with basically none, so I was equally nervous and excited. My first few weeks were a blur of tools I had never touched, like Git branches, React, and database tables, none of which my CS classes had yet prepared me for. It was overwhelming. But after a while I realized that feeling was normal. That's just what it's like to use real tools on a real project for the first time.

The project my team worked on was for Commonwealth Kitchen, an organization that helps small food businesses launch, grow, and thrive. We built a resource marketplace so businesses across the Commonwealth Kitchen network can share equipment, vehicles, ingredients, and more. The idea is to connect people who need a resource with people who already have it, all within the network, so member businesses can take advantage of the people and assets that already exist in an easy and accessible way.

What made that learning curve doable was the people. Everyone in JumboCode knows what it's like to not know something, and nobody makes you feel bad for asking. The expectation isn't that you arrive already knowing things. It's that you're willing to learn and willing to show up for your team.

The team part turned out to be the most valuable piece for me. Working with other people and splitting up tasks feels a lot more like an actual software project than anything I've done in a class. On top of that, a lot of my teammates are upperclassmen who have already done internships and worked on bigger projects, so they know things I don't. Being able to ask them questions, watch how they approach a problem, and pick up on how they work has taught me a ton that no class really could.

So if you're a first-year staring down the club fair and wondering where to start, my advice is to pick the thing that scares you a little. Go to the GIM. Apply even if you feel underqualified. Worst case, you learn something.