Side Quest
What is Side Quest?
Side Quest is a new ShiftKey platform hosted right inside Brightspace. It gives you a space to tackle open-ended projects on your own schedule so you can build something cool to show future employers.
Whether this is your first year or your last, and no matter what your background looks like, you are welcome to jump in. Just keep in mind that spots are limited to 40 beta testers.
What you will be doing
As a beta tester, your main job is to pick a project, work through it, and tell us honestly how the experience went. That looks like:
● Leveling up your skills: Actively build and sharpen both your technical capabilities and your core professional skills as you work through the project.
● Getting paid: Earn compensation for completing your project and giving us valuable feedback on the experience.
● Testing the limits: Try to break things! If something feels confusing, clunky, or flat-out broken, let us know.
● Flagging issues: Speak up about any bugs or confusing instructions, big or small.
● Logging your time: Keep an honest track of how long things take you so we can check it against our internal time estimates.
● Sharing your ideas: Tell us how we can make the platform better and suggest new project ideas you would actually want to see.
How it works
1. Quick intake form: Fill out a short form so we can gauge where your skills are right now and see which project you want to tackle.
2. Submit a pitch: Write a brief proposal outlining what you want to build and why. We will take a look and give you some quick feedback before you start coding.
3. Draft your work plan: Set up your own milestones, timeline, and tech choices. Work out a plan that fits your actual schedule.
4. Build your project: Bring your idea to life. If you get stuck, you can post on the discussion board or reach out directly to the team.
5. Showcase your work: Turn what you built into a solid portfolio piece, like a GitHub README, a resume line item, or a LinkedIn post.
6. Wrap-up self-assessment: Finish with a quick reflection form similar to the intake form so you can see how much your skills leveled up.
