How Volunteering Puts Working in Tech Into Perspective
As part of her job, my wife co-organizes for the second time the three-week holiday camp HöVi-Land—a tent city providing all-day care and entertainment for well over 500 kids of Cologne’s districts Höhenberg and Vingst. And for the second time I volunteered as a kindergartner for one week.
Let me tell you about all the things that are suddenly more important than “AI” debates, the burnout of the tech industry, and the scheming of delusional techno-fascists, when you are spending time with toddlers. My success metrics of the week, my KPIs, my <bla bla LinkedIn tech bullshit>, if you will.
- Playing and building in the sandbox.
- Singing a song you barely know the lyrics to. But that’s okay because the kids prefer you making funny noises anyway.
- Feeding.
- Changing diapers.
- Mixing cocoa.
- Laughing until stuff comes out of people’s noses.
- Packing your water gun in the morning. And that one reusable water balloon you kept for such occasions.
- Witnessing a child blossom while making music on stage.
- Learning and playing a new children’s game.
- Racing a kid to the camp’s post office.
- Helping a kid write a letter to a friend.
- Talking to your fellow kindergartners, none of whom start a debate about tech.
- The bounce house.
- Arts and crafts.
- Having lunch with eight toddlers.
- Humming and singing silently during a finger paint session and not noticing at first.
- Burps.
- Being called a good educator who has a way with kids.
- Witnessing your wife at work, being completely in her element.
- Field trip to the local farmers’ market.
- Playgrounds.
- Comforting with fine words.
- Earning and keeping a child’s trust.
Voluntary work does not pay the rent. And it’s probably hard to argue with someone who would call this escapism. And you have to face wage work and its challenges eventually. But, oh my, what a boost of energy and inspiration of almost magical proportions it can be!
Thanks to Reinhold Horz who allowed me to use this impression of 2026-07-27 as my teaser image.