Easy, a T-shirt. Programmers love T-shirts.
It juuuuust so happens that I have created some T-shirt designs for software developers. Even better, all the commission will be split equally between two very worthy charities: jaipurfoot.org and sightsavers.org.
Sightsavers works to alleviate sight problems around the world. Last year Sightsavers and their partners treated more than 23 million people for potentially blinding conditions and restored sight to over 244,000 people. Sightsavers is charity particularly close to my own heart, as I have suffered from eye problems myself. My vision without specs is very poor (-8 dioptres). A few years ago I suffered a detached retina due to a martial arts injury and ended up having emergency cryosurgery on both eyes. The possibilty of losing vision in one eye, let alone both eyes, was a frightening prospect. And yet it only costs:
- $0.10 to protect someone from river blindness for a year.
- $10 to pay for eyelid surgery for trachoma.
- $35 for an adult cataract operation.
I first heard of this charity while watching a TV program Paul Merton in India. This organization pioneered the “Jaipur foot” (also known as the “Jaipur leg”) – an effective and easy-to-fit prosthetic lower limb that can be produced for a little as $30 and is provided for free by the charity. The prosthetic was first developed in the 1960s by an orthopedic surgeon and a sculptor. Since then the charity has provided over 300,000 limbs in 22 countries. In the television program a young boy arrived at the clinic hopping on one leg and left running on two, beaming. It was moving to watch. You can read more in this Time magazine article.
In these gloomy economic times it is easy to forget that there are people much worse off than ourselves. A little money goes a long way with either of these charities. So, how can you help?
Buy a T-shirt
Buy a T-shirt for yourself, your geeky friends, your work colleagues or your employees. Currently there are nine designs available. I have set up separate shops for North America (zazzle.com) and Europe (spreadshirt.net) to cut down on postage costs and shipping times.
North American shop: www.zazzle.com/successfulsoftware (the 12.5% commission included in each T-shirt sale will go to charity)
European shop: successfulsoftware.spreadshirt.net (the £1.50 commission included in each T-shirt sale will go to charity)
Design a T-shirt
Got an idea for a design? Add it in a comment below or email it to me. I will do what I can to turn some of the better ideas into T-shirts. You can supply graphics and/or text. I don’t have the artistic skills to turn your idea into graphics, but someone else might have. All commission from your design will go to charity. But your design must be original – no copyright violations please.
Gimme some link love
If you have a software-related blog or frequent a software-related forum, please link to this post and/or the online shops.
Trivia
My “It works on my machine” machine design predates Jospeh Cooney’s and Jeff Atwood’s by more than 4 years, as proved by this link to the (now sadly defunct) ntk.net ezine. The profits from those T-shirts went to the Jhai foundation – pioneers of bicycle powered Linux. Ironically I can’t sell this design in the European shop due to a bug in the Spreadshirt.net code.
** Update **
These T-shirts are no longer available. Sorry.
I’m a gaming programmer, so I would like to renew my Xbox subscription. Like; http://xboxlivesubscriptions.com/ so I’ll be asking that one from my loved ones :)
T-Shirt idea: Happy lisper, sadly curly brace programmer
On the front: (:-))
On the back : {:-(}
Pingback: Help Debug The World « MicroISV on a Shoestring
I want one with, “This is intended behaviour” on the front :D.
Pingback: Programmer T-Shirts — Global Nerdy
Pingback: » Programmer T-Shirts for Good Causes » The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century : Joey deVilla’s Personal Blog
Frank, you are totally oblivious.
Great idea Andy!
Shame I couldn’t get it to show women’s fit though…unisex ones just don’t fit me, so if you can point me at a set of URLs for a women’s skinny fit in a 10 you’ll have an order or two on your hands. :)
Pingback: Get your programming T-shirt for Christmas!
I second Anna-Jayne’s comment – more t-shirts for women programmers please (and not in pink)!
Thank you :)
Good Info. I’ll put a link to this post on 1 of my blog entries.
Pingback: SitePoint » 15 Awesome Gifts for the Geek in Your Life
Pingback: Funky Programmer T-Shirt Designs | Derek Pollard
To get a ladies T-shirt:
-go to http://zazzle.com/successfulsoftware
-Click on the design you want
-Click on ‘select a different shirt style’
-Click on ‘women’
-choose the appropriate style, size and colour
Pingback: Ein Weihnachtsgeschenk für Programmierer
Pingback: Antair Games » Blog Archive » Weekly Update
What about European female programmers?!
>What about European female programmers?!
What design/colour/wording do you want? I’ll see what I can do.
Pingback: Good Idea, Bad Idea » Blog Archive » 15 Awesome Gifts for the Geek in Your Life
Pingback: FollowSteph.com - Blogger and Programmer T-Shirts for Xmas
Pingback: Shirts for programmers, the profits from which will go to charity. - WebProWorld
Pingback: Shirts for programmers, the profits from which will go to charity. | Forums Blog
Pingback: Where Did This Idea Come From? | Programmer T-shirts for Charity
Pingback: Programmer’s Charity Drive (And How You Can Help) « MicroISV on a Shoestring
Pingback: programmer-tshirts.com « Successful Software
You might dig this T-shirt with Obama and Batman http://www.redbubble.com/people/dapixara/t-shirts/2448344-1-batman-yes-i-can
Pingback: T-shirt update « Successful Software
Pingback: Geeky Christmas Gifts | The Agile Micro ISV Blog
Pingback: What do programmers want for Christmas? « Software Verification Blog
Pingback: Copping A Ribbing – Err I Mean – Coping With The Ribbon In GUI Design As An ISV | The Recursive ISV