Virtual Volunteering - Spotlight on Archana Patel

Even before the pandemic radically reshaped America SCORES operations in 2020 and 2021, an evolution was well underway: a tech transformation that would vastly improve SCORES’ ability to serve, track, and support students and schools. The pandemic added urgency, driving home the need to build a framework and support system that would allow SCORES to support students and coaches as robustly virtually as in person. 

And with that new demand, came the creation of a small team of virtual volunteers, 

all from MuleSoft and from as far away as New Zealand and Argentina, who would work together as part of SCORES LABS to build new tools for SCORES to support and scale its operations.

The MuleSoft volunteer tech team came together in the summer of 2000 to work with SCORES CTO Pete Swearengen on a series of high-priority application programming interface (API) projects, starting with an app for coaches to use to track student-athlete attendance. What the team has achieved a year later has exceeded expectations. 

“We’ve clearly demonstrated that we can build apps, products, and platforms within the Salesforce ecosystem and that we can build not just for immediate needs, but for scale, in a more strategic way,” says Pete. 

Among those volunteers is Archana Patel, a MuleSoft Customer Success Architect, based in Wellington, New Zealand, 6,741 miles from San Francisco. Only three months after joining MuleSoft in April 2020,  she volunteered to work with America SCORES. 

“At MuleSoft and Salesforce, we have a culture that embraces and celebrates volunteerism. We can really dive into projects that interest us,” Archana says. The SCORES Labs opportunity “was perfect, exactly what I had been looking for.” 

Archana started making an impact immediately. “She very quickly stepped into the lead, showing both team and technical leadership,” says Pete. “We’d be nowhere without her high-level contributions. She’s like a hotshot firefighter.”

Working with SCORES Labs was a chance to flex her programming muscles, and a way to stretch her skill set.  “When I worked as a developer, I had the full support of a team and a preexisting framework. With SCORES, I got the opportunity to build the framework from scratch, which allowed me to explore areas I hadn’t yet experienced. I wasn’t just a developer, I was also an architect, a designer, a reviewer, a tester, and a project manager,” she explains.

Working with the MuleSoft and Salesforce products directly gave Archana fresh insights and perspectives that translated into immediate benefits in her regular job as a MuleSoft Customer Success Architect. ‘I can have better conversations with our users because I’ve often been in the exact same spot trying to work through an issue in my work using our products with SCORES. It’s greatly energizing and mutually beneficial, and that’s why it’s sustainable,” she says. 

That win-win situation is essential, explains Pete. “As we shifted to an open source strategy at SCORES, recruiting tech talent on the basis of real interest and desire to make an impact, we dug further into the VTO (volunteer time off) program, because it’s what has enabled Muleys and Salesforce employees to come work with us for weeks at a time, really moving things forward. The number of hours they’ve contributed is staggering.” 

There’s ample evidence that meaningful volunteer opportunities can have a clear benefit on employee satisfaction, loyalty, and overall wellness. At Salesforce and MuleSoft, employees automatically receive 56 paid volunteer hours, and some, like Archana, exceed that total. 

“For me, the wellness factor ties in with my job satisfaction. Am I able to use my skills for the right things? Am I able to learn? Am I able to give back in a meaningful way?  This experience absolutely allows me to feel like I can, and that feeling motivates the work I do every day,” she says.

For Archana, who grew up in India as one of four daughters in a close-knit family where education was highly encouraged, the work she does with MuleSoft and with SCORES reflect opportunities she wants for all girls. “I was raised to think I deserved any educational opportunity, that I could pursue any job I wanted. My parents supported all my interests, including not only engineering but writing and the arts. My work today with MuleSoft and with SCORES is evidence of that. I want to spread the word to let girls know of all the options out there for them.”