Dev Opportunity Radar #10: OpenAI Student Collective, Develop for Good, MLH Global Hack Week & Learning How to Learn

TL;DR

Welcome back to Dev Opportunity Radar.

This is a weekly series where I share opportunities, resources, communities, and interesting finds that I come across, with the goal of helping people discover things they might otherwise miss.

This week's edition features Develop for Good, MLH Global Hack Week: Agents, the OpenAI Student Collective, and Learning How to Learn, a free Coursera course that has helped millions of people become more effective learners.

If you're new to the series, you can now browse previous editions, search past opportunities, and explore Community Finds, Reader Updates, and Resources Worth Checking Out on the Dev Opportunity Radar website. I've also written a short post about why I built it. You'll find links to both at the end of this article.

If you've discovered something through the radar, I'd love to hear about it. Whether you applied to an opportunity, joined a community, completed a program, or found a resource you hadn't seen before, I'd be happy to feature your experience in a future 💙 Reader Updates section (with your permission).

And if you've come across an opportunity, resource, community, program, or event that deserves more attention, feel free to share it in the comments.

If I feature one of your Community Finds in a future edition, I'll always make sure to credit you. If you discovered it, that recognition belongs to you.

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Table of Contents

• ⚡ Quick Scan
• 🔄 Still Open From Previous Editions
• 📍 This Week's Opportunities
  • 📌 Develop for Good Winter 2027 Student Volunteer Program
  • 📌 MLH Global Hack Week: Agents
  • 📌 OpenAI Student Collective
• 📚 Resources Worth Checking Out
  • Learning How to Learn (Free Coursera Course)
• 🌟 Community Finds
  • CALEC Volunteer and Internship Opportunities
• 💙 Reader Updates
• 👋 Until Next Friday
• 🌐 Dev Opportunity Radar Website

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⚡ Quick Scan

Opportunities

Resource Highlight

Community Find

📝 A quick note: I spend a lot of time researching and verifying every opportunity before featuring it in Dev Opportunity Radar. However, deadlines, eligibility, program details, and application requirements can change after publication. Before applying, please take a few minutes to visit the official program page, review the latest information, and confirm that you're eligible.

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🔄 Still Open From Previous Editions

Before we get into this week's opportunities, here are a few from previous editions that are still accepting applications.

I've already covered these in detail, so I won't repeat everything here. If any of them catch your attention, you can find the full overview, eligibility details, and application links in the original edition.

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📍 This Week's Opportunities

Here are a few opportunities I came across this week that I thought were worth sharing.

📌 Develop for Good Winter 2027 Student Volunteer Program

Who it's for: University students, bootcamp graduates, and recent graduates (with less than two years of full-time work experience) who want to gain real-world product, design, or engineering experience while contributing to nonprofit organizations. International students are welcome, and the program is fully remote.

What stands out: Develop for Good matches students with nonprofit organizations to work on real technology projects over a 16-week virtual program. Participants join cross-functional teams alongside designers, engineers, and product managers, receive mentorship from industry professionals, and build products that support causes like education, healthcare, sustainability, poverty alleviation, disaster relief, and more.

I wanted to include this because one of the biggest challenges early in your career is answering the question, "How do I get experience if every opportunity asks for experience?" Programs like this help bridge that gap. Unlike many volunteer programs, this one is intentionally structured to feel like working on a real product team. Instead of working on another tutorial or personal project, you get to collaborate with a real client, solve real problems, and build something that can become a meaningful portfolio piece.

Another thing I like is how closely the experience mirrors a real software team. Students work through project planning, stakeholder communication, technical collaboration, documentation, and product delivery over four months. Participants can also receive mentorship, recommendation letters, portfolio case studies, and opportunities to network with professionals during Demo Day. For eligible students from underserved and underrepresented backgrounds, the Develop for Good Fellows program also provides $1,536 unrestricted cash grants upon successful completion.

Program Duration: 16 weeks (Winter 2027 Batch)

Time Commitment: Approximately 5–10 hours per week

Format: Fully remote

Roles Available: Engineering, Design, Product Management, Technical Management, and Design Management

Who can apply: Applicants aged 18+ who are university students, bootcamp students, or recent graduates with less than two years of full-time work experience. International students are eligible.

Application Deadline: September 15, 2026

🔗 Learn More | 🔗 Apply

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📌 MLH Global Hack Week: Agents

Who it's for: Students, beginners, aspiring developers, experienced engineers, and anyone interested in learning about AI agents through hands-on challenges. You don't need prior hackathon experience to participate, and the event is open to people around the world.

What stands out: Global Hack Week: Agents is a free, week-long online event hosted by Major League Hacking (MLH) that combines workshops, technical challenges, community activities, and project building around the theme of AI agents. Throughout the week, participants can attend live coding sessions, complete challenges at their own pace, earn points, connect with other builders on Discord, and learn directly from the MLH community.

I wanted to include this because learning about AI agents is becoming increasingly valuable, but it can be difficult to know where to start. This event lowers that barrier by combining guided workshops with practical challenges, making it approachable whether you're experimenting with agents for the first time or looking to build on your existing skills.

Another thing I like is that you don't have to commit to building a full hackathon project over a weekend. Instead, you can participate throughout the week, choose the challenges that interest you, attend live sessions, and learn alongside thousands of developers from around the world. It's a great way to build new skills, meet other developers, and stay motivated without the pressure of a traditional hackathon.

Event Dates: August 7–13, 2026

Format: Fully online

Cost: Free

Who can apply: Anyone, anywhere. All experience levels are welcome, including beginners and non-students. Participants aged 13+ may join with parental permission.

Registration: Open

🔗 Learn More & Register

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📌 OpenAI Student Collective

Who it's for: Undergraduate students who enjoy building communities and are excited to help others learn how to use AI tools like ChatGPT and Codex. Students from all majors are encouraged to apply. The program is open to students studying in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, India, Japan, and South Korea.

What stands out: The OpenAI Student Collective is a new campus leadership program where students work in pairs to build AI communities at their universities. Campus Leads organize workshops, host weekly Studio Hours where students can build projects together, run campus showcases, and help create an environment where anyone curious about AI can learn and experiment.

I wanted to include this because AI communities on campus are growing quickly, but they often depend on a few students taking the initiative to bring people together. This program gives students the support, resources, and funding to create those spaces while helping others become more confident using AI tools.

Another thing I like is that the focus isn't just on teaching ChatGPT or Codex. It's about helping students actually build projects together. Campus Leads receive training, event funding, a ChatGPT subscription, Codex credits, OpenAI swag, a semester stipend, and access to the OpenAI team and a global network of Campus Leads. There are also opportunities to visit OpenAI HQ and connect with other student leaders from around the world.

Program Duration: August 2026 – June 2027

Time Commitment: Approximately 4–6 hours per week

Who can apply: Undergraduate students aged 18 or older who expect to graduate after December 2027. Applicants should be studying in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, India, Japan, or South Korea.

Application Deadline: August 10, 2026 (11:59 PM PT)

🔗 Learn More & Apply

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📚 Resources Worth Checking Out

Not every useful find comes with an application deadline.

Here's one resource worth checking out this week.

Learning How to Learn (Free Coursera Course)

Who it's for: Students, self-taught developers, career changers, and anyone who wants to become better at learning technical subjects like programming, AI, math, or computer science.

What stands out: Learning How to Learn, taught by Dr. Barbara Oakley and Dr. Terrence Sejnowski, is one of Coursera's most popular courses, with over 4 million learners. Instead of teaching a specific programming language or framework, it focuses on something even more valuable: how to learn effectively. The course covers topics like procrastination, memory, focused and diffuse thinking, chunking, learning strategies, and practical techniques you can apply no matter what you're studying.

I wanted to include this because I genuinely found it helpful. I first came across Barbara Oakley through her TEDx talk, which eventually led me to this course. It completely changed the way I thought about learning difficult subjects. Whether you're learning AI, web development, cybersecurity, or preparing for interviews, I think understanding how to learn is one of the best investments you can make.

One thing I especially wanted to share is that you don't have to pay to take the full course. Coursera has a partner-supported free version that gives you access to all the course content. The only thing you don't receive is the certificate, which I think is a great option if you're primarily there to learn.

Course Length: Approximately 2 weeks (around 10 hours)

Cost: Free (certificate optional)

💡 Free Access Tip: You can take the full version of this course for free (without the certificate). On the Coursera course page, scroll all the way down to the FAQ section. Under More Questions, click Partner-supported free access, then select Learn More followed by Continue to enroll. You'll get access to the complete course content without paying for the certificate.

Format: Self-paced online course

🔗 Course | 🔗 TEDx Talk (Optional)

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🌟 Community Finds

One of my favorite things about this series has been seeing people share opportunities, communities, and resources that others might not have discovered otherwise.

CALEC Volunteer and Internship Opportunities

Back in Edition #6, I featured CALEC's remote volunteer and internship opportunities after Francis (@francistrdev) shared them with the community. If you missed it, you can find the full overview and all the details in Edition #6.

Since sharing this opportunity with the community, Francis has also published a dedicated DEV post about the Full-Stack Developer volunteer role at CALEC. If that role interests you, it's worth checking out for his perspective and some additional information about what the team is looking for.

🔗 Francis' post

🔗 CALEC Volunteer & Internship Opportunities | 🔗 Edition #6

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Thank you to Francis (@francistrdev) for thinking of the radar and sharing this with the community. It really means a lot 💙

I'd love for this section to keep growing.

If you've come across an opportunity, fellowship, grant, hackathon, conference, community, resource, or anything else you think more people should know about, feel free to share it in the comments.

If I feature it in a future edition, I'll always make sure to credit you. If you discovered it, that recognition belongs to you.

One small request: If you're sharing an opportunity, please avoid posting raw URLs directly in the comments. DEV sometimes filters them before I get a chance to see them.

A short description alongside the link makes it much easier for me to review and potentially feature it in a future edition.

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💙 Reader Updates

I'm looking forward to this section gradually growing over time, and I'd still love to hear from you.

One of my favorite parts of writing Dev Opportunity Radar has been hearing from people who discovered something they otherwise might have missed.

If you discovered an opportunity through the radar, applied to something, joined a community, attended an event, or simply found a resource you hadn't seen before, I'd genuinely love to hear about it.

You don't need to have been accepted or have a big success story to share. Sometimes simply discovering the right opportunity at the right time is already a win.

If you'd like to share an update, feel free to leave a comment on this edition. With your permission, I may feature it in a future 💙 Reader Updates section and tag you so other readers can celebrate your journey too.

I hope this section gradually becomes a place where we can celebrate those stories together, one update at a time.

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👋 Until Next Friday

Before I go, I just want to say thank you.

Every week, I spend time searching for opportunities, resources, and communities that I think deserve a little more attention. But one of my favorite parts of this series isn't the research. It's seeing what happens after an edition is published.

Seeing someone discover an opportunity, apply to a program, share a resource, suggest a Community Find, or come back to tell us what they learned reminds me why I started Dev Opportunity Radar in the first place.

The goal has always been simple:

Help people discover opportunities they otherwise might have missed.

Thanks to all of you, it feels like we're doing exactly that.

Whether you've been reading since the very first edition or this is your first time here, thank you for being part of the journey. Every comment, suggestion, and shared opportunity helps make this series better than I could build on my own.

If you ever come across an opportunity, resource, event, community, or anything else you think deserves more attention, I'd love for you to share it in the comments. And if Dev Opportunity Radar helped you discover something exciting, I'd love to hear that too.

Thank you for reading, for sharing, and for helping make this our radar, not just mine.

I'll be back next Friday with more opportunities, resources, and Community Finds.

Until then, take care, and I hope you discover something amazing this week 💙

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🌐 Dev Opportunity Radar Website

If this is your first time discovering the series, you can explore every edition, browse opportunities by category, discover Community Finds, and catch up on Reader Updates on the Dev Opportunity Radar website.

👉 Website

I also wrote a short post about why I built the website and the journey behind it.

👉 Website Launch Post