Byte Night was started in 1998 with just 25 attendees. The event was organized by National Children’s Homes (NCH) to help raise money in support of young people who are coping with abandonment or facing homelessness. Each year IT professionals throughout London gather to sleep outside and raise money for the organization.

Since the standard goal for individual sleepers was set at £2,000, it would not have been possible to me to raise the necessary funding in time for the event, especially since I found out about it just three weeks prior to the deadline. Nevertheless, I thought Byte Night was a creative way to give back to the community, so I decided I would volunteer and join in on the fun.

Byte Night helped to give some much needed visibility to homeless children and was a great networking opportunity for those who participated. Throughout the night I was assigned to sell drink vouchers to the sleepers. The atmosphere was refreshingly social and seemed increasingly so as the night went on while more wine was consumed. At one point, Dell took on HP in a trivia challenge… and won. I even had the opportunity to discuss Google’s competitive market prospects with a few Micro$oft account managers.

I’ll be sure to update this with the total amount raised.