Internship with the FSF tech team
Fri, 29 May 2020 14:38:00 -0400

> Originally published on the Free Software Foundation's sysadmin
> blog:\
> [Introducing Amin Bandali, intern with the FSF tech team][1]

Hi there, I'm Amin Bandali, often just `bandali` on the interwebs.
I wear a few different hats around GNU as a maintainer, webmaster,
and Savannah hacker, and I'm very excited to be extending that to
the Free Software Foundation (FSF) as an intern with the FSF tech
team for spring 2020.

Growing up around parents with backgrounds in computer engineering
and programming, it did not take long for me to find an interest in
tinkering and playing with computers as a kid, and I first came into
contact with GNU/Linux in my teenage years.  My first introduction
to the world of free software came a few years later, when a friend
kindly pointed out to me that what I had vaguely known and referred
to as "open source" software is more properly referred to as free
software, and helped me see [why "open source" misses the point of
free software][2].  After learning about and absorbing the ideas and
ideals of free software, I have since become a free/libre software
activist.  As a computer scientist who enjoys studying and hacking on
various programs and sometimes writing my own, I have made a point of
releasing all I can under strong copyleft licenses, particularly the
[GNU AGPL][3] license.

My involvement with the [GNU Project][4] started in 2016, first as a
volunteer webmaster, and later as one of the maintainers of [GNUzilla
and IceCat][5] late last year.  Also around the same time, I led a
group of volunteers in organizing and holding [EmacsConf 2019][6] as
a completely online conference, using only free software tools, much
like the excellent [LibrePlanet 2020][7].  I love [GNU Emacs][8], and
use it more than any other program.  GNU Emacs helps me do a wide
variety of tasks such as programming, reading and composing emails,
and chatting via IRC.

More closely related to my internship with the FSF tech team,
I have been familiarizing myself with various pieces of the
[GNU Savannah][9] infrastructure with help from veteran
Savannah hacker [Bob Proulx][10], gradually learning and picking up
tasks helping with the administration and maintenance of Savannah.
I am also a member of the Systems Committee of my university's
computer science club, overseeing and maintaining a large fleet of
GNU/Linux servers for our club members.

For my internship with the Free Software Foundation, I will be working
with the FSF tech team on a number of tasks, including helping with
the [free software forge][11] project, as well as various improvements
for gnu.org.  I look forward to learning many new things and picking
up valuable skills through my internship with the FSF's exceptional
tech team, who do *so much* for the GNU project and the wider free
software community.

[1]: https://www.fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin/introducing-bandali-intern-with-the-fsf-tech-team
[2]: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html
[3]: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl.html
[4]: https://www.gnu.org
[5]: https://www.gnu.org/software/gnuzilla/
[6]: https://emacsconf.org/2019
[7]: https://libreplanet.org/wiki/LibrePlanet:Conference/2020
[8]: https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/
[9]: https://savannah.gnu.org
[10]: https://www.proulx.com/~bob/
[11]: https://www.fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin/coming-soon-a-new-site-for-fully-free-collaboration

You are viewing proxied material from kelar.org. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.