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  21 <h1>Internship with the FSF tech team</h1>
  22 <p>by <a href="https://bndl.org"><b>bandali</b></a>
  23 on 29 May 2020 <small>(also
  24 in <a href="fsf-internship-intro.txt">plain text</a>)</small></p>
  25
  26 <p class="box">Originally published on the Free Software Foundation's
  27 sysadmin blog:<br />
  28 <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin/introducing-bandali-intern-with-the-fsf-tech-team">Introducing
  29 Amin Bandali, intern with the FSF tech team</a></p>
  30
  31 <p>Hi there, I'm Amin Bandali, often just <code>bandali</code> on the
  32 interwebs.  I wear a few different hats around GNU as a maintainer,
  33 webmaster, and Savannah hacker, and I'm very excited to be extending
  34 that to the Free Software Foundation (FSF) as an intern with the FSF
  35 tech team for spring 2020.</p>
  36
  37 <p>Growing up around parents with backgrounds in computer engineering
  38 and programming, it did not take long for me to find an interest in
  39 tinkering and playing with computers as a kid, and I first came into
  40 contact with GNU/Linux in my teenage years.  My first introduction to
  41 the world of free software came a few years later, when a friend
  42 kindly pointed out to me that what I had vaguely known and referred to
  43 as "open source" software is more properly referred to as free
  44 software, and helped me see
  45 <a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html">why
  46 "open source" misses the point of free software</a>.  After learning
  47 about and absorbing the ideas and ideals of free software, I have
  48 since become a free software activist.  As a computer scientist who
  49 enjoys studying and hacking on various programs and sometimes writing
  50 my own, I have made a point of releasing all I can under strong
  51 copyleft licenses, particularly the
  52 <a href="https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl.html">GNU AGPL</a>
  53 license.</p>
  54
  55 <p>My involvement with the <a href="https://www.gnu.org">GNU
  56 Project</a> started in 2016, first as a volunteer webmaster, and later
  57 as one of the maintainers of
  58 <a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gnuzilla/">GNUzilla and
  59 IceCat</a> late last year.  Also around the same time, I led a group
  60 of volunteers in organizing and holding
  61 <a href="https://emacsconf.org/2019">EmacsConf 2019</a> as a
  62 completely online conference, using only free software tools, much
  63 like the excellent
  64 <a href="https://libreplanet.org/wiki/LibrePlanet:Conference/2020">LibrePlanet
  65 2020</a>.  I love <a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/">GNU
  66 Emacs</a>, and use it more than any other program.  GNU Emacs helps me
  67 do a wide variety of tasks such as programming, reading and composing
  68 emails, and chatting via IRC.</p>
  69
  70 <p>More closely related to my internship with the FSF tech team, I
  71 have been familiarizing myself with various pieces of the
  72 <a href="https://savannah.gnu.org">GNU Savannah</a> infrastructure
  73 with help from veteran Savannah hacker Bob Proulx, gradually learning
  74 and picking up tasks helping with the administration and maintenance
  75 of Savannah.  I am also a member of the Systems Committee of my
  76 university's computer science club, overseeing and maintaining a large
  77 fleet of GNU/Linux servers for our club members.</p>
  78
  79 <p>For my internship with the Free Software Foundation, I will be
  80 working with the FSF tech team on a number of tasks, including helping
  81 with
  82 the <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin/coming-soon-a-new-site-for-fully-free-collaboration">free
  83 software forge</a> project, as well as various improvements for
  84 gnu.org.  I look forward to learning many new things and picking up
  85 valuable skills through my internship with the FSF's exceptional tech
  86 team, who do <em>so much</em> for the GNU project and the wider free
  87 software community.</p>
  88
  89 <hr />
  90 <p id="copy">Copyright &copy; 2020 bandali</p>
  91 <p id="license">Copying and distribution of this file, with or without
  92 modification, are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the
  93 copyright notice and this notice are preserved.  This file is offered
  94 as-is, without any warranty.</p>
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