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2define(__title, `Internship with the FSF tech team')dnl
3define(__pub, 2020-05-29T14:38:00-04:00)dnl
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6
7<p>Originally published on the Free Software Foundation's sysadmin
8blog:<br/>
9<a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin/introducing-bandali-intern-with-the-fsf-tech-team">Introducing
10Amin Bandali, intern with the FSF tech team</a>.</p>
11
12<p>Hi there, I'm Amin Bandali, often just <code>bandali</code> on the
13interwebs. I wear a few different hats around GNU as a maintainer,
14webmaster, and Savannah hacker, and I'm very excited to be extending
15that to the Free Software Foundation (FSF) as an intern with the FSF
16tech team for spring 2020.</p>
17
18<p>Growing up around parents with backgrounds in computer engineering
19and programming, it did not take long for me to find an interest in
20tinkering and playing with computers as a kid, and I first came into
21contact with GNU/Linux in my teenage years. My first introduction to
22the world of free software came a few years later, when a friend
23kindly pointed out to me that what I had vaguely known and referred to
24as "open source" software is more properly referred to as free
25software, and helped me see
26<a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html">why
27"open source" misses the point of free software</a>. After learning
28about and absorbing the ideas and ideals of free software, I have
29since become a free software activist. As a computer scientist who
30enjoys studying and hacking on various programs and sometimes writing
31my own, I have made a point of releasing all I can under strong
32copyleft licenses, particularly the
33<a href="https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl.html">GNU AGPL</a>
34license.</p>
35
36<p>My involvement with the <a href="https://www.gnu.org">GNU
37Project</a> started in 2016, first as a volunteer webmaster, and later
38as one of the maintainers of
39<a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gnuzilla/">GNUzilla and
40IceCat</a> late last year. Also around the same time, I led a group
41of volunteers in organizing and holding
42<a href="https://emacsconf.org/2019">EmacsConf 2019</a> as a
43completely online conference, using only free software tools, much
44like the excellent
45<a href="https://libreplanet.org/wiki/LibrePlanet:Conference/2020">LibrePlanet
462020</a>. I love <a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/">GNU
47Emacs</a>, and use it more than any other program. GNU Emacs helps me
48do a wide variety of tasks such as programming, reading and composing
49emails, and chatting via IRC.</p>
50
51<p>More closely related to my internship with the FSF tech team, I
52have been familiarizing myself with various pieces of the
53<a href="https://savannah.gnu.org">GNU Savannah</a> infrastructure
54with help from veteran Savannah hacker Bob Proulx, gradually learning
55and picking up tasks helping with the administration and maintenance
56of Savannah. I am also a member of the Systems Committee of my
57university's computer science club, overseeing and maintaining a large
58fleet of GNU/Linux servers for our club members.</p>
59
60<p>For my internship with the Free Software Foundation, I will be
61working with the FSF tech team on a number of tasks, including helping
62with
63the <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin/coming-soon-a-new-site-for-fully-free-collaboration">free
64software forge</a> project, as well as various improvements for
65gnu.org. I look forward to learning many new things and picking up
66valuable skills through my internship with the FSF's exceptional tech
67team, who do <em>so much</em> for the GNU project and the wider free
68software community.</p>
69
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