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  41 <h1>Internship with the FSF tech team</h1>
  42 <p>by <a href="https://bndl.org"><b>bandali</b></a>
  43 on May 29, 2020 <small>(also
  44 in <a href="fsf-internship-intro.txt">plain text</a>)</small></p>
  45
  46 <p class="box">Originally published on the Free Software Foundation's
  47 sysadmin blog:<br/>
  48 <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin/introducing-bandali-intern-with-the-fsf-tech-team">Introducing
  49 Amin Bandali, intern with the FSF tech team</a></p>
  50
  51 <p>Hi there, I'm Amin Bandali, often just <code>bandali</code> on the
  52 interwebs.  I wear a few different hats around GNU as a maintainer,
  53 webmaster, and Savannah hacker, and I'm very excited to be extending
  54 that to the Free Software Foundation (FSF) as an intern with the FSF
  55 tech team for spring 2020.</p>
  56
  57 <p>Growing up around parents with backgrounds in computer engineering
  58 and programming, it did not take long for me to find an interest in
  59 tinkering and playing with computers as a kid, and I first came into
  60 contact with GNU/Linux in my teenage years.  My first introduction to
  61 the world of free software came a few years later, when a friend
  62 kindly pointed out to me that what I had vaguely known and referred to
  63 as "open source" software is more properly referred to as free
  64 software, and helped me see
  65 <a href="https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.html">why
  66 "open source" misses the point of free software</a>.  After learning
  67 about and absorbing the ideas and ideals of free software, I have
  68 since become a free software activist.  As a computer scientist who
  69 enjoys studying and hacking on various programs and sometimes writing
  70 my own, I have made a point of releasing all I can under strong
  71 copyleft licenses, particularly the
  72 <a href="https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl.html">GNU AGPL</a>
  73 license.</p>
  74
  75 <p>My involvement with the <a href="https://www.gnu.org">GNU
  76 Project</a> started in 2016, first as a volunteer webmaster, and later
  77 as one of the maintainers of
  78 <a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/gnuzilla/">GNUzilla and
  79 IceCat</a> late last year.  Also around the same time, I led a group
  80 of volunteers in organizing and holding
  81 <a href="https://emacsconf.org/2019">EmacsConf 2019</a> as a
  82 completely online conference, using only free software tools, much
  83 like the excellent
  84 <a href="https://libreplanet.org/wiki/LibrePlanet:Conference/2020">LibrePlanet
  85 2020</a>.  I love <a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/">GNU
  86 Emacs</a>, and use it more than any other program.  GNU Emacs helps me
  87 do a wide variety of tasks such as programming, reading and composing
  88 emails, and chatting via IRC.</p>
  89
  90 <p>More closely related to my internship with the FSF tech team, I
  91 have been familiarizing myself with various pieces of the
  92 <a href="https://savannah.gnu.org">GNU Savannah</a> infrastructure
  93 with help from veteran Savannah hacker Bob Proulx, gradually learning
  94 and picking up tasks helping with the administration and maintenance
  95 of Savannah.  I am also a member of the Systems Committee of my
  96 university's computer science club, overseeing and maintaining a large
  97 fleet of GNU/Linux servers for our club members.</p>
  98
  99 <p>For my internship with the Free Software Foundation, I will be
 100 working with the FSF tech team on a number of tasks, including helping
 101 with
 102 the <a href="https://www.fsf.org/blogs/sysadmin/coming-soon-a-new-site-for-fully-free-collaboration">free
 103 software forge</a> project, as well as various improvements for
 104 gnu.org.  I look forward to learning many new things and picking up
 105 valuable skills through my internship with the FSF's exceptional tech
 106 team, who do <em>so much</em> for the GNU project and the wider free
 107 software community.</p>
 108
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 111 <summary>Copyright &copy; 2020 bandali</summary>
 112 <p>Copying and distribution of this file, with or without
 113 modification, are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the
 114 copyright notice and this notice are preserved.  This file is offered
 115 as-is, without any warranty.</p>
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