Category: Foundation
Extended: Job Search for a Development Mentor (#201711-01)
We originally posted this in November, but we are now extending the deadline for applications to February 16, 2018. Note that we will be at FOSDEM (building K, level 1, group A) on February 3 and 4, so you can talk to us in person there!
The Document Foundation (TDF), the charitable entity behind the world’s leading free office suite LibreOffice, seeks an individual – or individuals part (or full) time – to be
a Development Mentor
to start work as soon as possible. The role requires the following:
- Self-starting, remote working experience
- Experience contributing to FLOSS communities
- Excellent communication skills, with enthusiasm for mentoring
- Coding experience (LibreOffice coding preferred)
- Willingness to travel to Hackfests & conferences in Europe and globally
The role involves working from home at your location for at least 20 hours per week, up to full-time and includes among other items:
Supporting existing mentors in the LibreOffice community including:
- Building relationships between existing mentors and new contributors
- Identifying and on-boarding new contributors
- Affirming and encouraging their contribution
- Building initial relationships with them
- Encouraging them to join IRC to meet the teams
- Introducing them to domain experts for deeper learning
- Helping to educate new contributors by
- Positively reviewing their code contributions
- Introducing them to our tooling and culture
- Attracting new contributors by promoting the project
- Interaction with UX volunteers
Previous experience with such tasks is highly welcome, so is using free software. Speaking and writing English reasonably well is a mandatory requirement.
The work time during the day is flexible, apart from some fixed times when availability is required (e.g. during meetings, which usually take place at 14:00 or 15:00 UTC once per week).
TDF welcomes applications from all suitably qualified persons regardless of their race, sex, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation or age.
As always, TDF will give some preference to individuals who have previously shown a commitment to TDF, including but not limited to members of TDF. Not being a member, or never having contributed before, does not exclude any applicants from consideration.
TDF is looking forward to receiving your applications, including curriculum vitae, your financial expectations, and the earliest date of your availability, via e-mail to Florian Effenberger at floeff@documentfoundation.org no later than February 16, 2018. You can encrypt your message via PGP/GnuPG.
If you haven’t received feedback by March 16, 2018, your application could not be considered.
TDF supports the “Munich stays free” alliance
Following the recent decision by Munich’s City Council to step back to closed source and proprietary software, at a large cost to taxpayers, a group of free and open source software (FOSS) supporters have created a website explaining the importance of FOSS in public administrations.
The German website, called München bleibt frei (Munich stays free), lists numerous benefits of FOSS, including:
- Independence from a single software vendor
- Boost to local industry (because anyone can improve FOSS)
- Sustainability
- Security and data protection
The Document Foundation supports this position. Our previous statement on the situation in Munich can be found here.
Lothar Becker appointed Co-Chair of TDF Certification Committee
Lothar Becker, a long-time member of the LibreOffice community (and previously of the OOo community), has been appointed Co-Chair of TDF’s Certification Committee, which has been chaired by Italo Vignoli since its inception in 2013, effective immediately. Lothar will manage certification applications and reviews, while Italo will focus on updating existing certification-related documents and developing new ones. Together, Lothar and Italo will develop content for certification workshops, which will be planned starting from 2018.
“Lothar has been instrumental for the growth of the certification project, as he has contributed in a significant way to all certification reviews, and has also pushed forward concepts which are now part of the certification process”, said Italo Vignoli. “After four years, it was time to share the responsibility with one of the people who has always believed in the certification project as a trigger of growth for the entire LibreOffice project, especially in enterprise and public administration environments”.
The next Certification Review is planned for Sunday, February 4, at FOSDEM in Brussels. People interested in becoming either Certified Migrator or Certified Trainers, or both, should apply as soon as possible by filling the form on The Document Foundation website.
Job Search for a Development Mentor (#201711-01)
The Document Foundation (TDF), the charitable entity behind the world’s leading free office suite LibreOffice, seeks an individual – or individuals part (or full) time – to be
a Development Mentor
to start work as soon as possible. The role requires the following:
- Self-starting, remote working experience
- Experience contributing to FLOSS communities
- Excellent communication skills, with enthusiasm for mentoring
- Coding experience (LibreOffice coding preferred)
- Willingness to travel to Hackfests & conferences in Europe and globally
The role involves working from home at your location for at least 20 hours per week, up to full-time and includes among other items:
Supporting existing mentors in the LibreOffice community including:
- Building relationships between existing mentors and new contributors
- Identifying and on-boarding new contributors
- Affirming and encouraging their contribution
- Building initial relationships with them
- Encouraging them to join IRC to meet the teams
- Introducing them to domain experts for deeper learning
- Helping to educate new contributors by
- Positively reviewing their code contributions
- Introducing them to our tooling and culture
- Attracting new contributors by promoting the project
- Interaction with UX volunteers
Previous experience with such tasks is highly welcome, so is using free software. Speaking and writing English reasonably well is a mandatory requirement.
The work time during the day is flexible, apart from some fixed times when availability is required (e.g. during meetings, which usually take place at 14:00 or 15:00 UTC once per week).
TDF welcomes applications from all suitably qualified persons regardless of their race, sex, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation or age.
As always, TDF will give some preference to individuals who have previously shown a commitment to TDF, including but not limited to members of TDF. Not being a member, or never having contributed before, does not exclude any applicants from consideration.
TDF is looking forward to receiving your applications, including curriculum vitae, your financial expectations, and the earliest date of your availability, via e-mail to Florian Effenberger at floeff@documentfoundation.org no later than December 5, 2017. You can encrypt your message via PGP/GnuPG.
If you haven’t received feedback by January 11, 2018, your application could not be considered.
LibreOffice Certification is now available to FSF Members
Yesterday, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) announced that the opportunity to apply for LibreOffice certification for migrations and training is now available to FSF Associate Members. In 2015, TDF began offering LibreOffice certification to certify “individuals actively promoting LibreOffice deployments, thanks to their competence in specific areas” including development and L3 support, migrations to LibreOffice, and LibreOffice training. In 2017, TDF Certification Committee decided to open the certification process to members of other FLOSS projects, starting from those sitting in TDF Advisory Board.
People certified in LibreOffice migrations and training are able to help companies and government offices make the switch away from proprietary office suites, and that raises the value of a deep understanding of LibreOffice. Italo Vignoli, Chair of the LibreOffice Certification Committee, said: “By extending LibreOffice certification to FSF members, we are widening the reach of our program to foster migrations to LibreOffice. In several geographies, the availability of certified professionals has triggered a number of large deployments in public administrations and enterprises.”