Czajkowski

I finally gave in after enough poking and have agreed to give a talk.  I was asked there over a week ago to give a short presentation to a group of Masters Students here in Dublin.  On further investigation, I realised it was a longer talking spot then I could ever fill so I asked 3 others would they like to take part.

Patrick O’ Connor and Paul O’Malley will be talking on ” How to teach your boss to Floss”

What is open source, why should you care about it and how can it be of use to you in your professional life?  This talk provides a high level introduction to Open Source software and some its benefits in an organisation. Geared for IT professionals this talk is in two parts, designed to enable you to “sell” the use of Open Source into your organisation and how to work with it once there.

Declan McGrath will talk on “How the different members of the Open Source Community Interact”

Declan is a Ruby Developer with Clavis Technolog.  Coordinator for ossdev-ireland & Ruby Ireland.  Also involved with Python Ireland, Dublin Alt.net.  CodeMongrel.com Podcast.

and finally me  ” To Ubuntu and beyond: Where individual participation can take you”

How I got involved in OSS, where I started, how I contribute and how you can to.  You don’t need to be a developer to participate, nor do you need to be a whiz on the computer, there is a community of helpers out there.

This is all new to me, ask me to help or organise back stage, and I’ll jump in two feet first and ask questions at some random point.  I used to work organising events in college dealing with students is much easier then talking to a quiet room full of strangers. I know I speak fast so when nervous I speak even faster, so I’m going t try giving short talks where with the aim to slow down talking and another way I can give back.

Finally I am curious though, how did you get into OSS, where has it take you, was it the role you expected, did you ever see the path you’ve taken as being an option?