On 2024-03-23 14:13, Salvo Tomaselli wrote:
Maybe is it time to Debian has its own outreachy program?
To have DDs mentoring paid interns to learn how to package, how to
contribute for softwares/tools used by Debian, and so on.
What is the rate at which paid interns stick around when it becomes unpaid?
Is there any data about this?
In my opinion, this brings us back to the eternal question of why people
contribute to Free Software. From what I've gathered, the answer seems
to be very heterogeneous and different people have very different
reasons to contribution to FOSS.
Money (or lack thereof) certainly is one of them, but isn't the be-all
and end-all.
I don't have tons of experience with paid internships, but I did
participate as a GSoC mentor a few years ago and was somewhat
disappointed by the fact the student did not become a regular Debian
contributor.
In my opinion, this wasn't primarily caused by the mentoree's finite
funding, but by a lack of social structures that could've helped them
keep an interest in Debian.
Even though I like the technical work I do in Debian, I probably
wouldn't be as active in the project if there wasn't a local DUG in my
city. I certainly wouldn't be part of Debian if I hadn't had the chance
to go DC15 in Heidelberg and meet tons of nice and inspiring people :P
If we want people to stick around, I think these kind of structures are
crucial and should be given as much attention as the "salary" part of
paid internships.
This is why I'm very happy to see Sruthi's platform mention not only a
"Diversity budget" but also "Diversity activities" and "Local
activities". This sounds like a kick-ass trio to improve diversity in
Debian :)
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