Helen Faulkner

How long have you been using Debian?

Since about 2000. I'm not exactly sure - it seems like a long time ago. My housemate foisted Debian on me for his own amusement, and it grew from there...

Are you a Debian Developer?

Yes.

What areas of Debian are you involved in?

I'm packaging several useful and/or funny KDE panel applets as well as a little thing I wrote myself (kdoomsday) and labplot (a great scientific plotter). I may take on a couple of others soon. I'm active on the Debian Women mailing list. I'm interested in seeing Debian become a community that is more varied and more accessible to groups that are currently under-represented.

What got you interested in working with Debian?

Mainly I'm really interested in how it all works. I enjoy learning how to package things, how the system is put together, etc. And I like volunteer work.

Do you have any tips for women interested in getting more involved with Debian?

Just do it. It's not as scary as you might think. Get into the Debian Women mailing list and ask people, read the information on the website, join us on IRC. There are a lot of friendly and helpful people about.

Are you involved with any other women in technology group? Which one(s)?

Nope.

A bit more about you...

I'm a physicist with an interest in technology and programming. When I'm not being those things I'm into music, sailing, dogs and whatever takes my interest at the time. I've done volunteer stuff in all of those areas and others. In my experience you get back more than you put in, if you are prepared to take time to help other people out in a way that you enjoy.

I like the ideals of the free/open-source software movement, not to mention the excellent software you get to use! I would like to see more women involved in that world, and Debian specifically, because I know women have a lot to contribute.