Margarita Manterola
URL:
https://www.marga.com.ar/blogEmail: marga@debian.org
How long have you been using Debian?
I've been using Debian since 2000. At first I was just a
simple user, but with time I grew more involved, first reporting
bugs, then submitting patches, and by 2004 I started maintaining
packages.
A turning point in my life was the
DebConf4 in Brazil,
where I was able to meet a lot of Debian Developers,
put faces to names and learn a lot about how Debian works.
I highly recommend that people attend DebConf and meet people
there. It's been a long time, and by this time I have the feeling
that Debian people are part of my extended family.
Are you a Debian Developer?
Yes. I became a Debian Developer on November 13th, 2005.
What areas of Debian are you involved in?
I maintain some packages but not too many, the biggest thing
regarding packaging that I do is participate in the team that
maintains the Cinnamon Desktop Environment.
Also, I've been very actively involved in the organization of
several DebConfs, particularly for
DebConf8,
which took place in my country, Argentina.
Later on I moved to Germany and also took an active part
of the organization of DebConf15, in Heidelberg.
On top of this, I particularly enjoy doing QA:
I've done quite a lot of NMUs to fix RC bugs in packages
that were not fit for a release, and I usually have a lot of fun
participating on Bug Squashing Parties. I am part of the
anti-harassment team, trying to make Debian a safe place where
everyone is welcome and can express themselves.
I am also part of the Technical Committee, which is the body
that helps make difficult technical decisions.
What got you interested in working with Debian?
The free software philosophy. I liked that it was developed
by a community instead of a company, and that my contributions
could be accepted if they were worthy.
Also, the magic
of apt-get and the immense repository. I usually have this
perception that if something is not in Debian, it's not worth using
it (and if it is, then I can make it my responsibility to make sure
that it's packaged and uploaded). What has kept me interested
in working in Debian over the years is that there's always
more work to be done, more software to get into Debian,
more bugs to fix, more new ideas to try out.
Do you have any tips for women interested in getting more involved with Debian?
There are many things to do in Debian, and usually the hardest part is to find where you will fit. For example, if you are into programming, look for a team that maintains packages in a programming language that you like and join them. If you are like me and like to fix many small bugs, look at the list of bugs and try to find the fix for one. There are lots of easy ones, and people will be really grateful that you took the time to fix the bugs. But even if you are not into code or bug fixing, there are many things to do. We need better graphical design, we need better documentation, we need translations, and many many more things.
A bit more about you...
I've been mostly a Python Programmer for more than 10 years.
I lived in Argentina until 2012, and then moved to Munich, Germany
to work for Google as a Site Reliability Engineer.
I've been married to Maximiliano Curia (another DD) since 2004
(DebConf4 was our honeymoon trip!)