[ubuntu-uk] Encrypted Message

[Paul Sutton]

Hi All

Sorry if this is off topic, I was not sure where I could ask about this.

I am not sure if anyone can help with this directly but perhaps as a
community it is an opportunity to engage and perhaps recruit people who
can help with the testing / development process and spread the word on
Ubuntu, Free Software and GNU / Linux in general.

For the past few years I have been involved in running the Torbay Tech
jam in Paignton, Devon.  This simply was a tech event designed to
inspire people to learn about coding, and a place for like minded people
to meet up, chat, share and work on projects etc.  This event closed in
2018, but fast forward to 2019 and it has been re-launched as the South
Devon Tech Jam, with a more formal structure and hopefully we can move
forward in a more positive way.  We will be running this once a month.

I am not sure how the community in the Uk get involved directly with
events.  I know there is a need for people to download and test releases
of Ubuntu, report bugs and problems and help fix them.  This is a lot of
work,and sometimes complex work but is a very important job.

One thing I do know is platforms such as Launchpad are both very
comprehensive but quite complex for beginners so having a good grounding
in this would probably save developers and others a lot of time trying
to get the right information out of anyone sending in test results or
bug reports.

I just wondered if: -

Anyone would or does do outreach to small events either from the Ubuntu
Community or from Canonical ? Engage with people so that people can
become effective at this job and, perhaps as this will build up
different skill sets, what sort of career path people are able to get in
to,  after all having something like Ubuntu Tester / Developer on a CV
should count for something, to a potential employer and this will
actually encourage people to get involved, (even if their initial
motivation is to help)

As Ubuntu is now more than a desktop / Server OS, but has moved in to
hosting Snaps,  Containers etc,  would someone be able to give talks on
that too.

Granted people can look this information up,  but there is actually
something effective about face to face engagement, that allows
conversation and networking between people.  Also if you talk to 10
people about Launchpad,  there is a chance 1 person won't remember
everything but between those 10 people they should remember different
aspects to then help each other later on.

There are plenty of opportunities to help but also many barriers to
doing so.  If we can find a way to break down those barriers then we
should be able to get more people confident enough to get involved.

I would perhaps hope to also reach out to local organizations who work
with Young people for example Princes Trust or Young Devon as being
involved with Free software opens up many opportunities. 

As we are only just starting up as an event.  I am not looking at
anything such as the above in the immediate future, but thought I would
set the ball rolling here, and just ask,  and see what is possible for
later on.

On a similar note if anyone living in the area would be interested in
such talks this could be a good opportunity to not have to travel too far.

Thank you

Regards

Paul Sutton

-- 
Paul Sutton
http://www.zleap.net
https://www.linkedin.com/in/zleap/
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