[UbuntuWomen] Outreach Issues? (Jasna Bencic)

[Elizabeth Krumbach Joseph]

On Sat, Nov 16, 2013 at 9:39 AM, Jasna Benčić <bencic24 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Maybe it would be good to start small with this like a pilot program and
> slightly different from GNOME OPW....

Just to be clear, the problem with being involved in the Gnome
Outreach Program for Women is that while we CAN find the funding for
it via Ubuntu Community Funding[0] (I have confirmed with Canonical),
they don't have the resources currently to invest in *mentors* to run
the program for Ubuntu. I've asked around here in UW and beyond, none
of the volunteer community members I've spoken with have the time to
invest in running the program for Ubuntu either.

So it seems like what you're proposing seeks to solve the wrong
problem. It's the people *running* the project and the mentors who
aren't getting paid so we can't find people to do it. It's a lot of
working making sure everything is organized, giving help, tasks, and
feedback to mentees, and following-up as needed.

That said, running a Gnome OPW is a much larger undertaking than just
doing mini mentoring projects ourselves that we are clear are not
internships, but just ways to help newcomers. This absolutely is
something I'd like us to do more of, and is well within the scope of
what we're doing, so I don't think we need to create a whole new team
for it. Perhaps someday these experienced mentors from our small
projects will see value in spending their unpaid time of running a
Gnome OPW for Ubuntu some semester.

> I've been following OPW Linux kernel internships for 2 rounds now and
> haven't seen any interest of young ladies to join in a small Linux kernel
> group for ladies  so this doesn't stay on internship level only. This tells
> you how they are just going for an internship because they want a job. And I
> understand that very much. After all that is GNOME OPW goal and I respect
> that a lot. Many young women struggle to get carrer, especially in IT world.

I've seen similar in the OpenStack world with the folks who get the
mentorships, I now work with one at HP (she was hired a few months
after the program). I think the term internship (at least in the US)
is a very clear step in a career path for many people and means
"something you do on the way to getting a job" so this makes sense.

[0] http://community.ubuntu.com/help-information/funding/

-- 
Elizabeth Krumbach Joseph || Lyz || pleia2
http://www.princessleia.com