Last week I posted a blog entry highlighting two internship opportunities on my team at Canonical, one for a Ubuntu Community Documentation Author and one for a Ubuntu Community Web Developer. After the announcement went out there was a little flame and fire surrounding the opportunities, particularly surrounding the rules and regulations about internships in different parts of the world. Thank you to those of you who shared constructive feedback about the opportunities.
I was really keen to make sure we do the right thing regarding these opportunities, so today I had a call with our head of Human Resources and HR rockstar Alice Paul, and we discussed the feedback and what amendments to the opportunities that we needed to make. We made a few mistakes I am keen to rectify. Firstly, we referred to these roles as internships, whereas they are more accurately volunteer opportunities and not internships. Secondly, they were too rigidly defined (more like normal job roles). Finally, they were written with the UK in mind (this is where our HR department is based). While the absolute best intentions were at heart (to provide a great opportunity for two smart and enthusiastic folks to get some experience working with my team), some of these mistakes made it sound too rigid. Well, let’s fix these mistakes, get these opportunities in shape, and get this train back on the road again.
So, let’s give this another shot. I am keen to provide an opportunity for two folks to come and spend some time with my team, work on some community projects, and get some experience. They are:
- Ubuntu Community Documentation Author – produce a series of well-written and clear materials about a range of different topics in the Ubuntu community surrounding how to participate, make these materials available on line and ensuring they follow style and quality guidelines, work with the Ubuntu Documentation Team, Learning Team and Ubuntu Manual project to liaise around collaboration and best practice for materials production, promote and raise awareness of this documentation inside and outside the Ubuntu community, and identify common needs and requirements for materials, prioritize them and build them into your workflow.
- Ubuntu Community Web Developer – in conjunction with the team and the community, design new features and solutions for specific needs in our key web properties, develop and implement such features and solutions using a range of appropriate tools, provide solid testing and quality assurance over your work during the development phase and before deployment, and triage, fix and deploy bug fixes.
All of the projects these two opportunities would focus on are Ubuntu community projects and free and Open Source.
Unlike the previous post, there is no fixed time engagement period or hours for these opportunities: we can discuss these and figure out something that works well for you with your other commitments. As before, these opportunities are entirely optional and unpaid volunteer opportunities for those of you who are keen to get some experience working with my team ; this could be a great addition for your resume.
If you are interested in this, contact Alice Paul at alice.paul AT canonical DOT com and use the subject Community Team Opportunities.
