Debian Trying to Recruit More Women

The Debian Women project is beginning training sessions to encourage more women to participate in the nuts and bolts of Debian development. Alexander Reichle-Schmehl (Debian spokesman, event organizer, and developer) said in a recent press release that "the main goal of this initiative is to encourage more people, and specifically women, to contribute to Debian while introducing them to different aspects of the Debian Project."

"Topics will span over a wide range of subjects related to daily Debian maintenance efforts as well as advanced tasks." The first session is scheduled for Thursday, November 18 at 20:00 UTC (3:00 PM Eastern or 2:00 PM Central US time). Classes will be held on the Debian Women project IRC channel (#debian-women irc.debian.org). No registration is required, the sessions are open to everyone - even men.

This first class will be lead by Lars Wirzenius on an introduction to Debian packaging. Future sessions planned cover using Git, and Python libraries and application packaging. Further out, other possible topics include "How to use the Bug Tracking System," "The Debian project, organization and history," "Dealing with upstream," and "Secure programming practices." Keep an eye on the wiki for times, dates, and topics.

So if you ever wished you were one of those really cool Debian developers - here's your chance! As Reichle-Schmehl said, "don't be shy!"