20 Years FSFE: Interview with Fernanda Weiden

Fernanda Weiden: I grew up in Porto Alegre, the southernmost capital in Brazil. It is a city of about a million people in a region under large influence of its European immigration. I never really planned to end up as a computer engineer. The first time I entered university, it was to become a mathematics teacher. After about a year of that, it was clear that wasn't going to work for me.

I started become more and more interested in computers, and a lot of people I knew were already using and playing around with GNU/Linux. I got curious about that very quickly and learning to use GNU/Linux without a graphical interface helped me to understand how computers worked without the magic of a user interface. I loved it.

After a while I started working with systems and when RedHat started their certification program called RedHat Certified Engineer, I was on the first group of people in Latin America who took the test. There were 10 of us, and 6 passed the test. I was one of them and obviously, the only woman.That brought a spotlight into my work, and also put a spotlight on the Free Software community for me. I rapidly became engaged.

Those years in Latin America were politically very interesting, and a lot of the governments were investing in Free Software as a possible alternative to foster business and also independence from software suppliers - usually from Europe or North America. Free Software Foundation Latin America was an obvious step to help strengthen the community and also support decision makers in the public sector to understand the issues around Free Software better. Unfortunately I do not think that FSFLA managed to fulfil its potential at the time, but it was a great experience nevertheless.

I was already very well connected with people from all over Latin America and over the world really because of the work I did in the program committee of the International Free Software Forum in Porto Alegre, so I ended up being a natural choice I guess. Being a woman also helped. Unlike many other women involved in the community, I was an engineer and understood not only the political side of the issues, but the technical side too.

Free Software in Brazil was at its highest point, I would say. The government was interested and willing to make moves and cooperate with the community to learn from us. The government supported us also financially by funding our events and helping us to build a solid base for the community. Events are super important because they help spread awareness and build momentum for important steps to be taken politically. I also think events are opportunities to give the microphone to those who have something important to say. At that time, it was important that we all let the world know that there was a different path for digital transformation and to start an industry in technology that isn't dependent on technologies from big companies. Free Software is empowering for a third world nation because it can take countries and industries out of the backseat into the driver seat for their own future.

I moved to Europe at the end of 2005, after receiving a job offer to join Google in Zurich. It was the most transformational experience in my life. Seeing and living different cultures, working in big tech for almost 13 years. All that changed me and helped me develop in ways I've never thought possible before.

I am forever grateful to what Free Software made possible in my life, and continuing to give back to the community is very important to me.

FSFE for me was a way to stay engaged with my roots. I had friends who were also engaged, and I wanted to continue to give back to the community that gave me so much. Not only in technical and political knowledge, but everything else that comes with that. I am forever grateful to what Free Software made possible in my life, and continuing to give back to the community is very important to me. Even if at times seem hard because life has changed so much, time is more scarce and priorities have shifted from a personal point of view.

Open Standards for documents are vital. If you record your information in a standard that isn't open for anyone to implement, to me, it is the same as not owning the information you recorded, because you're prisoner of that vendor forever. If they go out of business, so do your records. I love the campaign because I think it is a way to raise the importance of digital freedom to those who might not be aware or even interested in Free Software. It is a way to plant a question into people's minds.

My favorite activity was definitely the pictures. We would ask people to send us pictures from all over the world of their events/celebrations for DFD, and it was great to see the community getting together all over the world to discuss the importance of Open Standards.

When I became a Free Software activist, one had to argue about the platform to be used to build software. Today, Free Software isn't a question anymore. It is the norm in many places. Big companies play an important role because they hire and pay engineers to continue to produce state of art software that is then available through Free Software licenses. Of course not all engineer hours go into that, but it is definitely something that both big tech companies I worked for appreciated and contributed to in different ways.

The most important thing, in my view, is to make it a priority to build an inclusive environment. It cannot be a second thought. If you don't think first and foremost how I can make sure this environment is friendly to everyone, you're missing the opportunity to be inclusive. A lot of companies and organizations make the mistake to believe that one or other activity will make them more friendly to minorities. It isn't about one or other activity. It is about how you behave every moment of your day and how much effort you make to ensure you're listening to the quiet, being open to different opinions, and being restless to ensure your pipeline is healthy with diverse talent when you're going to hire. It is a virtuous cycle: once you start making positive moves, more diverse talent will keep coming because they will feel safe.

From the early times working at FSFE I always appreciated the pragmatic and balanced way to engage with the community. FSFE has always had a commitment to have a dialogue no matter how different positions were held by the other side of the conversation. I think this is very important in business settings too: you have to listen to everyone if you want to be effective. FSFE also does it in a way that is friendly, accepting but does not compromise the core values we stand for.

Unfortunately I wasn't present for the day, but I still laughed a lot about it, and I was there when the song was released, and that was a lot of fun. Definitely the Schnitzel Monster. I will let the monster tell his own story though.

I wish that the FSFE continues to be an organization that evolves as the challenges of our times evolve. If in the past proprietary software was a big issue, now we have privacy issues in the cloud. We also have software running in our washing machines and ovens. I also wish FSFE continues to be the friendly environment it has always been to me. We don't see each other in person very often, but when we do, excluding the extra grey hair and wrinkles, it feels like we have always been close. It is a large and spread family.