ROSE Blog Interviews: Valerie Bubb Fenwick, Staff Engineer at Sun Microsystems

ROSE Blog: Rikki's Open Source Exchange
Valerie Bubb Fenwick is a Staff Engineer at Sun Microsystems, contributor to Solaris 10 Security Essentials, and lead for the OpenSolaris Change Request Team. She helped design and was a major contributor to the Solaris Cryptographic Framework, and she currently works on making it certifiable by US Government standards. Valerie talks about her role at Sun Microsystems and the importance of community in open source.
Q: Who are you?
A: Valerie Anne Bubb Fenwick, a.k.a. bubbva, though I don't always use my maiden name anymore (the Bubb of bubbva).
Q: What do you currently do in open source? What do you love about it?
A: I develop code for the Cryptographic Framework for the OpenSolaris operating system. My focus is on the framework itself, as opposed to the low-level crypto. I additionally focus on maintaining export compliance for the operating system as well as working with other US Government standards.
I am the chair for the OpenSolaris Change Review Team for the Operating Systems and Networking (ON) consolidation. That means I run nominations for new members of the team, make sure the documentation on opensolaris.org for how to commit and write for ON is accurate, as well as training new folks on the sponsor process. The sponsor process is where a Sun employee works with someone in the external community on a fix for the operating system, since most of our gates still live internally. (the source is mirrored outside, but the day to day operations are still internal).
I'm additionally on the OpenSolaris Governing Board, where I serve the community through working on a new constitution, explaining policies and procedures as well as making sure they voice of our members are heard by Sun.
What I love about working in open source: what I'm doing at Sun is no longer a secret, I am free to talk with friends, colleagues and students about my work. I love that when I need a quick code review, I can literally send a tweet and within a few minutes, I've gotten all my code reviewers lined up and I can quickly integrate my changes!
Q: You're speaking to a group of women from other fields who are considering switching careers. Why should they consider moving into an open source-related career? What should they know about the open source environment to prepare them for the transition from a different field?
A: One thing that is great about open source is that there are many different ways people can participate, from updating documentation, providing feedback on installation or usage experiences, providing good bug reports or with code changes. This makes it a great way to learn new technology, even if you aren't 100 percent sure you're ready for a career change.
Working in open source also greatly increases your network and exposure; your work can be well known and appreciated. This is a double-edged sword, though, as you can also quickly become known as someone that is difficult to work with and those types of impressions are hard to change. When working in open source, people need to be careful to put their best face forward and really watch what they say in emails and at conferences.
One issue I've found in open source is that unless you find a very helpful community, you will be expected to do a lot of things on your own that you would normally get training on if you were doing this as a traditional job. Fortunately, there are helpful communities out there that can really make a difference in a newbie's experience.
For women in particular, I would say that just because you may find one community that doesn't appreciate your work or take the time to answer your questions, please do shop around. There are lots of places out there that need your help and you can find you can make a big difference in a short amount of time.
Q: You're speaking to a group of high school students (male and female). Why should they consider exploring career options in open source?
A: I think there are great opportunities for both men and women in open source, and that gender shouldn't matter. Of course, we both know that isn't always true. Men and women often use different ways to communicate and look for different types of rewards for their hard work. I wish there were more women in open source communities and am excited about the research going on here now.
If you or someone you know would like to contribute to this interview series, please send your responses to the following questions to me at rkite AT linuxpromagazine DOT com:
- Who are you?
- What do you currently do in open source? What do you love about it?
- You're speaking to a group of women from other fields who are considering switching careers. Why should they consider moving into an open source-related career? What should they know about the open source environment to prepare them for the transition from a different field?
- You're speaking to a group of high school students (male and female). Why should they consider exploring career options in open source?
- What question do you wish I'd asked? And how would you answer it?
Read previous interviews:
Ellen Siever, co-author of Linux in a Nutshell
Juliet Kemp, author and admin extraordinaire
Noirin Shirley, Vice President of the Apache Software Foundation
Con-Techie.com's Kendra "Admin" Schaefer
Emma Jane Hogbin, co-author of Front End Drupal
Sharon Moreland, Technology Consultant at the Northeast Kansas Library System
Meike Reichle, Debian Developer
Máirín Duffy, Team Lead for Fedora Design Team
Hillary Rettig, author and activist
Stormy Peters, Executive Director of the GNOME Foundation
Linux Foundation's Angela Brown
Ohio LinuxFest's Beth Lynn Eicher
LinuxToday.com's Carla Schroder
Urban Forest Mapping Project's Kelaine Vargas
comments powered by DisqusIssue 270/2023
Buy this issue as a PDF
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Find SysAdmin Jobs
News
-
CarbonOS: A New Linux Distro with a Focus on User Experience
CarbonOS is a brand new, built-from-scratch Linux distribution that uses the Gnome desktop and has a special feature that makes it appealing to all types of users.
-
Kubuntu Focus Announces XE Gen 2 Linux Laptop
Another Kubuntu-based laptop has arrived to be your next ultra-portable powerhouse with a Linux heart.
-
MNT Seeks Financial Backing for New Seven-Inch Linux Laptop
MNT Pocket Reform is a tiny laptop that is modular, upgradable, recyclable, reusable, and ships with Debian Linux.
-
Ubuntu Flatpak Remix Adds Flatpak Support Preinstalled
If you're looking for a version of Ubuntu that includes Flatpak support out of the box, there's one clear option.
-
Gnome 44 Release Candidate Now Available
The Gnome 44 release candidate has officially arrived and adds a few changes into the mix.
-
Flathub Vying to Become the Standard Linux App Store
If the Flathub team has any say in the matter, their product will become the default tool for installing Linux apps in 2023.
-
Debian 12 to Ship with KDE Plasma 5.27
The Debian development team has shifted to the latest version of KDE for their testing branch.
-
Planet Computers Launches ARM-based Linux Desktop PCs
The firm that originally released a line of mobile keyboards has taken a different direction and has developed a new line of out-of-the-box mini Linux desktop computers.
-
Ubuntu No Longer Shipping with Flatpak
In a move that probably won’t come as a shock to many, Ubuntu and all of its official spins will no longer ship with Flatpak installed.
-
openSUSE Leap 15.5 Beta Now Available
The final version of the Leap 15 series of openSUSE is available for beta testing and offers only new software versions.