Open source is how most of software development is done today, but beyond enabling technological innovation, it can enable your evolution. First and foremost, open source has always enabled learning, the communities that coalesce around project foster mentorship – and as we all know, you need to keep adding skills to your resume to stay up to date with technology. Second, your work can be your calling card, resolution of issues and merged code improvements is a great way to show employees and colleagues not only what you are capable of but what you literally have done. Finally, participation goes well beyond coding to building your brand, networking, and communication of technology needs to stakeholders. Investing in open source is a must for anyone in or near software development.

Featured Presenter: Rachel Roumeliotis – Director, Open Source Strategy, Intel

Rachel has been educating technologists for over 20 years. She comes to Intel most recently from O’Reilly Media, where she was a vice president of content strategy. During her time in the technical content acquisition and creation space, she worked within a wide variety of communities, from open source to AI, as well as security and design. She chaired many technical conferences, but her favorite was OSCON (O’Reilly’s Open Source Software Conference). She chaired that event for five years before bringing O’Reilly’s conference program to the virtual world in spring of 2020. She has also worked with a number of companies like Google, IBM, and Microsoft to tell their stories to developers. She hails from Massachusetts and is a fan of ‘mystery box’ TV shows and sci-fi, horror, and fantasy books.