Hi everyone! It's been a while, and I've been busy! Time sure seems to be flying, but at least (according to our mentors), we are making good progress and producing some good work. For me, that's encouraging, even when it feels like the "progress bar" of our work is standing still.
I hope you're all doing well, and reaching your goals, and if you're not - here's to a better future! Speaking of the future, in this post I'm going to be talking a bit about my prospective plans for the future, my vision for my career and what I plan to do once the internship is over.
For those of you who don't know... and I'm guessing that's most of you, readers, I'll give you a little about myself and what I've been up to in my career so far.
For those who don't know me, I'm a talented web and digital graphics designer from the Caribbean Island of Barbados, with over 5 years of experience in each discipline under my belt. Beyond design, I also have extensive experience with video editing, photography, and media production and much more. I'm a bit of a "technomancer" and have always been an explorer, starting with poking around in the windows registry (back in the days of 95 all the way to Vista), before I switched to Linux full time, where I gained experience in server administration and other disciplines.
Between playing tech support for family, friends and coworkers, I've built my career actively working as with a TV/radio startup, and as the technical director for my church. Most recently, before my Outreachy Internship, I worked as a technical writer, writing documentation for various WordPress plugins and related tools.
From my early teens, I've been wrapped up in the world of Open Source software in some manner, from learning to run DSL (Damn Small Linux) on a crappy Compaq with a Pentium III to poking around in GIMP and Inkscape as I found my feet in digital design. Over the years, I've contributed to open source software and communities with extensive bug reporting, participation in forums, writing documentation, and contributing designs to some of my favourite projects.
I've got extensive community management experience, having been a moderator on multiple Open Source Stack Exchange communities (eg. Ask Ubuntu, Blender SE), and having run my own communities, for Blender 3D, design interest groups, and more!
On the ground in my country, I've helped to push the adoption of open source software through word-of-mouth activism, even while studying at our local community college, distribution of software, and direct contribution of hardware with Linux and Open Source tools pre-installed. I've also employed Open Source software in my personal business, and passed on knowledge of open source tools along the way. I'm very passionate about maintaining a connection to the open source community every step of the way.
So where do I plan to go next? Well, overall, I'm looking to jump into something where my creativity can blossom and my mind can explore new learning opportunities. Generally, I'm quite flexible - I'm open to both full-time and part time work, contracts, and working with new clients. As always, I'll continue to contribute to various open source communities as a volunteer, though I'd be over the moon to blend the two and work in a paid position for an open source community or project.
While I'm primarily a web and graphics designer, I'm also open to community management (I've got extensive moderation experience) and social media management. Did I mention I'm a YouTuber? Oh yeah, that to! I'm open to speaking gigs, whether it's a one-off at a conference or meet-up, courses, or podcasts and interviews. I'm also planning to engage in mentorship in design and other areas (if you've reached out to me before or during the internship, hi! We've got a lot to get up to!), which is quite exciting for me as I love to help others!
Note: If you'd like to get in touch, feel free to reach out to me on my socials (@rolandixor on just about everything) or via my email (rolandixor@gmail.com). You can also visit my home page, where you'll find links to my most used platforms.
Secondarily, I'm itching to build something in the gaming space for the open source community, so if you're looking for a creative mind to pitch in, feel free to give me a shout out!
Like I said, I'm pretty flexible!
Note: I'm open to global remote positions and local (Barbados) work at this time, but I'll consider/discuss relocation under the right circumstances.
My flexibility extends beyond having a wide area of interests - I also happen to be quite flexible in working with other people. I've made friends and worked with folks from around the globe, quite literally, of all walks of life. I love working in diverse environments, and I especially like it when the people I work with are as curious about the world as I am!
You can respectfully) ask me where I'm from - I'll be happy to tell you about it!
I'm accustomed to coordinating across different time-zones, through various platforms, and even with limited language between us. Speaking of which, English is my native (and currently, only fluent) language. I have extensive experience working remotely, up to and including the three months spent in this year's summer cohort of the Outreacy intership.
In terms of technical skill, I'm disturbingly good with CSS (I write frameworks for fun, literally! Even wrote a CSS game!), so if your team needs someone who's not afraid to tackle this beast, feel free to hit me up! I'm quick with vanilla and comfortable with existing frameworks (though you might get a rant or two out of me on occasion, but I'll make it fun, I promise!).
Did I mention I'm fun to work with? Because I am.
I also loving poking around in a terminal, editing configs and issuing commands to my little army of headless soldie... applications.
When it comes to vector graphics, I'm a master of Inkscape, my favourite tool, but I can work with just about any app you throw my way. I've used Affinity Designer, Krita, GIMP and Pinta, just to name a few. I can also cook you up some snazzy animations with Glaxnimate or SVG Gator and throw down in Kdenlive and other video editors.
But hey, enough name dropping, it's time for me to rap this up. Yes, you may groan.
Basically, I'll work with any tool that it takes to get the job done. Also, I'm comfortable working alone and self-managing, or as part of a larger team reporting to a higher power. It's all about flexibility!
And I haven't seen a single Fast and Furious movie so feel free to mark yourself safe from that awful line that you thought I was about to reference
I'm friendly, flexible, and fun. I know how to take a concept and own it, but I still like to work alongside others at every step, to ensure collaboration and shared vision. These are the skills that have given me success, whether working as part of a team, or steering the ship of success for my clients. People love to know that they are working with a fellow human being, and that's an assurance you'll always have with me.
Once this internship is over, I'll be taking a short break (a few weeks or so) to recalibrate and make some progress with various projects, but I'm leaving the door open to any opportunity, pretty much right away. Don't hesitate to get in touch!
If you'd like to learn more about me, I encourage you to check out my portfolio and visit my website, where you can find links to my socials and find out much more about me and all that I get up to.
Looking forward to hearing from you! See you all in my next update!