Thread: Canonical: Take 60 seconds with Henrik Omma

this month have profiled member of canonical family, has been start

*henrik omma*

read on see recollection of canonical in days , why enjoys working here.

*take 60 seconds henrik omma*

henrik works enterprise applications team manager , has been canonical 6 years.

*in layman’s terms do?*

manage small team develops & maintains in-house systems used sales, finance , hr.

*what did before joining canonical?*

doing doctorate in astrophysics @ oxford. started canonical part-time while still writing thesis. balance 2 activities because thesis writing can long , monotonous process. moved full time in may 2005, after completing thesis.

had been using linux fluid dynamics simulations on super computers thesis research, introduced me world of open source. became interested in philosophy , world changing potential of open source , started own project called opencd. later co-founded ‘software freedom day’. both these projects spreading message of open source , increasing adoption.

meet steve alexander @ conference in turn introduced me shuttleworth foundation , ‘go-open’ project, spreading open source, in south africa. decided distribute opencd 300,000 people there, of course our biggest distribution date.

happening in spring/summer 2004, when ubuntu still secret project operating no-name-yet.com

invited attend 1 of first sprints (which later evolved uds) in oxford putting first ubuntu release. meet jane (silber, ceo) , mark (shuttleworth, founder). had decided wanted add open source applications windows live cd ease transition new users , opencd project might base that. in later releases function has been replaced wubi lets start ubuntu windows system.

*how has canonical evolved since days?*

there more structure, pitch in bit of everything. have filled quite few roles myself; running open cd project within canonical while, became web master. have guided various community teams art & accessibility teams , acting forum liaison. built ubuntu qa team before taking current role.

original core of company made of group of open source hackers, largely debian. we’ve taken of our culture, ideals , technologies there. that’s example why use wikis, irc , mailing lists while other companies size might use proprietary intranet system.

*so kind of person need to survive here?*

need able work independently, structure , motivate own work. speaking 1 works home, , structures own hours. need keep informed going on around , not wait tell do.

*so excites being here?*

top thing working lots of great people , projects involved in, trying change way software evolves in world. remember when attended first sprint in august 2004 struck amazing group of people gathered there — group amazing , wanted part of it! it’s great see potential playing out now.

on these 6 years have had opportunity change role within canonical several times company has grown. has been thing, able different day day while still being part of bigger picture , ideal of increasing ubuntu’s accessibility world.

@ canonical many of work home, find convenient , means can choose want live while staying in same job. moved norway shortly after thesis complete (having started @ canonical), from. after 2 years opted move uk , oxford, had enjoyed living student.

*what you thinking of joining canonical?*

depends on sort of role looking for, can speak on engineering roles. can exciting place work need make sure connect in pulse of company , work out how can make contributions. welcome initiative , encourage people suggest , start projects, need understand how things fit see right opportunities , know work implement ideas. should spend time @ beginning ensure you’re connecting information streams within company. mentoring scheme useful , newcomers should take full advantage of that.

*what next career goal within canonical?*

after being in various roles find enjoy managing team of engineers, did on qa , in cdo (core development , operations). moment want grow better. know on thing though: starts hiring top rate engineers onto team.

sent ubuntu-jobs mailing list lynda phillips on wed sep 1 10:55:28 bst 2010



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