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University Talks for Year 2018

February 20, 2018

open source linux kernel

I have been talking at conferences, meetups, and universities since the start of my career. I frequently get invitations from universities in India to give talks about my work. I no longer take Linux Kernel workshops at universities, but all the material, including slides, can be found here, and I aim to keep improving it.

Instead, I have two talks to offer to university students this year. I really believe in the power of the open source community and ecosystem because of how it improves an individual's view towards learning. One of my personal goals for 2018 is to spread the idea of open source education in tier-2 cities and towns of India. If your university or college is from one such city or town, it will be given preference.

Below are the details of the talks I am offering to university students this year:

So you think System Programming is not a buzzword anymore?

I care a lot about learning systems, mainly because of two reasons: it is fun and it makes me feel closer to both hardware and software. I have spent a lot of time experimenting with systems and system programming as a Linux Kernel engineer and outside that role too. Systems work normally includes kernels, compilers, linkers, debuggers, runtime libraries, class loaders, dynamic analyzers, and tons of other bits of esoterica.

In my experience of speaking at universities or with young talent, I have seen that a lot of young students do not find system programming interesting mainly because they think it is hard. This talk aims to prove that myth wrong. The talk will include everything I love about system programming, the Linux Kernel, and how tinkering around systems helps you understand computers in a more organized way.

Building a Career in Open Source

Nowadays, when almost all major companies are using, supporting, and contributing to Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), there are many jobs available for people with a FOSS background. As a paid, full-time FOSS contributor, I have built my career by contributing to one of the biggest open source projects: the Linux Kernel.

In this talk, I aim to give an overview of valuable ways to contribute and how they relate to building a career in FOSS. I will also focus on some of the benefits of working in open source communities beyond money, including, but not limited to, how it leads to opportunities like open learning, travel, collaboration with different people around the world, and the joy of working on big and interesting FOSS projects.

If you are a university student and are interested in inviting me to speak at your university, you can email me at me at vaishalithakkar dot in.

Note that currently I am booking slots for July, August, and September.

Cheers!

Update: May 9, 2018

For transparency and to save time, here are a few points you, as a student or authorised university representative, need to consider before inviting me to give a talk at your university.

  • I do not charge any fees for giving talks at universities in India. Often universities and tech fests have a budget for speakers, so if you have it and you feel that I should be getting paid for that, please donate it to Outreachy.
  • As I do not have any travel sponsors, if giving a talk at your university requires me to travel from my current location, mostly Bangalore, you will need to sponsor my trip and onsite expenses.
  • I am not a big fan of speaker gifts like mementos, t-shirts, or flowers. But I do appreciate the love behind it. If you want to give me anything as a speaker gift, you can check my Amazon book wishlist. This is not mandatory; this point is just to avoid collecting things I already have.