Karen Sandler talks about the importance of Software Freedom and the Outreachy applications to support diversity in tech

Karen Sand­ler talk in the Soft­ware Free­dom Camp (Diver­sity Edition)

The Soft­ware Free­dom Camp is a mentors­hip programme for brin­ging more people to Free Soft­ware with strong focus on philo­sophy. We connect lear­ners with expe­ri­en­ced Free Soft­ware commu­nity members to work on some tasks toget­her – this could be either tech­ni­cal or non tech­ni­cal.

What is Diver­sity Edition?

Diver­sity edition is aiming to reach out to people subject to syste­mic bias and impac­ted by under-repre­sen­ta­tion in the tech­ni­cal industry in India.

Karen Sand­ler is the execu­tive direc­tor of the Soft­ware Free­dom Conser­vancy, former execu­tive direc­tor of the GNOME Foun­da­tion, an attor­ney, and former gene­ral coun­sel of the Soft­ware Free­dom Law Center.

Outre­a­chy Supports Diver­sity in Tech

Photo CC BY 2.0 WOCin­Tech Chat

Outre­a­chy is open to appli­cants around the world.

We invite people to apply who face syste­mic bias or discri­mi­na­tion in the tech­no­logy industry of their country.

Outre­a­chy expressly invi­tes appli­cants who are women (both cis and trans), trans men, non-binary people, and gender­queer people to apply.

We also expressly invite appli­ca­ti­ons who are resi­dents and nati­o­nals of the United States of America of any gender who are Black/Afri­can Ameri­can, Hispa­nic/Latin@, Native Ameri­can/Ameri­can Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawai­ian, or Paci­fic Islan­der.

Past Outre­a­chy interns are:

• 92% women
• 4% trans­gen­der, gender­queer, or non-binary people
• 64% people of color
• 12% people from a histo­ri­cally disad­van­ta­ged caste or tribe

Statis­tics are based on respon­ses to the 2019 longi­tu­di­nal study of Outre­a­chy alums.

Outre­a­chy Eligi­bi­lity Rules

Outre­a­chy is open to appli­cants around the world. You will need to meet the follo­wing requi­re­ments:

• You are or will be 18 years of age or older by Dec. 6, 2021
• You are avai­la­ble for a full-time, 30 hours a week inter­ns­hip from Dec. 6, 2021 to March 4, 2022.
• You were not an intern with Outre­a­chy, the Outre­ach Program for Women, or Google Summer of Code. People who were a Google Summer of Code intern are not eligi­ble for Outre­a­chy. All Google Summer of Code interns are ineli­gi­ble for Outre­a­chy, inclu­ding people who did not success­fully finish their GSoC inter­ns­hip. If you apply to Outre­a­chy and you are not accep­ted as an intern, you may apply again.
• Appli­cants who have part-time or contrac­ting jobs are welcome to apply. Howe­ver, part-time jobs must be appro­ved by Outre­a­chy orga­ni­zers. People who are willing to quit their full-time job are welcome to apply. If you cannot quit your full-time job, you are not eligi­ble for Outre­a­chy. People who are taking a leave of absence from a full-time job are not eligi­ble for Outre­a­chy.
• Appli­cants are requi­red to list their current jobs and inter­ns­hips on their initial appli­ca­tion. If an appli­cant recei­ves a job or inter­ns­hip offer after submit­ting an initial appli­ca­tion, they should notify Outre­a­chy orga­ni­zers imme­di­a­tely. Appli­cants are requi­red to docu­ment any chan­ges from the time commit­ments listed on their initial appli­ca­tion, by filling out the ques­tion about time commit­ment chan­ges in their final appli­ca­ti­ons.
• Outre­a­chy is open to both univer­sity students and people who are not univer­sity students. Univer­sity students must have 42 conse­cu­tive days free from school and exams during the inter­ns­hip period. Students must apply to the correct inter­ns­hip round (see rules below).
• If you are a student on a student visa, your visa must allow you to work 30 hours per week. If you cannot work 30 hours per week, you are not eligi­ble for Outre­a­chy. If you are on a student visa in the United States of America, you might have limi­ted dates when you can work 30 hours a week. We will work with you to shift your inter­ns­hip dates by up to five weeks. Howe­ver, we cannot accom­mo­date shor­te­ning the 13 week inter­ns­hip. If you are a student on an F-1 visa, you may need to apply for CPT with your univer­sity. Outre­a­chy orga­ni­zers can provide you docu­men­ta­tion for your CPT appli­ca­tion once you are selec­ted as an intern.

Outre­a­chy inter­ns­hips run twice a year, May to August and Decem­ber to March. We have some rules around which inter­ns­hip round you can apply to:

• If you are not a univer­sity student, you may apply to either inter­ns­hip round.
• If you are a student of a univer­sity in the Northern Hemisp­here, you will only be eligi­ble for the May to August round. Students in India are consi­de­red to be in the northern hemisp­here, regard­less of where their univer­sity is loca­ted.
• If you are a student of a univer­sity in the Sout­hern Hemisp­here, you will only be eligi­ble for the Decem­ber to March round.
• Other­wise, if your univer­sity is near the equa­tor, you may apply to any round. We will review univer­sity term sche­du­les on a case-by-case basis.
• If you are comple­ting your last term for your degree, you may be eligi­ble for either round, regard­less of what hemisp­here you are in. To be eligi­ble for the Dec 2021 inter­ns­hips, the exams for your last school term must end before Jan. 20, 2022. If the school acade­mic calen­dar conti­nues past that date, gradu­a­ting students are not eligi­ble.
• When deter­mi­ning student eligi­bi­lity, Outre­a­chy looks at the scho­ol’s acade­mic calen­dar dates. We do not consi­der the indi­vi­dual student’s course load. We do not consi­der special arran­ge­ments students have made with their univer­sity. Students who plan on taking a school term off to pursue an inter­ns­hip are not eligi­ble for Outre­a­chy. We cannot accept letters from univer­si­ties about pausing clas­ses or joining clas­ses at a later date.

Addi­ti­o­nal Infor­ma­tion to Provide

The initial appli­ca­tion also inclu­des four essay ques­ti­ons. Please read our essay tips care­fully.

Intern Agre­e­ments and Forms

All accep­ted interns must sign an intern agre­e­ment. This is a legal docu­ment that certi­fies you are eligi­ble to apply for Outre­a­chy, and that all the eligi­bi­lity infor­ma­tion you supply in your appli­ca­tion is truth­ful. All accep­ted interns will need to fill out either a W8-BEN or a W-9 tax form. It is fraud if you sign these legal docu­ments after supplying incor­rect infor­ma­tion.

If you are concer­ned about these forms, please note that Outre­a­chy has expe­ri­ence with people in the middle of a legal name change and trans­gen­der people who cannot change their legal name. Only Outre­a­chy orga­ni­zers and the Soft­ware Free­dom Conser­vancy accoun­ting team will see these legal docu­ments. Your mentors will not see your tax form or your signed intern agre­e­ment.

Appli­cant Guide

Please read our Appli­cant Guide. The Appli­cant Guide inclu­des tips for getting your initial appli­ca­tion accep­ted. It also inclu­des tips for prepa­ring for the contri­bu­tion period and writing your final appli­ca­tion.

Inter­ns­hip Guide

The Outre­a­chy Inter­ns­hip Guide inclu­des detai­led infor­ma­tion about the inter­ns­hip sche­dule, payment sche­dule, blog­ging sche­dule, and other details.

Initial Appli­ca­tion

All Outre­a­chy appli­cants will need to fill out an initial appli­ca­tion.

The appli­ca­tion system for Outre­a­chy inter­ns­hips is currently closed. The appli­ca­tion system will be avai­la­ble when the next appli­ca­tion period opens.

To get an email when the round opens, subs­cribe to the Outre­a­chy announ­ce­ment mailing list.