Diversity strengthens a community. The Nextcloud Include initiative helps underrepresented groups to join the Nextcloud project, building an inclusive and diverse space where we collaborate and develop world class software.
Mentoring
We provide mentoring to people new to our community.
Travel support
We sponsor the travel & accommodation to help people from underrepresented groups in opensource to join Nextcloud events.
Mentoring
Help to get started
There are many areas in Nextcloud you can get involved in. From technical tasks like building an app, design, coding on the front or back-end to translation and helping out on the forums.
We want to enable everyone to get involved and we recognize that the privileged nature of the tech community is an extra barrier for underrepresented groups. We hope to help lower that barrier by connecting you directly to somebody who wants to help you.
We have a number of people who are happy to help you get started!
Participate in events
The Nextcloud community meets regularly at big hackweeks or smaller ad-hoc ones all over Europe. We also host our yearly Nextcloud Conference and attend many events like FOSDEM and SCALE.
We want to support participants from underrepresented groups in Open Source to join these events by sponsoring part or the whole of their transportation and accomodation costs.
If you would like to join a Nextcloud event, let us know! We typically support 80% of the travel & hotel costs but we can accommodate you if that would not be sufficient. Don’t hesitate to reach out and ask!
If you don’t think you are part of an underrepresented group in Open Source and need travel support, please do not reach out here. You can read more about our community travel support program here.
Join Nextcloud GmbH
Nextcloud is always on the look-out for new talents and we’d like to give beginning developers, marketeers and sales people a chance to learn practical skills with us!
We encourage people from underrepresented groups to apply for these positions and to send their resume.
You can find open positions on our jobs page but please don’t hesitate to send you resume if there is nothing that fits you – we just might not yet know we need you!
FAQ
Can I contribute if I am not a programmer?
Of course! Code is only one part of Nextcloud – as is design, marketing, documentation, translation, events and many other areas! There are many things you can contribute to, and we can offer help and mentorship. Do not hesitate to apply and tell us what you’d like to help with!
Am I welcome if I do not have a lot of experience and/or skills in programming?
Absolutely. We all started somewhere, and we welcome all levels of experience. This is why we have mentors: We want to help you to improve and learn from the community while contributing to Nextcloud! Whether you have doubts about your skills or not, just apply and we will figure it out.
Do you have a Code of Conduct?
Yes, you can find it at here.
Does Nextcloud welcome only people from underrepresented groups?
We welcome everyone. Nextcloud Include is our specific program for underrepresented people in open source, but there‘s many ways for everyone to join. For example, you could check our Contribute page at nextcloud.com/contribute
I need travel support, but I am not part of any underrepresented groups – should I apply anyway?
No, please do not apply at Nextcloud Include if you are not part of an underrepresented group in open source. However, you are very much welcome to apply for our community travel support program!
Why is Nextcloud Include needed?
We are a very nice, friendly and welcoming community. But, like just saying „you are welcome to join the conference” to parents with kids without providing a playground is not enough, we need to be pro-active. For more info, watch our talk about the topic.
Program coordinators
Jan-Christoph Borchardt
Design Team Lead
Co-founder, Simplicity & Ease of Use | Lives in Berlin, Germany
Jan-Christoph is responsible for design on Nextcloud with a decade of experience in the project. He pushes forward better design in open source through founding and contributing to several projects, giving talks, working with universities, and fostering the Open Source Design collective.
Mentors
Barthélémy Briand
Software Engineer
Server, contacts, front-end and accessibility | Lives in France
Barthélémy is a software engineer specialized in front-end development. He cares about simplicity and ease of use and likes to create a smooth user experience for everyone. He has been part of the contacts and design team since 2016.
Christoph Wurst
Groupware Team Lead
Front-end, Two-factor Authentication and Mail | Lives in Hadres, Austria
Christoph has been working on the Nextcloud code base since 2014. He has a master's degree in Software Engineering from the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria.
Joas Schilling
Talk Team Lead
Co-founder, Security, Server and Talk | lives near Stuttgart, Germany
Joas has been involved in open source since 2006, being a core member of the phpBB™ developer team and has been working on Nextcloud code since late 2013. He graduated from the University of Stuttgart and is the Team Lead of Nextcloud's WebRTC chat and video solution Nextcloud Talk.
Julius Härtl
Office Team Lead
Office and productivity | Lives in Würzburg, Germany
Julius is involved in the Nextcloud community since the beginning, working on frontend and backend development of the server and apps like Deck. He is currently doing his master's degree in computer science at the University of Würzburg.
Marino Faggiana
Software Engineer
Apple iOS developer | Lives in Vicenza, Italy
Marino studied telecommunications in Vicenza. While studing engineering at Padua University he founded software company T.W.S. He is the principal author of Crypto Cloud, a popular iOS application which became the base for the Nextcloud iOS app. He is fond of microelectronics, telecommunications and information technology.
Tobias Kaminsky
Client lead
Android Client | Lives in Langen, Germany
Tobias studied Sports and Computer Science in Darmstadt, is an experienced Java/Scala engineer and has a background in database development at a research institute for applied training science. He has been contributing to the Android app since 2013.
Background
Where does this come from?
We have been putting in effort in diversity since we started our project, participating in Rails Girls Summer of Code for example. When Nextcloud founder Frank Karlitschek won the Reinhard von König award he decided to donate its 20.000 euro prize money to the Nextcloud community to start a diversity program! That provided a great start for this and we hope it will be just the beginning: you can donate, too, if you want!
Reinhard von Koenig Award
The bi-annual Reinhard von Koenig award is named after inventor Baron Reinhard von Koenig (1899-1992) and awarded at his former family castle Fachsenfeld in Aalen, located in East Württemberg, the region with the largest number of globally leading companies in Germany. In 1982, Baron von Koenig donated his entire estate and assets to the Fachsenfeld Foundation he founded, with the goal of promoting technological and cultural innovations. The criteria for the award requires that the prize is awarded to people who have developed new technological approaches to socially relevant challenges, shown technical courage and made a significant contribution to sustainable progress.
How is it managed?
To handle the money, we work together with the amazing KDE community which takes care of the financial part. This also means donations are tax-free in many countries!
The spending of the money is decided on by a small group of Nextcloud diversity advocates, including Jan-Christoph Borchardt.
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