Interview with Eugenia Bahit

I bring you an interview conducted by one of the members of humans to our dear Eugenia bahit. Do not miss it:

By: Carlos Osiel Rojas Velázquez

I have had the immense pleasure of being able to interview one of the people who makes it possible for the free software movement to grow in the world. I'm talking about Eugenia bahit, currently GLAMP architect and Agile Coach, member of the Free Software Foundation and team member debian hackers, project manager Hackers & Developers Magazine. I hope you enjoy this interview.

How did you start developing free applications?

Actually I don't think I can separate my start as a developer of applications between developer of free and non-free applications. Me I always developed Software and shared it freely with everyone even without even knowing about the existence of the terminology "free software".

And he wasn't doing it for anything special. What do I know, they had raised me that way maybe. With that of what "In life you have to share everything". Perhaps it is something that comes from me just out of habit but I think it is part of the essence of each individual. You thought I was very young when I started developing applications.

I was 18, that was literally "the last century" (and no, I am not like Brad Pitt in Interview with the Vampire! I am of advanced age no more xD). It was in 1996 and without even thinking that I was going to dedicate myself professionally. At that time and since the age of 14, I was professionally dedicated to music, I was a chorus girl and sessionist “drummer” and I made a living giving private lessons on drums and percussion What was I going to imagine that my hobby was not computing but music and that my true profession was "rubbing"? I didn't even think about it at 18!

Then when became a professional activity (about 2 years later), already working for clients who had companies, they wore "coat and tie" and they had neither long hair nor tattoos xD, there I learned about the licensing issue and those "crazy things".

I did not know about the existence of free software, so at the time I said to the lawyers in my study: "In the license of use put that it is valid for 99 years automatically renewable for identical periods without the need to sign another contract or payment of any kind and that all the Software is delivered with source code so that it can be modified and installed on as many computers be necessary. But if they need me to make the modifications, give them technical support after 6 months of acquiring the Software or any other IT consulting service, they have to ask me for a quote ”.

They didn't understand anything at the law firm. I had hired the largest law firm (specialists in computer law and intellectual property) in Latin America, the same as in this part of the world, companies such as Microsoft, Adobe and Macromedia were hiring at that time -which was not yet from Adobe- . I was getting my fortune. But I had no other choice. The clients demanded the licenses, and I had no idea what they were talking about.

But I was very clear that I wanted to live from Software development and not from "Make contracts"If not, I would have dedicated myself to law or politics and would be a legislator. The fact that they had to pay me 100 times for the same development was like giving me a drinking water transfusion in exchange for getting rid of all my adrenaline. It didn't generate anything for me! Y I wanted to have fun, I was interested in 3 dicks to earn money. I needed it to feed me logically and to help my family because in my house, we had no money. My mother was retired with the minimum and my father had a bookstore that had just closed due to the crisis.

At that moment, it also used proprietary technologies such as ASP 3.0 and Visual Basic (The .Net "basofia" did not yet exist) and when it came time to license that type of Software, it was that I found out that I couldn't. What "Microsoft" he did not give me permission because to hobnob in VB, I was using software that a co-worker had acquired at the University with a license "Student" (It was $ 1, which here was the price of a package of candy). I was used to C and Perl and with this from Microsoft, I "Cabrié"I put on like crazy psychotic and so on I ended up getting to know Free Software. But i met him "As a user", not as a programmer. Why I had already been developing software with that philosophy from my first line of code.

What does free software mean to you?

Giant. FREEDOM, does that sound like a little? I was 4 years old when I gave “speeches” to my kindergarten teacher about freedom because I didn't like being forced to play, sleep, or draw. It is something that is carried in the blood. Either you have a libertarian spirit or you don't. It is not a question of labels. It is a question of spirit, of essence.

It's a simple lifestyle but in the broadest sense. For those who do not have that libertarian spirit, Free Software sees it simply as Free Software. But freedom has nothing to do with price. I don't know why people confuse freedom with price. A prisoner gets out of jail and is free. Over there, he murdered someone with a knife that was given to him, hahahaha, but seriously, what does freedom have to do with the price of things? Nothing! People mistake brown pomade for dulce de leche.

That they have a similar color does not mean that they are the same, much less that they have the same flavor. And free software is about freedom. And me, I'm only happy being free. If I am not free, I cannot be happy. So free software, working on this, means everything to me. It represents 70% of my life if not more.

What recommendations would you make to those new to the world of software development?

The same thing that I would recommend to anyone, even if they wanted to start in the world of globology.

• Modesty: to cross the barrier of knowledge and walk the path of wisdom, because knowing and knowing are not the same. The knower knows the limits. But the wise man knows how to get through them.

• Responsible self-love: to avoid falling into the mediocrity of the competition blinded by the frustration of one's own shortcomings and to focus only on improving oneself.

• Willingness: to set goals and to work to achieve them.

And above all, freedom. Because without it, none of the three above is possible.

Some anecdote related to the development of free software.

A thousand? hahaha, many, definitely. The most recent is one that embarrasses me a bit but that at the same time inspires me with a certain “tenderness”. Recently, for the Hackers & Developers Magazine year-end special, I did a phone interview with Richard Stallman. By e-mail, he had passed his phone number to me. I knew that he did not use a mobile phone so I did not know who would answer the call.

I read very well in English, but being a language that generates rejection, I do not speak it. I'm a kind of Tarzan speaking English. Then 10 minutes before I called Stallman, because I admire him in a way that I never admire anyone, I was seized by a nervous breakdown as if I was about to go on a date with Chris Cornell - more or less. Question that the time came and I called him. A man's voice answers me and says in perfect English: "Hello." And I answer: “jé-lou. Mai neimmm is Eu-ge-nia Bait… ”.

The man interrupts me and says, in perfect Spanish: “Hello Eugenia, how are you? A pleasure talking to you". I almost fainted and from the excitement I started to “scream” what a teenager in a Bon Jovi recital when he still had long hair: “Ay! Richard! Hello! I'm excited! Ah! What a thrill! Ah! I can not speak!!!" and Stallman with his humble patience replies ... "well ... well." To all this, I discovered that if I get too emotional, tears fall as if I were crying, but not crying with sadness. It was weird and bizarre! Anyway ... let's clarify that I'm close to 40 years old, not 15!

How does it feel to be a member of the Free Software Foundation?

Pride and pleasure of belonging to a place with which you feel identified. Strength to assume the commitment to be faithful to your principles with honesty, courage and above all, with responsibility.

Tell us about your experience as a member of Debian Hackers.

Well, Debian Hackers I suppose many people imagine it as a group of unhinged movie hacks.. They are right that we are a group of deranged, but they are wrong to compare us with the so-called Hackers in Hollywood. Rather we look like the crazy people from Scary Movie style movies, hahaha The "hood" fails us! We are conscious!!

With Dabo, who is the one who initially invited me to join the project and with whom we most often speak, we have spent 8 hours chatting in a phone chat of any nonsense (obviously, computer nonsense mixed with topics such as the immortality of the crab and the existence winged blue unicorns). It is an excellent group. I adore all of them and I learn a lot from each one of them. Each blog post, each e-mail that we exchange, no matter how spaced, is a way to keep growing and learning. Furthermore, we are all very companions in the true sense of the word.

For "Outsiders" (as we say here), just look at one or two blog posts to read the comments and realize the great camaraderie that exists in the group. I think that being a part of Debian Hackers is one of the most motivating experiences I have ever had in my life. I think that in many ways, we differ from any other team. For example, you will not find long debates of those that do not lead to anything (to which, if you are not scared of my expression, I will tell you that to those types of typical debates of the free software environment and of computing in general , I call them the “filomasturbates.” Honestly, I can't stand “philosophizing” for days on topics that, however interesting they may be, do not produce or contribute. In that sense, I am too expeditious with my opinions).

I believe that each one has implicitly (because we have never talked about it), an area in which they focus. Dabo, for example, is super involved with everything that is vulnerabilities in servers and Web applications. As soon as a security hole is known, the guy is already telling you about it before anyone finds out and suggesting the patches. Diego is calmer but more experimental. Like at the moment you don't realize it, but when you do a retrospective, you realize that the skinny man lives experiencing things. Debish (Angel) has an amazing talent. It's like a little more shy, but like all shy, when an idea is triggered, he publishes a post that leaves you with your mouth open. How can you not learn from people like that? And last but not least, they are adorable. Great people, but really. It is not a way of saying. They are. They are good people and that, especially in the computer environment, you will not find it around the corner.

How did the Hackers & Developers magazine initiative come about?

What a difficult question. Let's see ... it is long (very long) to explain and summarize it is not justified. Surges from personal and professional experiences and experiences that I had to go through, in almost the last 20 years of my life.

It bothers me when I read in blogs or comments on social networks that "Hackers & developers Magazine is a magazine made by women". Because I exercise my role as a woman in the private spheres of my life. And we are not "a group of women", we are a group of PROFESSIONALS. In addition, without going any further, one of the professionals who collaborates in the magazine, Sergio, is genetically male.

Even before the magazine came out, I was part of Python Argentina. In the last PyCamp held in July of last year, the Python Software Foundation subsidized 50% of the daily stay “to women”.

I accepted the grant because, really, I could not afford to pay everything. But of all the "women" at PyCamp (6 I think), only 2 were Python programmers. The rest of the girls were there to honor the studies of the worthy father of psychiatry, Don Sigmund Freud. Add to that, the atmosphere of the PyCamp, I did not like a damn. Falopa, wine, beer ... I am a big woman. I'm not for the bullshit. I went to elbow and of the dozens of people who were there, I professionally rescued the same 3 or 4 as always.

And that, I think, was the trigger for Hackers & Developers Magazine to emerge.. Like any trigger, it revealed another dozen situations: the PyConAr (Python conference that is held worldwide) was coming and - if I remember correctly - 180 talks, mine was the only proposal by a woman. and the other programmers where the hell were they? I kept adding: UbuConLA is coming in Argentina and I'm going. They do a raffle at the end of the conference, for some T-shirts and other merchandising. There was a small T-shirt (size S, with a man's cut) and since it was small for a man's body, they decided to raffle it among women. For which, they ask "How do you install a Software in Ubuntu?". I obviously screwed up laughing. I was not going to lend myself to such a jerk (and on top of that, a size S shirt with a man's cut doesn't even work for me as a sheet) and I hear a girl answer "With apt-get install" and what did the "Mr. representative of UbuConLA"? "She is a woman and knows how to install software by console, she deserves the shirt". If I had a permit to carry a weapon, at this time I was writing to you from jail inside a maximum security cell.

And these are just details that in isolation don't mean anything. But like these, thousands. And they all joined. Because there is something that cannot be denied and that is that Latin America is retrograde in aspects related to human rights, gender equality and opportunities. In Argentina, recently, we have made great strides in this regard. But if you do a general balance, adding Argentina to the rest of Latin America, we all continue with the cultural bullshit of "good and evil", "Woman washes dishes, man looks at the ass of women who wash dishes" and so. But I am convinced that opportunities, you have to know how to look for them, you have to shit in the bullshit of uses and customs and you are the one who has to give yourself the opportunity you are looking for.

So my idea was that: do something of quality, by true professionals that helps me to spread knowledge and generate opportunities that, until now, are still non-existent and the only exception is Hackers & Developers Magazine. The rest discriminate (positively or negatively). Because doing a "Hackathon for women" is not giving equal opportunities. I do things for professionals and I'm interested in three damn things if they are men, women, gays, lesbians, transvestites, transsexuals, transvestites, whites, blacks, Latinos, Europeans, Catholics, Jews or atheists ... to people, professionally and personally, the I admire, respect, value and appreciate, for what they are inside. The rest, I don't even perceive it. I don't care if they wish me a Shabbat Shalom or a Merry Christmas, are they good wishes and good vibes? Well thank you and anyway. That is what I value and what I intend to spread, in addition to knowledge, through Hackers & Developers Magazine. Well that's what it was created for

Tell us a bit about your professional career in the world of free software.

Well, I suppose that everything I said in previous questions answers a lot to this, above all, because it is difficult for me to divide my trajectory focusing on Free Software. I have a professional career whether or not Free Software existed, it would have been the same. Because as I mentioned a couple of questions before, the question of freedom, in itself, does not have to do with the professional: it has to do with a lifestyle.

I greatly appreciate the collaboration of Eugenia Bahit in giving me the interview and being able to share it with the community.