A bit about me
For those who do not know me, my name is Gien Verschatse, I live in Belgium and I have been creating fabulous (and sometimes less fabulous) software for about 9 years. In the beginning I used C# to do that, but for the past 3 years I have been using F# instead.
Besides that, I dedicate a lot of my free time to create environments in which people can learn from one another: in Belgium I help to organise two meetup groups: SocratesBE and DDDBE.
I am also part of the fantastic team that organises Open FSharp in San Francisco, because it totally makes sense to organise a conference in San Francisco when you are actually living in Belgium.
Why you should consider me
I already am a member of the F# Foundation Board, where I am responsible for running the Mentorship Program. During my time as the chair being of the Mini-In (work group training and education) there were two rounds instead of just one and the successful mentoring pairs have gone up.
For me this also started as a mentorship (not within the FSSF program though), and it has changed my life in a way I didn’t think it would. I had the opportunity to meet awesome people, a warm and welcoming community. I recently started my own company where I get to program in F# every day and I started speaking at conferences about F# too. I know that not everyone has this experience when they get paired, but it is a possibility and I want to continue to create this possibility for other people in the community.
I promised my mentor I would pay it forward, and I realised I’m not done doing that yet. I know I can make the program even better and I would love a chance to do that.