Who am I
My name is Alan Ball and I’m from Raleigh, North Carolina and I love writing software but I also enjoy talking with people about software, especially novel ideas. I help lead a local F# meetup group and am the head organizer of a free F# conference called Southern Fried F#. At my day job I’m a .NET developer at a self-funded state agency that helps low and middle-income families find and afford homes. I’m warm and energetic, and I love F#. You may know me from my presence in the F# Foundation Slack as vorotato. I’ve been baking french bread in the quarantine and bicycling and I use Fedora, Windows (for gaming), and occasionally my Mac mini.
Why I am running
I think the board is well placed to help bring people together, especially in these times where many of us face significant adversity. Supporting people who are excited about F#, excited about contributing to OSS/FOSS, and excited to learn are I think some of the most important things we can do. Actions we can take that lower those hurdles where possible are critical. I think that the foundation is uniquely positioned to help bring people together and to help lift people up who may not have the same opportunities. I also think the foundation can use their position as a nonprofit to empower and mentor people, giving them real life experience contributing to OSS/FOSS projects.
Why vote for me
I am always eager and excited about the future of F# and those who support it. I will help expand the mentorship program and bring more growth to the dugnad effort which is where the community gets together and works on the language, documentation, and open source projects on a regular interval. Community ownership of the language and the ecosystem is critical to me. I view solidarity as a integral component towards that end. If we wish to be successful we cannot allow ourselves to be divided up. F# is a language of many nations, and I think our community’s commitment to inclusiveness has been a component of its present success and a necessary part of its future. We must take an active stance to include people, especially marginalized groups, who other communities have undervalued or overlooked if we wish to thrive. While homogeneity can be convenient for obvious reasons, it has a catastrophic brittleness to it. When everyone shares the same thoughts they likely share the same blind spots. We need both beginners and experts, we need you.