Month: October 2014

Me running as a council member again :)

Mozilla Reps

Before writing my name in the list of candidates I was thinking, “Do I really need to nominate myself again to be a council member?! What am I going to bring?!”

On my last post “Mozilla is a Black Hole” [1], I wrote why for 11 years I’ve been contributing to Mozilla and what is the source of my energy. It is not only because of Mozilla mission – as I was thinking before –  but because of you Mozillians, you always pull me back to Mozilla core, even though for many times I wanted to stop and focus on other things in my life.  To extend that post more to Mozilla reps program, last Mozilla Reps camp meeting in Berlin, I was hesitating to nominate myself as a council member, but again meeting the Reps helped me to take the decision and to put my name in the list.

What can I bring to the new council that I didn’t bring last time I’ve been there?
I was one of the provisional council member that helped to shape the program with other amazing Mozillians, then I return as mentor for more than a year. During my mentorship period, I learned a lot from my mentees and from others. This new experience give me a hands-on on the program itself, and I lived the SOPs, I’ve been in touch with the mentees directly and I know the issues that they face and things that need to be tuned. This new experience that I want to bring again to the council to help tuning (not fixing) it more, so we will be able to facilitate the work and make a difference.
The greatest strength of the program is YOU, without your continuous feedback and engagement with the program, the program didn’t improve. I believe the next step should be on how to facilitate and collect your feedback in systematic way to help the council to tune the program, since the program is for you.

@Reps, vote for me if you only think that I am suitable to be a council member.

For reps that they don’t know me, please take a quick look into my profile [2]

@council, sorry I didn’t stick to the suggested format of the questions 🙂

Mozilla is a Black hole!!

When I started working with Mozilla as volunteer back in 2003, it never crossed my mind that I will be able to stay that long. 11 years passed and God only knows how many times I thought that I have to quite and disconnect myself from Mozilla world. Of course not because of Mozilla but because of me; There was a voice inside my head always saying “There is nothing left to give and you don’t have time any more, that’s it, stop!”. I tried many times to shutdown this voice and find reasons to stay and keep going.

Last year, when I was invited to Mozilla Summit in Toronto, the voice won, I made up my mind; this summit is going to be the end of my journey with Mozilla, it is going to be a proper goodbye to Mozilla world and it is the time to get back to the user’s seat.
During the summit, I met my mozillians friends that I didn’t meet for long time. I met many talented mozillians that I never met before. I worked with amazing people that made every moment fun. I was telling myself no way that I can leave, I have to stay and give more. My batteries were fully charged and I am full of energy again.

Months passed, the voice inside my head came back again, my schedule became tighter, my study, work and my personal life are making me busy. Each time a Mozillian send me a message or an email asking for help or an opinion, I wanted to say no, sorry I am not doing that anymore; please seek help somewhere else.. I found myself typing on the keyboard, yes you can do this and that. I found myself getting involved more and deeper than before. Each time I wanted to take the ship to escape, Mozilla pull me back as a black hole in the space that doesn’t allow anyone to escape even light. But after these years I discovered the source of energy that kept me that long.

Dear Mozillains,
Thanks for the energy that you always gave me to fight the voice inside my head and for giving me the well to stay. You are amazing…

Dear Mozilla,
I totally understand now, the moment that I fell in love with your mission, it is the moment that you locked me down. Now I can tell you, I am giving up escaping and running away. I am staying and I surrender all to you!!