Hello all,
I am inspired by Eric Marceau's community introduction, and feel that I
should provide something similar.
My name is Katie (short for Katherine). I received my Bachelor of Arts
from the University of Waterloo in 2012. I originally started in the
Bachelor of Health Sciences program, and was a member of the pre-med
club. At the time, I had my sights set on medical school. I initially
learned about open source software at UWaterloo. One of my best friends
at UWaterloo was killed in a drunk driving accident in Toronto early on,
and I almost quit university. I was well-known in Waterloo because I
was a "front desk person" at Revolution Nightclub, which I don't think
is around anymore. That position involved maintaining (including
additions and removals) of guest lists, interacting with VIPs, taking
cash for entry tickets, and ensuring that counterfeit bills didn't get
through.
I completed my Bachelor of Arts with UWaterloo's support (they really
supported me, and even activated their campus police when I was stalked
so much that one of the basement windows in my rental house was broken).
I went on to complete a Population Health Data Analysis graduate
certification at the University of Victoria and worked extensively in
healthcare. Where things started to change for me was working in public
health during the Covid-19 pandemic. At one of the hospitals that I
worked at, they initially provided masks which were donated by community
members. These were not N-95 masks, they were made of old clothes with
ear loops that gave me rashes on my ears. The Chief of Staff, CEO of
the Hospital, Human Resources lead, and I all shared the same single
bathroom, which made it feel both like a family, and a disaster waiting
to happen. Although ineffective, the early donated masks were aesthetic
and I had (and still have) such a large collection that I could pair
them with my outfits. Many of the people that made those masks went on
to long-term care. The next hospital where I worked during the pandemic
had me assigned to a project in the oncology ward. That was horrific in
pretty much every way.
I discovered that public health maybe wasn't for me, and I gradually
transitioned into more IT-focused roles (IT being another passion).
This was inspired by working with an early version of Meditech (a
hospital information system) that one could customize with pseudo-C code
as well as some early jobs (for example, with a local ISP installing
rural fibre internet as well as a web design and marketing company). I
felt like I could combine my interests for the betterment of the
population.
I was accepted into a Master's program at the University of Ottawa. I
encountered some difficulties with administrative staff there, but also
met some great people like Jarno Van Der Kolk and John Nash that made me
want to continue. I became involved in open source software user groups
and conferences. PGCon was held in Ottawa at that time, and I also got
involved in BSDCan. I was, and still am, impressed with UOttawa's IT
community links.
So here I am - maintaining community links. I have just enough
programming expertise to "get by" but am all about community, and think
that my talents shine when it comes to technical communities. I am not
a programmer, but am technical enough to understand programmers and open
source communities. Ultimately, I am, and have always been, about
people.
Sincerely,
Katie
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