The author
Hi, I'm Patrick, you're actually browsing my personal website. I fix problems and get things done using free software.
Career
Since 2011, I am a software engineer working as a freelancer. I am based in West Africa and I'm writing software for Western companies. The last one being Logilab.
I would like to push myself to the limits. I would like to know, how does it look like to work in a huge company. I would like to discover what are the challenges when working on software products used all over the world. I would like to pave the way, to be an example for the African youth.
Software engineering experience
I started learning and writing Python in 2007. I've learned by myself, in a cave with no internet, just a book and some PDF files downloaded from here and there. I've been hired and paid to write Python since 2012.
I've worked mainly on lots of web applications. With Django, as a backend developer. That implied installing my Linux server, installing all the requirements, configuring, developing, testing, then deploying the application. I've never done anything significant in the frontend. I can read and write a little bit of HTML and JavaScript, but I'm definitely not good in this department.
The last few years, my work was about migrating components from Python version 2 to Python version 3. I've also spent some months working on type annotations, see here.
I develop my expertise with a lot of readings and writings. Contributing to other people software is also one of the ways that helped me develop as a software engineer. Finally, I cannot deny, teaching is a great way to stay informed about the new trends.
Free software
As a user, I'm using free software whenever possible. This document for example, was built using Linux, Emacs, Markdown, Make, Rsync, SSH. Now, as a developer, here is my toolbelt, composed with free software tools. The company I'm currently working at, everything is open sourced.
While I understand that not all the software should or could be free, I think all (most of) the software should be free software. I wouldn't have been able to learn software engineering without being able use, read, and modify software written by other people. Free software is a way, among other ways, to set people free. You can read my thoughts about it here and here.
What I'm looking for:
Ideally I'm looking for some place where I can put my experience to work. Being able to continually take on and learn new things. A real balance between work and life. Places where saying "I don't know" is okay. I've never worked for a company inside Africa and I've never been outside of Africa. So, working remotely should be an option.
I have been working remotely well before the pandemic, I never knew anything else. And unless really not possible, I prefer continuing to do so. Finally, if possible, I really want to work on and to work with free software.
The shoulders of giants I'm standing on
My servers, my laptop, the software components I develop, everything is written/done/configured using free software. That is possible because of the hard work of thousands of free software developers around the world.
I am convinced, a simple thank you goes a long way. I would like to take one moment, to send gigantic hugs to all of the authors, maintainers, and all the actors contributing to free software all over the universe.
Special thanks and hugs sent to all the contributors of:
Let's talk
I would love to hear from you! You can reach me by email. I also wander a lot on Mastodon.
Thank you for reading.