Stephen Onnen Google Summer of Code 2017 Application
Contact Information
Name: Stephen Onnen
Email Address: stephen.onnen@gmail.com
About Me
As you can see by the title, my name is Stephen Onnen; I am 29 years old and I am currently serving in the US Army as a Ranger Instructor in northern Georgia. I am married, and my wife and I just had our first child, a boy, last summer. I have been serving in the Army for over ten years now, continuously since I graduated high school in 2006. I love the military, but I know my future is in software development and I plan on transitioning out of the military at the end of my contract this September and moving back to Des Moines Iowa(my hometown) with my wife and child.
I have always been fascinated by technology, and am currently working towards my Associates in Science degree, which I should have by the end of this summer. After achieving my associates, I will continue my education, working towards a Bachelors in Software Engineering. Though my current job is an Infantryman, and instructor at Ranger School, I still am the primary computer jack of all trades in my workplace, and also handle all our administrative systems at my unit for Ranger School. I also developed and implemented a Microsoft Access database that my Battalion uses for our administrative boards at the end of each Ranger class.
Though I have not completed any formal training on software development, in my free time I have been learning C#. Mostly just basic CLI applications thus far. I also have a good deal of experience with basic HTML and CSS, and I am also very proficient with Adobe Photoshop and Inkscape.
Why the Fedora Project?
The Fedora Project has always been inspiring to me to me. I have always poured over fedoramagaine, and since beginning to use Linux 2 or 3 years ago I have been in a love affair with Fedora from the start(I actually began using Korora). My experience in the military has brought me face to face with RHEL being used in different systems, and I have always felt that if it is secure enough for the US Military, it has to be good enough for me. I have also always been drawn in by the sense of community and professionalism that bleeds from every aspect of everything Fedora.
Why the ASP.Net Project?
I would like to work on the ASP.NET Core web app proposed in the GSOC 2017 ideas page because I believe I have a good starting skill-set in the areas necessary. I have been working primarily with C# since I began learning to code on my own. Though I only have a very basic understanding of C#, I feel like this project would be an amazing opportunity for me to grow in the field of software development. I have great experience with HTML and CSS, and since my teenage years I have been creating basic web sites as a hobby. I am also proficient with Adobe Photoshop, and have an eye for graphic design.
Above all else, I am a hard worker, and perform very well in small teams, as I have been for 10 years now in the military. I am excellent at task management, and can juggle multiple deadlines and projects at one time. Lastly I want to get my feet wet in the open source community. I have always wanted to contribute to the software I love and use on a daily basis, but have been too timid to make the jump myself. Please Select me for the GSOC 2017 and let me prove what a great asset I can be for Fedora!
-Stephen Onnen