Challenging times for Freexian (3/4)

Note: This is the continuation of part 1 and part 2.

Going forward: growing Freexian

Part 2: Extending the team

By all accounts, Freexian is still a small company which relies largely on me in many aspects. The growth of its business is however providing enough financial margin to allow looking into ways to recruit external help, be it through direct hiring (for French residents) or  via long term contracting (for people based in other countries). If you believe you could be the right person for one of the roles listed below, or if you know someone that we should contact, please reach out to raphael@freexian.com.

Project manager

I’m looking for someone that cares about Debian and that has the following skills:

• knows how to manage developers and software projects
  • bonus points for any experience in environments mixing volunteers and paid contributors
• is fluent and experienced enough in Python to be able to do software design and code reviews
  • bonus points for experience with: Django, Test Driven Development

That person would handle (some of) the following tasks:

• lead the “Debian project funding” initiative to a success
  • find useful projects to fund, for example by
    • discussing with various Debian teams / contributors (including the DPL)
    • running a survey among Debian developers
    • doing your own analysis
  • help with drafting and specifying the various projects
  • help to find someone to implement and review the projects
  • coordinate with those persons during execution
• manage other free software projects that Freexian would like to pursue
  • debusine: a software factory tailored for Debian packages
    • participate in design discussions, set milestones and goals
      • start with the short term needs of Freexian
      • but take into account the needs of Debian so that it can replace some aging infrastructure within Debian
    • coordinate with contractors, possibly implement some parts
  • infrastructure to run the various Freexian services and automate most of the administrative work (see “Part2: From Debian LTS to Debian for the Enterprise”)
• maybe coordinate the team of paid LTS/ELTS contributors

Debian/Python Developer

While the current priority is on the above role, there could also be room for a “developer” role with the following tasks:

• Creation and maintenance of Debian packages
• Technical support
• Software development in Python (debusine, internal infrastructure)
• Security support (contributor to Debian LTS)

Sales manager / sales representative

Up until now, the growth of Freexian has mostly been organic, through “word of mouth” and increased awareness of Debian LTS within the Debian community. We never spent a single euro on advertising, except for one promotional video and for Debconf sponsorship (with a flyer and stickers).

But if we can manage to make a positive impact on Debian through the funding that Freexian brings, then I’m interested to grow the company so that we can pay more people to work on Debian. That growth likely would have to go through some more active sales work. At the same time, it is an opportunity for me to delegate (some of) the administrative work that lies solely on my shoulders (invoicing, day to day customer relationship, etc.).

I assume it will be hard to find a member of the Debian community that has an interest in those areas, but who knows…

This article is to be continued in an upcoming post. Stay tuned!