statement.txt

Seen in retrospect, joining a local hacklab started by two software engineers some months after dropping out of
school had a great impact on me. Although I had previously been interested in programming, my greatest achievement before then was
to write a second degree equation solver. Those two engineers were also FOSS advocates: I soon
installed Debian GNU/Linux.

I began reading about and playing with the OS, network services, etc. It would not have gone any further if one of those
engineers had not introduced me to Python while returning from a hackmeeting in Madrid.

As a consequence, I began playing around with Python: I implemented Conway's Game of Life, a strategic board game called
Abalone, etc.  After a while, I discovered the Django web framework and began developing three or four little web pages.
          ^--- 'etc.' kind of implies that the reader knows the other items in the list...
My friends were aware of my interests and one of them offered me my first job as a freelance developer. It did not take
long before I got my first serious job: developing a web page for a local radio station that involved, among other
things, uploading all their data to the Internet Archive automatically, flexible radio program structures and a really
clean administration site. Nowadays the web page is actively used and the radio has become one of my most reliable
clients.

The two engineers proposed that I become part of their association whose objectives were the promotion of FOSS and the
Basque language. As I carried on working on software projects, I noticed that, despite my self-managed education, I was
lacking a more solid theoretical base. Having settled down a bit, I decided that I wanted my hobby and my job to become
the focus of my studies too. So I picked up high school again; I expect to finish it this year without much trouble and
with good grades. (I imagine being a bit older helps.) Although I enjoy all the subjects, my current favourite subjects
are mathematics, physics and electronics.

This past summer I was faced with the dilemma of having to decide what to do next. I wasn't satisfied with the computer
science and software engineering courses offered locally. I have always liked Scotland (especially the highlands -- I
love hiking) and I have a taste for the English language. So I searched for undergraduate courses, checked their
programs and prices and made my decision. Besides the mathematical and algorithmic part of software development, I am
interested in studying software design patterns and different approaches to development, which is why I have decided to
apply for Software Engineering courses.

The next thing I did was to get my IELTS certificate. Although my native languages are Basque and Spanish, I can manage
in Dutch, since it has more similarities than differences with English, and I understand French. Being a
software developer, I read and write lots of documentation in English but I'm quite shy at speaking it.

I also began contributing to the popular Django project this year. At this moment, I own 18 tickets in the bug tracker, 13 of my
commits made it into Django 1.7 and I reviewed several patches from other people. I am currently working on
self-referenced template inheritance handling; it will most likely become a medium sized feature of the 1.7 release.
Working on Django gives me the opportunity to work together with very bright minds, to learn about big and complex
project organization, to get my code, documentation and tests rigorously reviewed, to improve my technical communication
skills and to help the Django community move forward. Although I will definitely continue taking part in the Django
community, I am thinking of getting involved in Python's standard library too.

Software development is a great part of my life. My wish is simply to further improve myself in what I enjoy so much so
that I can contribute more effectively to FOSS projects like Django and Python and continue being an active part of the
community.