This week, we celebrate Ildiko Vancsa (@ildikov here on Discourse), who is our CHAOTIC of the Week!
A little about Ildiko:
I am working as Director of Community at the Open Infrastructure Foundation, as part of this role I am the Community Manager of the StarlingX open source project, and my main focus area on the technology side are telecommunications, NFV, and edge computing. I studied computer science at Budapest University of Technology and Economics, and have been in the industry in various roles since my graduation. I was very interested in virtualization during my university years, and following that I later gravitated toward cloud and edge computing. My first contribution to open source was 10 years ago, when I started to contribute to OpenStack. I had a great first experience in that very warm and welcoming community and I since become an open source advocate and enthusiast. I joined the OpenInfra Foundation 7 years ago and have been contributing to both OpenInfra and adjacent projects. I also work with individuals, companies and organizations in the open source ecosystem to encourage and help them participate and contribute to the projects in their interest. Fun facts: At one point in time I was a bartender as a second job, and I currently live on a boat. 
What Ildiko works on at CHAOSS:
I’ve been part of the CHAOSS Board of Directors group since the beginning of the project. As part of that role, I participate and contribute to discussions and decisions about the overall direction of the project. As I’ve been participating in numerous open source projects, I’m using my experience in CHAOSS both to help shape the tools and processes that the community is using, as well as contribute to the discussions about metrics. As the OpenInfra projects are using tools and metrics that are created by the CHAOSS community, I bring feedback based on the experience from those communities. I also serve as an unofficial ambassador to CHOASS by helping to raise awareness of the project through conversations, presentations and articles.
Ildiko’s advice to newcomers to open source:
I think it is very important to pick a project that someone is interested in, as it solves a challenge or is in a technology area that excites them. That can help with staying motivated as they are digging deeper into the community’s goals and activities and finding things that they would like to contribute to. Once someone finds a project that they like, it is important to allocate time to learn about what the community’s goals are, as well as how their governance is structured and what their processes are. That will help with figuring out how someone can start to participate and how they can take on more responsibilities later, like serving in leadership roles, if that is something that they are interested in. As a next step, I would like to encourage everyone who is new to open source to make sure that they find the targeted community’s communication channels and start participating in discussions. They can introduce themselves as newcomers and let people know what areas they are interested in, and can even ask for guidance if there is a task that would fit someone who’s just starting in the project well. In all projects, there is usually a need for reviewers to check code or documentation changes. Reviewing changes is a great help to every community, and it is also a great way to learn more about the project itself. While doing reviews as a newcomer might seem intimidating, I cannot emphasize enough how helpful it is to everyone! As every community is a group of individuals with shared goals and interests, it can sometimes be an environment that feels hard to navigate. The last thing I would suggest is to never take anything personally, focus on the things that the community and contributors set out to do and achieve, and always be kind and respectful.
Special thanks from Elizabeth and the CHAOSS Community:
Although I’ve seen Ildiko in CHAOSS meetings for years, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting her in person for the first time at FOSSY a month ago. She was absolutely as kind and welcoming in person as she is virtually! What a joy to have her as a regular participant in the CHAOSS community calls and on the Board! Ildiko has a quiet and calming presence, and she is one of our community members that speaks when she has something insightful and thoughtful to say. Ildiko has been incredibly helpful in bringing her experiences and insights to the community, both with our metrics, and our CHAOSScon events. Ildiko - it is an absolute privilege to have your consistent participation in CHAOSS after all these years. You bring a sense of stability to the project, and it’s been a delight to get to know you. Thank you for all you do here, and for helping guide the project throughout each stage of our evolution. We are grateful to have you as a CHAOTIC! 
If anyone would like to connect with Ildiko, you can do so here:
- Twitter: @IldikoVancsa
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ildiko-vancsa/
- Mastodon: @ildikov@fosstodon.org
