What sort of people does Blue Light need?
We are looking for people across the whole range of supporting, developing and researching Free and Open Source Software: from trainees to seasoned experts, from office juniors through business analysts, developers, office managers, project managers, systems administrators, technical writers and user support to researchers.
In some of the roles we do not need somebody full time so people who can work in several roles are especially welcome. Part time people are welcome too. Working part time leaves time for diverse other activities, including exploring Auroville.
Most of the team work physically in Auroville; some collaborators are outside.
What sort of place is Auroville?
Auroville is a unique international town in south India. There's a lot more information about Auroville at http://www.auroville.org/.
What would Blue Light like to know about me?
- What interests you about Auroville?
- Why interests you about Blue Light?
- What are your education, skills and experience?
- When are you thinking of coming? How long are you thinking of staying?
- How is your spoken and written English?
Practical considerations
Blue Light would love to be able to pay for your ticket to Auroville, to provide you with accommodation and food while you are here and to pay you a living allowance. Unfortunately our cash flow allows none of that yet. All we can offer now are generous helpings of local advice.
Peoples' "needs" vary so it is impossible to be precise about the cost of accommodation, transport, food etc. in Auroville. Typically people spend INR 8,000 to 10,000 per month. That is approximately EUR 100 to 150 EUR and USD 130 to 170. The exact figure depends on your life style.
Our climate is mostly warm or hot and damp; light clothes are essential. Conventionally shoes are not worn in many buildings; it is convenient to have shoes that can easily be removed. A battery flashlight is useful.
Transport is commonly by bicycle. moped or small motorcycle. It is useful to be proficient with whichever you prefer before arriving. For pedal cyclists, a rechargeable LED head light is recommended.
Many countries advise a course of immunisations before arriving in south India and taking malaria prophylactics while here. Almost nobody who lives here long term takes any such special precautions. You may like to take professional advice.
It is helpful if you bring your own computer, otherwise we will do what we can to provide a desktop computer.
What would I do?
That depends on what you can do, what you want to do and how it fits with what is needed at the time.
Our office administration needs are like any small organisation; they include the sort of work associated with accounting, assets management, human resources, office administrator, PA, team secretary and and human resources.
We provide support from first line user support through technical support, training and consultancy so you could end up working in any (or all!) of those roles.
We recommend hardware for use in Free and Open Source systems and suppliers. This requires learning about new products, reading reviews and monitoring how installed hardware works. We build computers from components and repair/upgrade computers.
We do systems administration. That includes automation, backups, configuration, documentation, installation, monitoring, problem management, projects, prototyping, security, solutions research, strategy and support.
We develop software. For details of current and past projects, see the Projects page.
We participate in the Free and Open Source Software community, reporting bugs, answering questions and publishing both documentation (like this WIKI) and code.
Regards working hours, we provide first line support from 8:30 AM through 5 PM, Monday to Saturday. Apart from that we choose our hours to suit ourselves, the team and our clients. Some of us work half time.
You could join our team events. Recently we have gone swimming in lakes at a stone mine and camped overnight in the hills.
If you took on a public facing role you would meet the people of Auroville, a great way to find out more about the many facets of Auroville.
Outside of Blue Light you could join in the many learning, experiencing and social activities that Auroville has to offer, some of which are listed on http://www.auroville.org/.
Once you get here and find out about Auroville, its organisations and people you might find something you want to do more than working with Blue Light. That's cool with us too; Auroville is a place for personal growth.