Episode 98: Silona Bonewald and her long-term vision for IEEE and open source

Guest Silona Bonewald Panelists Richard Littauer Show Notes Hello and welcome to Sustain! The podcast where we talk about sustaining open source for the long haul. Today, our guest is Silona Bonewald, who is the Executive Director of IEEE SA OPEN, which is a comprehensive platform offering the open source community cost-effective options for developing and validating their projects. She is also the Founder of Leadingbit Solutions. We find out why Silona was a taker, not a maker, when she first got into open source, how she went from writing code to working on policy, how she ended up at IEEE, and what SA OPEN does. She reveals her long-term vision for IEEE and open source, how she feels about standards using her Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups metaphor, working on certifications, and she shares her thoughts on where she thinks we will be down the road in the distant future in terms of badges and certification for open source. Go ahead and download this episode to learn much more from Silona! [00:01:30] Silona tells us how she was a taker, not a maker, when she first got into open source. [00:05:20] At some point Silona segued from writing code to working on policy and she tells us how that happened. [00:06:53] We find out how Silona ended up at IEEE and what SA OPEN does. [00:09:08] Silona talks about her long-term vision for both IEEE and open source. [00:11:30] Standards are explained by Silona, how they work, why they think in decades, and who the 30,000 people are involved with standards. [00:14:17] In regard to talking to developers, Richard wonders if Silona feels like she’s often trying to talk in two languages again when people would come into the room while she was coding. [00:18:48] Silona tells us about working on doing certifications and how they are going through badges and are in the design phase right now. She also mentions that IEEE recruits from engineering schools all over the world to get their members. [00:20:00] Richard wonders if some people think certifications are scary and they won’t be a