At a glance:
- Involved in open source since: 2018
- Works for: Datasance
- Eclipse Foundation contributor since: 2024
- Involved in: Eclipse ioFog™
- Eclipse Foundation committer since: 2025
What’s your background as a developer?
My background is probably a little different from many other Eclipse Foundation committers. I didn’t start my career as a software developer. Instead, I began as a pre-sales consultant at Fujitsu before moving into sales and partner management. Later, I joined SUSE, where I also worked in sales-oriented roles.
Development was more of a personal hobby during that time. It wasn’t until I founded my own company, Datasance, that I became a professional developer. Building my own business gave me the opportunity to develop software full-time, and that’s how my journey into software engineering really began.
How did you get involved in open source?
My interest in open source actually started before I joined SUSE. I was fascinated by the open source business model and the way communities create value for both technology communities and enterprise users.
Working at SUSE gave me a much deeper understanding of open source ecosystems. Around 2016 and 2017, I became particularly interested in edge computing and how those software architectures were evolving.
When I founded Datasance in 2020, I made a clear decision that it would be an enterprise open source company. From day one, I wanted the company to be built around open source principles because I truly believe in the value that open source communities create for both solution providers and customers.
How did you become a committer at the Eclipse Foundation?
When I started Datasance, I had two options: either build everything from scratch or contribute to an existing open source project. Eclipse ioFog™ was a perfect fit for what I wanted to build, so we adopted it as the foundation of our platform and invested heavily in extending its architecture and functionality.
The project itself had already existed for several years. After the original company behind ioFog™ closed its doors, I was appointed project lead about a year ago. Since then, we've merged years of improvements from the Datasance codebase back into the community project.
Today, we maintain both the Datasance platform and the Eclipse ioFog™ community project. Everything we develop is contributed back to the community. We don't keep features hidden in a proprietary version. Transparency has always been one of our core principles.
What are the biggest challenges as a committer?
The first challenge was really restructuring the repositories when I started as a project lead because you have a limited workforce and you need to both maintain your company's codebase and, at the same time, the community codebase too.
Also, when I took over the project leadership, the project had been stale for a while. So the network and community around the project were kind of inactive. Right now, I am trying to revitalise the community and rebuild the connections and relationships, both inside the Eclipse Foundation and outside of it. I'm trying to engage with other working groups and project leaders to discuss how we can collaborate, create joint architectures, and develop joint solutions with other teams.
What have been the highlights of being a committer?
It’s been really interesting to build this kind of community. The Eclipse Foundation is one of the biggest and best-known open source foundations in the world, so it's been great to be a part of it. I've really enjoyed engaging with other technology leaders and project leaders to discuss the technologies I'm passionate about and dedicated to.
Any advice for someone new to open source?
If you're interested in becoming a committer or even building a business around open source, the first thing to understand is that open source combines intense competition with equally strong collaboration.
Even companies that compete with each other often collaborate on technology, exchange ideas, and contribute improvements back to the community. That's a unique environment that creates tremendous value for everyone involved.
Personally, I also appreciate the trust that open source creates with customers. When I explain our solutions, I can honestly say that our code is open for anyone to inspect. Customers can audit what we're doing and understand exactly how the software works. That level of transparency builds strong, long-term trust.
Most importantly, being part of an open source community is genuinely rewarding. Working together with people who share your interests is motivating, and I believe anyone who joins an active community will gain both valuable experience and a great deal of energy from it.
Any recommendations for companies relying on open source?
For technology providers, participating in open source communities should be a priority. If you're building infrastructure or enterprise software, you should be actively engaged with the projects your business depends on.
For companies using open source, I also encourage teams to participate in community events and follow the work happening inside open source foundations. It can be difficult for organisations to keep pace with rapidly changing technologies, and open source communities are often the best place to learn about the latest developments and future trends.
The Eclipse Foundation is a great example. Its projects span everything from developer tools to software-defined vehicles, IoT and edge computing, and open hardware. Organisations that aren't paying attention to these communities risk missing valuable innovations and opportunities.
Finally, it's important to remember that open source doesn't mean "free" in the sense of having no cost. You're not paying for software licenses, but you are investing in expertise, integration, support, and knowledge. If customers invest more in open source projects and their teams, or at least follow their activities, join their events, and keep track of what's happening in the working groups, I think that will bring a lot of value to their organisation.