I’m glad to announce that the community has nominated Robby O’Connor (@r0bby) as the July Volunteer of the Month! We are all grateful for Robby’s work and dedication to the OpenMRS community. Thank you for your continued commitment and effort to OpenMRS!
Name: Robby O’Connor
Your OpenMRS ID: r0bby
Tell us a little about your background:
I have a CS degree and have been doing a lot of infrastructure stuff. I’ve used Linux on and off for well over 15+ years.
When did you start with OpenMRS: Back in 2008 - nearly 10 years ago - time flies.
How did you get interested in OpenMRS:
I liked that the work made an impact and that it didn’t directly benefit me.
How do you participate in the community (What activities, projects, role, etc):
I initially joined the OpenMRS community as a Google Summer of Code Student from 2008-2009 (2010 I was a student with the Sahana Software Foundation). I maintained an active presence and occasionally contributed (I did a significant amount of work on the Groovy Module). After I graduated with my Bachelors in Computer Science, I started helping out with Google Code-In and volunteered to help review the pull requests which revamped the ID Dashboard design. This quickly snowballed into me actively maintaining it. I’ve since made it easier for new developers to get started by dockerizing the application. This also lead me to join the Infrastructure Team (which I actually resigned from in September of 2016). I have since been helping out on and off and working on ID dashboard whenever time permitted. I still occasionally offer my input in the Infrastructure Chat on matters as I catch them.
What drives or inspires you to work with OpenMRS:
The community. There are thousands of patients, clinicians and clinic staff who rely on our community existing and remaining up and running.
What are your favorite hobbies/things to do in your free time:
I’m usually tinkering and/or keeping up with the latest technologies.
What’s your favorite OpenMRS moment or tell us what makes OpenMRS special to you: The Community
What aspect of working with OpenMRS do you enjoy the most: The Community
How has OpenMRS helped you achieve any of your personal goals or how has working with OpenMRS impacted you:
I have gained a good deal of professional experience by working on the infrastructure team.
Keep up the great work, and you indeed deserved this! 