How opensource influenced the career of a student?

Akshen Doke, Project Research Engineer, FOSSEE IIT Bombay
Hello folks,
Every passing day, we see the advent of new software and apps making their addition to the digital world. Here’s a blog on the journey of a budding FOSS enthusiast Akshen Doke, a Project Research Engineer at FOSSEE Project, IIT-Bombay.
Having graduated from Atharva College of Engineering with a degree in Bachelor of Computer Engineering, Akshen was keen on trying new stuff and exploring newer technological domains. Experimenting with codes, designing and implementing software projects and the likes were what fascinated him. His quest for a unique domain in the Tech World ended when he started using the Linux (Ubuntu) Operating System. Or rather, that was just the beginning. With Linux, he got a glimpse of the enormous power a developer could experience with the Open Source software.
Soon Akshen found himself exploring deeper, and predictably there he was, mastering a remarkably powerful dynamic programming Open Source language - Python. The features of Python in supporting multiple programming paradigms including object-oriented, imperative and functional programming styles kept him captivated.
And that was his cue to the beginning of a journey with FOSS...
THE FOSS CENTERED STARTER
A simple idea, but rather a fun-filled one is what lead to a program that you now call the ‘EyeCare’ Google Chrome extension.
As the name suggests, this extension is a flash reminder on the computer screens, prompting users to take their attention off the screen and give those eyes a break. This plugin that took him a day to implement, pops a message every 20 minutes – An effective way to lower the chances of acquiring the ‘Computer Vision Syndrome’ that results from continual and uninterrupted glare of the computer screens.


THE MULTITASKER SOFTWARE
A successful software – ‘EyeCare’ – did not consent him to relax. As an ardent FOSS-user, Akshen wanted to broaden his limits and try out tougher ventures. That led him to his next project – ‘SuperSearch Chrome Extension’.
This is a multi-platform use enabler. It permits usage of multiple search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, Yandex and as well as e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, all at once! Needless to say, this measure saves a lot of time as it cuts down on the need to open newer tabs consecutively and type out the same query over and over again.
Akshen worked through this idea for an hour per day for about two weeks and designed the extension using Javascript-HTML/CSS. It took some time of learning the Chrome extension architecture along with writing his own code. The ability of the Open Source in readily providing its source code to the users helped him achieve this with less hassle.

Akshen is now a part of the FOSSEE (Free and Open Source Software for Education) Project based at IIT Bombay that focuses on the dissemination of Open Source in schools and colleges. He is an active member of its Python team and desires to teach this open source language to students pursuing engineering and the like across the country via Python workshops.

Akshen was also the Python instructor to students from various colleges such as Atharva College of Engineering, Pune Institute of Computer Technology,(PICT), P.E.S. Modern College Of Engineering, Shivajinagar, Walchand College Of Engineering, Sangli, Graphic Era University, Dehradun and Rajiv Gandhi Institute Of Technology, Mumbai and lot more to come.

One can connect with Akshen at:
Links to access the google chrome extensions by Akshen.


Author Ulfa Khwaja

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