Star Contributor of the Month for December - Michael Vorburger

Michael Vorburger - Lausanne, Switzerland
Brief Bio (in the words of Michael): I have a computer science degree from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL). Over the years, I have worked in a variety of environments & roles, from setting up some networking infrastructure and websites for the International Peace Bureau in Geneva to building my own small software business developing and marketing web tools, to working around IP multicast switching with Cisco Systems in California, to some kind of highly configurable CRM solution supporting pharmaceutical companies with their innovation and intellectual property management chain.
My current day job is with Odyssey Financial Technologies, a leading wealth and asset management software vendor where in the past 3+ years I have held a number of management roles in Technology and Architecture groups, most recently with a responsibility for the company's Eclipse-based SDK and implementation tooling strategy and development. Somewhere along the lines I co-authored a book on the Java Data Objects (JDO) API, tried some stuff around the $100 Laptop Project (http://olpc.ch), and this summer enjoyed organizing a class teaching 8 year olds programming using http://scratch.mit.edu.
Relevant Skills/OS Experience: Java, Spring, ORM & Persistence, Maven, Frameworks, Architecture, Web Dev, Linux, OS projects & communities, Agile Methodology, Infrastructure, Tooling, Software Quality, Banking, People
Discovering Mifos: Michael actually first heard about Mifos 3.5 years ago on java.net in June 2006. He never got beyond writing up a list of thing he WOULD do instead of starting to DO just one of them until last October. Checking back in on Mifos was natural when he had some "free cycles" during evenings home alone when his family was visiting his wife's home country, India. Motivated by his virtual "meeting" with Adam Monsen on IRC, and a short chat on the POTS phone 1/2h later, Michael asked where could be of use and we suggested the Java.net Issue Tracker to JIRA migration project. He took a closer look, and began making his impactful contribution to our whole community.
Michael's Impact:
Contributions Made to Date: Michael has alleviated many a headache and made our development and QA process much smoother by helping us migrate our issue tracker from Java.net to JIRA. Current Projects: Time permitting, Michael may be starting to work on a "pre-packaged" Mifos all-in-one ZIP. What’s Rewarding about Working on Mifos:
"Mifos is a great project because developers can contribute open source to something which seems to have a direct impact on improving the lives of hundreds of thousands of people through better software for microfinance institutions."
Advice for others in the Mifos Community:
"I'm nobody to give you any advice... maybe just: Keep up the good work!"
Fun Facts about Michael:
Favorite Food: Good Italian and Indian. Favorite Open Source Project: "Lot's of good stuff out there, but let me say "Mifos of course!" Here are some others, probably well-known to you all: WebDriver [check it out!], GWT [way to go!], Jetty [great in-process!], Lucene, Hudson, Spring, OpenJPA, Linux" If Michael could travel to one place in the world, it would be: "Up to Ladakh, maybe." Interesting fact about Michael: "I like to build LEGO We Do robots with my son." Please visit Michael's personal website, blog, and LinkedIn profile to learn more about him.
News Log
- Community Spotlight (12)
- ThoughtWorks HSP Team Invigorates Mifos X Community
- First Mifos Deployment in Latin America
- Hugo Technologies
- Outreach on the Ground - May 2012
- FINA and MFC launch Mifos in Laos
- SolDevelo
- Profamilia Goes Live with Mifos in Mozambique
- SolDevelo: Nimble Java Ninjas Fighting Poverty from Poland
- Conflux Mifos Roadshow
- Kongalend Deployment Kicks off in Namibia
- Mifos Specialist pushes forth in Mozambique
- Father and Daughter bring Mifos Technology to Senegal
- Company News (19)
- Global Launch of the Mifos Initiative - June 11 at Pivotal Labs
- Mifos at LinuxFest Northwest
- Mifos X on FLOSS Weekly
- Ready for New Heights at the FI2020 Global Forum
- Conservancy and COSM announce the Mifos Initiative
- 2013 Mifos Community Choice Awards - Honoring our Finest
- Take 3 = Triple the Impact
- Mifos Summit Day 2 Reflections
- 2013 Mifos Summit in Jaipur has Begun!
- How You Can Get Involved
- Remixing Microfinance
- OSCON's about to Kick Off!
- Mifos Transition Plan Finalized - Next Phase of Mifos Begins
- Grameen Foundation to Transition Mifos to Community-Led Effort
- Grameen Foundation Expanding Technology for Microfinance Initiative
- Scaling the Pyramid of IT Adoption
- Grameen Foundation and CGAP Host Tech Roundtable in Kenya - Advancing Back Office Systems for Microfinance
- Grameen Foundation and Microsoft Join Forces to Accelerate Impact of Technology for Microfinance
- Collectively Advancing Technology for the Industry with CGAP
- Mifos at ACCESS Microfinance India Summit
- Industry News (2)
- Open Source Community (36)
- A Light-hearted Look at our 2014 GSOC Interns
- Google Summer of Code 2014
- Meet the 2014 Google Summer of Code Class of Interns
- Volunteer with Mifos in 2014
- 2013 Mifos Summit Recap
- 2013 Mifos Graduating Class for Google Summer of Code
- 2013 Summit in Photos
- Optimizing UX for Mifos X
- A Team
- Google Summer of Code - We're Halfway Home
- Google Summer of Code 2013
- End Poverty. One Line of Code at a Time.
- Aligning Volunteer Passion with User Pain
- GSOC Mentor Summit 2010
- Building a Better Community Experience
- Enabling Social Change through Software Development
- Leila E Translations - The Final Push!
- User Meeting - a Big Success!
- Summer of Code 2010 - A Journey Well-Traveled
- Meet the 2010 Google Summer of Code Mifos Interns
- End Poverty. One Line of Code at a Time.
- Mifos FLOSS User Manual Sprint
- Uncovering the DNA of a Great Team
- Adam Feuer on the PayPal X Developer Network
- Mentors Meet in Mountain View, Manifest Mastery of Mentoring
- Widespread Reach of Open Source Community
- Building a Local Technology Ecosystem
- Product Announcements (22)
- COSM Ships Mifos X Platform 1.0
- mLite Demo on Mifos X
- Mifos 2.5 (Samiha J) Ships!
- Mifos 2.2.3 Released
- Mifos 2.4 is Live!
- Mifos X API
- Samiha J Release Announcement
- Mifos Android Client
- Mifos 2.6 - Esha K is Live
- Esha K Release Announcement
- Vinolia I Release Announcement
- Mifos X - The Next Generation
- Mifos 2.2.2 Ships
- Community Ships First Mifos Release Post-Transition
- Margaret H: Mifos 2.3 Ships!
- Margaret H Release Announced
- Mifos 2.1.6 Released & SolDevelo to Extend Mifos 2.2
- SunGard Releases Data Migration Toolkit
- Mifos 2.1.5 Released
- Mifos 2.0 and 2.1 - a Closer Look
- Mifos wants to Hear your Voice
- Mifos Earns High Ratings in CGAP Software Review
- Star Contributor (15)
- Technical Topics (1)