About me:
- Name: Ayush Dutta
- Bio: 22-year-old security researcher and developer. Ex-LFX’26, Keploy API Fellow, Contributor to OffSec, HTB, etc. I build accessible security education and somehow keep ending up organizing things because I love to share what I am working on and like to move forward with everybody’s collective opinions.
- Location: Kolkata
- Personal site / LinkedIn: https://berzi.one | https://linkedin.com/in/ayushduttasrmap | Ayush Dutta 🪷 (@berzelion) / X | Spirizeon (Ayush Dutta) · GitHub
- Home community: SRM University-AP FOSS Club (SRM University-AP-FOSS Club)
- Years of association with FOSS / digital commons: ~4 years
About my work:
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My FOSS / digital commons journey: Started in student communities (Next Tech Lab (https://ntlap.in), a QS-awarded society, and my college’s first GDSC chapter I founded to 1100+ members). Today I am a common advisor for my university’s technical clubs and have also been heavily involved in organizing and brainstorming initiatives for FOSS SRM-AP. I also was responsible for spreading the message and widespread use of open source projects like Arch Linux and NixOS inside my spheres and spread my philosophies and ideals actively through my social handles.
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How and when I came across the FOSS United community: Through the campus community push while at SRM AP. I went from attending to being the core organiser for every event our chapter has run.
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Why I am running for the Governing Board: I’ve been an advisor, a lead, a marketer and a speaker across workshops. but I want a real seat at the table, to represent the student and early-career side of Indian FOSS, and the security/education angle that rarely gets a voice on a GB.
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Why would I be a good fit: I am responsible for building the community ecosystem of technical clubs and lab in my university and exposing them to international events and conferences. I have performed in every role from getting permissions, bringing speakers to giving workshops and orchestrating teams of varying talents myself. The best communities in my opinion are people who like to build, ship, collaborate and interact with the external audience. They are willing to get judged and act on feedback, while applying improvements not only in expertise but in growth and strategy. I can drive such initiatives.
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Things I would like to focus on as a GB member:
(1) Actively looking out for blockers in people and communities that prevent spreading the mission of FOSS United and be the first one to step in and work on them.
(2) Run lots of pilot initiatives like campaigns, talk and look towards bringing the expertise for underrated people into the FOSS United sphere. Being ready to face consequences and act upon feedback in-case of failures.
(3) Orchestrating automation of operations and communication across event teams through engineering workflows and tools (sometimes using AI). We are ONE whole team regardless. -
Anything else: I contribute back to open source because I like giving back to the projects that helped me get to a higher stage in life.