Every day, as AEGEE members, we use the technology, services and applications that are available to us, ranging from browsing a website to get information about a certain Working Group, through sending emails from our aegee.org account, to asking for support when we cannot login to the Intranet. We rely on AEGEE’s IT services to provide the necessary infrastructure for our work but we barely get a chance to take a glimpse behind the scenes, and get to know those people whose invaluable work makes all of this possible. Presenting you Wim van Ravesteijn, Dilyan Palauzov and Christian Bussar, the following paragraphs will show you how working in the IT field of AEGEE can be more than a passing task, and become a source for personal development, enriching one’s life.

The AEGEEan: What are your responsibilities in AEGEE when it comes to IT matters?

Wim van Ravesteijn has been active in the ITC (formerly ITWG) for over 10 years.

Wim: “I’m responsible for the webserver Zeus, hosting almost all websites in AEGEE, as well as the Head Office servers. For Zeus, it means maintaining the server, creating new accounts, assisting users with problems, and writing some tooling to make the life of the users easier. For the Head Office, it mainly means maintaining the servers. Next to that, for 10 years already by now, I take care of the Agora and EBM applications.“

Dilyan: “In AEGEE, we use @aegee.org email addresses and mailing lists with @lists.aegee.org and I ensure that these email services are constantly up, running, and improving. This means maintaining the mail server, dealing with spam, and doing the best to deliver the emails sent to the @aegee.org addresses to the real destination mailboxes. Apart from the everyday task of creating email aliases, there are some long term ideas, like integrating the creation of the mail aliases with the intranet databases, updating software, migrating from one software to another, or installing new software for new services.”

Christian: “My task is the user support of the AEGEE Intranet, which keeps the account data of every registered AEGEE member and their position within the organisation. You need to access your account for all event applications and this is why the most demanding time is during the application period for statutory events and of course the Summer Universities. The general task is explaining people how to recover their passwords or generating interim passwords for them. The challenge of user support is being available almost every day, because naturally you don’t want to keep people waiting for longer than 24 hours.”

The AEGEEan: Most of you have been involved in this type of work for a very long time, even up to 10 years. What has kept you motivated all this time?

Wim: “Maintaining your own webserver is the dream of every IT student. You can always build your home server, but without lots of users, this is not much fun. AEGEE provides the environment to provide a reliable service to lots of people. It gives you experiences that you cannot learn from books. Finding the right balance between security and user experience is the most complicated part, but by doing it for many years, you know where is the right balance.”

One of the aims of Dilyan Palauzov is to constantly develop the email systems of AEGEE.

Dilyan: “On the one hand, there is the technical challenge, and the experience I get in this field.  If you want to work in the area of IT, you need to learn a huge amount of theory, and when you apply for a job, you can list what you have learnt. AEGEE gives you the possibility both to learn theoretically and to put this in practice, for the benefit of both yourself and the organisation. On the other hand, my motivation also comes from a sense of responsibility, as I have always had the feeling, that if I do not do my work right, the rest of AEGEE will not be able to exchange emails and they will not be able to work productively.”

The AEGEEan: What are the next steps for you in these positions? Are you looking for people to get involved in your work?

Dilyan: “I’ve been in this position for too long, and I am looking for somebody to take over this challenge. Three months ago there was an open call for new members, and currently the mail team consists of Christophe, Clemens, Mateusz, Olimpia, Richard and me. The teammates do great work in answering the daily mails, but I wish there were some people to develop new software, or just make changes in the service, besides keeping the current service level. To join the mail team, experience is not at all necessary, as it can be gained along the way. What is important is the motivation and willingness to do things the right way, polished, with an attention to details. So if someone would like to learn to set up servers and email software, and is ready to ensure that the mail server is going to work non-stop, I would be glad if he or she supported me.”

Christian: “My personal situation has changed recently because I am now working full time which gives me a lot less free time than before, when I was a student. This means I don’t know exactly if it is possible for me to carry on this position for much longer. User support for the Intranet it is a quite easy task to fulfil, and you don’t need much insight into IT, just have to be able to handle an easy web form with drop down menus and check boxes. Furthermore, it is not fully about giving away positions, in fact we’re calling ourselves the myAEGEE Team, but are missing actually some faces beside me, so the first step might be to get some more people involved to share the workload, especially during the Summer University application period.”

Wim: “The next step for me in AEGEE is retirement. Well, I said that some years ago already. My involvement in AEGEE is little right now. I’ve joined Les Anciens already some years ago, that was when I left my position in the board of AEGEE-Academy. That was basically the last involvement from my side in AEGEE, except for the IT work.”

The AEGEEan: In AEGEE you work in the IT field, but what do you do in your everyday life?

Wim: “Over three years ago, I started working in an IT company in Deventer, The Netherlands. I started as Java developer, which is still what I do most of the time. In addition to that, I also take care of maintaining our internal servers, planning new development and second line user support. We develop web applications that are used for primary healthcare in The Netherlands. So, basically I do the same as I’ve done in AEGEE (servers and web development), only now I get paid for it.”

Christian Bussar is currently pursuing a PhD degree at the University of Aachen.

Christian: “You can separate my life into four phases, which are working on my job, doing sports, doing AEGEE related things and sleep. Since I’ve just started my job a few weeks ago, I am still trying to adjust my schedule a bit here and there, but I have regular office hours doing my PhD at the University of Aachen. In my free time I enjoy doing a lot of sports like kung-fu, swimming and fitness gymnastics, which I do usually every second day, if possible.”

Dilyan: “I recently moved to Nürnberg, where I develop software. I like travelling, cycling, walking around, reading books about IT and articles related to emails, or listening to the radio.”

The AEGEEan: Is there anything else that you would like to share about your experiences in AEGEE?

Wim: “I joined AEGEE in 2000. During all those years, I’ve travelled a lot, seen lots of places and made lots of friends all over Europe. I’ve learnt to cooperate with people from different backgrounds. Many people you meet several times, but you always want more. Unfortunately, many friends live too far away to meet often, but whenever there is a possibility, I try to meet people when I travel somewhere. AEGEE has thought me so many lessons. And though it took a lot time away from studying, it also gave me lot of practical experiences next to all the theory from my studies. It definitely helps me now in my daily work. Without AEGEE, my life would be totally different now.”

Dilyan: “When I look back after some years of work, I realize how much the work in AEGEE has developed me both on the social and the technical aspect. It is hard to foresee how a person doing voluntary work will develop him or herself by this work, but being unpaid allows you to determine for yourself what is important and lets you work on making it real, just because of your inspiration and independent of commercial interests.”

Christian: “Even though I only found out about AEGEE late in my studies, it made my whole life somehow connected and looking to shape the future of Europe, and this is quite amazing, I think. Thank you for everything, AEGEE!”

As these stories show, there are a lot of opportunities for AEGEE members to find the field of IT that they would like to get to know better and develop their skills. As Dilyan puts it, “The scope of the work is very broad, and you shouldn’t be afraid to break something in the beginning, as breaking stuff is part of the learning process.” If you would like to find out more about their work, or better yet, get involved in it, do not hesitate to contact Wim (wim@aegee.org), Dilyan (mail@aegee.org) or Christian (myaegee@aegee.org).

Written by Zsófia Komáromi, AEGEE-Budapest

Every year since 1987 groups of enthusiasts are trying to build the perfect program, to show their country, to attack foreigners, to make people experience incomparable emotions… and an unforgettable summer. It is not a matter of planning. It is much more about creativity and heart.  The AEGEEan editor Liliya Buyukliyska descripes the first SU she ever organised was like a new-born baby to her which she saw grow up. These five suggestions will probably motivate you to dig even deeper in order to find the perfect SU for you, because these are the most untypical and surprising suggestions in the list of breathtaking offers. Enjoy reading and hopefully – see you there. Don’t forget the deadline is 24^th of April.

FinEst Design

Did you know that Helsinki is “The World Design Capital for 2012”? Me neither. But for sure if you go to the Travelling Summer University organised by AEGEE-Helsinki and AEGEE-Tallinn you will be drawn deep into the creativity. Because the only condition is to be curious, open minded and adventurous. Colorful emotions will do the rest in this event that meet the Eastern, Western, and Northern Design.

MerGER of 3 BEautiful countries: eNLightening trip

Do you know which country Aachen used to be the capital of or why Maastricht is so important for the process of the European Integration? If your answer is “No” then the best way to catch up is visiting this Travelling Summer University “MerGER of 3 BEautiful countries: eNLightening trip”. The theme is something we all experience – integration, but from the opposite perspective – nationalism versus European Union. Europeanise yourself with this eNLightening trip!

European School: 4 Elements 4 You!

School. University. Sounds boring? Not if is the European School of AEGEE. Fun and AEGEE emotions, exhaustive workshops and incomparable team building – that is the European School organised by the AEGEE-Academy. However, this summer you can mix it up with the flavour of Hungarian language and you will receive the great temptation of AEGEE-Debrecen.

Go East! Break the Borders!

Shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall there was a famous song “Go West”. Well, at this Summer University you will not hear this but just the opposite. Because from central part of Europe you will go deep to the East together with the Eastern Partnership Project. Because Ukraine is really a different world. But what this means exactly – you can tell us after visiting.

 Hack your Summer

Do you know the magical language that computers speak? They exchange 0s and 1s and they talk much better than girls and guys. There are people who speak their language. You can see them this summer in Patra and Peiraias at the first IT Summer University in the history of AEGEE. Maybe it is waiting just for you!

So after these amazing offers just find your way to your computer and fill your creative application at  www.aegee.org/su. It will be worth it!

Written by Liliya Buyukliyska, AEGEE-Sofia

First time I met Pavel Zbornik he was just traveling through Sofia to Agora Istanbul. I knew only that he was the president of AEGEE-Praha at that time and he loved beer. But later I started seeing his name over and over again in AEGEE-L mailing list discussion and even among Network Commission (NetCom) candidates a year later. Now we can see that he is ready to be even more involved in AEGEE as he candidates for Comite Directeur (CD) member. We are sure that his experience, working for Czech National Agency of Youth in Action taught him a lot and maybe even showed him secrets that I and you probably don’t know. But if he plans to share them with us…Read the following interview and maybe you will find the answer.

The AEGEEan: You are doing many thing. How does one regular day go for you? How do you control or organise your time management?

Pavel: What means regular day? I have flexible time schedule at work plus traveling for AEGEE events or business trips, which I have normally once or twice a month, destroy my regular schedule. Also right now finishing my master thesis, so I’m one day at my office, than next day in laboratory at my university or at some meeting. To tell the truth, I would like to have something more stable.

And how I organise my time? I have all activities in a calendar with different colors by type of activity and then I have also for each day appointed tasks with level of importance. For this I use Google Calendar and Remember The Milk which I have connected with my Gmail, Outlook and my smartphone. Important is to write every task down not to forget, even the simple one, same for activities. Also allocate time for your hobbies in calendar otherwise you find that you don’t have time for them. 

Since years CD members are talking about and even having an IT Assistant. What are your plans in this direction?

In this direction I don’t have very ambitious plans, I want to keep the IT infrastructure working (by the way this is ambitious itself , especially in the CD house and provide support to the locals if they need. What I see as important is to help ITC with creating new Intranet (OMS) and organise IT European School. My plans in Public Relations about creating several new websites are quite depending on IT solutions, so I see these two fields quite connected.

Do you think you could do at the same time Public Relations (PR), IT and deal with European Institutions? Are you ready to leave some aside and which one?

I wouldn’t say leave. I see CD member as manager and I would like to collaborate and divide tasks, I believe that cooperation with Public Relations Committee (PRC) and Information Technologies Committee (ITC) will be fruitful, so I’ll be not only one for this tasks. And as I mentioned IT is quite connected with PR and vice versa.

Which of your experience give you an asset in front of other candidates?

It’s quite hard to judge yourself and not be critical. I would say that I have experience in quite various fields inside or outside AEGEE which gives me different points of view on many things. Also as student of engineering I’ve been educated to find solutions for different problems. You should also know that I come from small town so I know what means to work by your hands and repair things or fix something in the house. This can be useful taking into account that only three boys candidate and CD house is not in best shape.

Mailing list and forum are widely discussed topics. What is your opinion about them?

Both of them have their advantages and disadvantages. Forum is good tool to have structured discussion but when people are not using it? I guess we got used to hundreds of emails and are a bit “lazy” to leave our Gmail and login to Forum, but we have also people who don’t like full inbox. What I see as possible in the mean time before plug-in for forum will be developed is to use AEGEE-L for discussion of actual and hot topics but with changed subscription from regular to digest, so people will get one email a day with result of discussion, of course they can change for regular back. For the rest use forum. Question is what actual and hot topic is, there is not simple solution.

You have experience as Network Commissioner (NetCommie). Was this what motivated you to run for CD?

When you enter NetCom your life will change, you will get responsibility towards your locals and also your engagement in AEGEE will increase. You are in the core structure of AEGEE and all the things which you do address a lot of people and influence them. You think that is coincidence that 70% of all current CD candidates are/were NetComs or at least sub-commissioners?

And why you are not candidating to Network Director? 

Thanks to being in NetCom I have overview over the Network and probably could be Network Director as well but I think that my knowledge concerning institutions, PR and IT is more valuable for CD especially when we have other good candidates for this position. Having such experience is quite good when you are in CD, you know Network and know what to expect.

What do you think about other candidates? Do you think you can form a nice team? To work easy and be more than just colleagues?

I really hope we can be more than colleagues as it’s vitally important when you spend with other six people basically whole year “locked” in the house. I know most of the candidates personally and I think we can be a good team.

How do you plan to break the ice in the CD house if you are elected?

(Smiles) I know quite a lot of games connected with consumption of CH3–CH2–OH (ethanol) and experience from several events taught me that it can work as quite good icebreaker.

Which beer is better – Czech or Belgium?

(Smiles) Czech Republic is famous for Pilsner type of beer which is most spread around the world and I don’t see reason why to drink copy if you can drink original. On the other side Belgium has many different kinds of beer like all kinds of ale or my favorite lambic. To answer your question and not talk hours about beer I think best beer is from small brewery where they brew beer with love and use quality ingredients.

Thank you and good luck in Enschede!

Written by Liliya Buyukliyska, AEGEE-Sofia