Re: Question for candidates

[Andre Klapper <ak-47 gmx net>]

On Mon, 2014-05-19 at 15:20 +0100, Ekaterina Gerasimova wrote:
> Many of the applicants for GSoC and OPW are already from Asia and
> especially from India. I think that the split is largely related to
> English being a commonly spoken language in India, but not so
> prominent in other Asian countries.

[This comment is not targeted to anybody specifically.]

Apart from knowledge of English language I'm curious how much cultural
dimensions come into play (see [1] for a short intro). 
For those who don't know, some examples:
      * Uncertainty avoidance - I need to join this IRC chat thingy and
        talk to a room full of strangers? That's scary!
      * Individualism - I'm supposed to actively apply for this
        competition instead of being asked by recruiters at my
        university, as usual?
      * Power distance - I expect my mentor to tell me what to do vs. I
        discuss and argue with mentors/devs about potential solutions.
      * High-level communication - telling me in public (mailing list,
        IRC) that my proposed solution could be improved makes me feel
        like being criticized and losing my face/reputation.

And probably more. I believe some of our workflows and communications we
are used to feel very uncomfortable to some cultures.

andre

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofstede%27s_cultural_dimensions_theory
-- 
Andre Klapper  |  ak-47 gmx net
http://blogs.gnome.org/aklapper/