Star Contributor of the Month – Terence Monteiro

terence-nymtrsWe’re recognizing Terence Monteiro of San Jose Solutions from Bangalore as our Star Contributor. Terence has only been a part of our community since late June but he’s exactly what we look for in a partner – an amazingly talented contributor who lights up our community with his passion for our social mission. He’s eager to share his talents and give back to the community in all ways. Listening to him talk, you can hear the genuine enthusiasm he has and the conviction with which he carries out his work. Join us in congratulating Terence who has many good things to come including more successful deployments and innovation for the community. 

The ideal Mifos Partner requires the perfect mix of skillsets and motivations; Terence is the mirror reflection of what we look for in a partner. They need to possess strong domain knowledge of the sector, technical wherewithal and experience in open source communities as well as openness and willingness to share and collaborate. Terence is committed to his customers, dedicated to our mission, and already enabling the virtuous cycle we seek from our partners. Taking the WebHooks we recently built on the platform, he built a messaging module for his Indian counterparts and has shared it all with the community. Recognizing the need for a simpler install process, he leveraged his experiences and made Mifos X available via a Debian package. Terence simply volunteered his time and made these contributions for the goodwill of the community so let’s thank him and look to follow in his model!

 

Terence Monteiro – Bangalore, India

Brief Bio (in the words of Terence): I’m a Technology Entrepreneur running a firm focused on technology to bring about positive change. I’ve been an avid programmer since I was in high school and was introduced to Open Source in my Graduate Engineering course. What started as a curious interest and hobby has become a full-time occupation and profession. I have worked for both large multinational corporations on large projects and technology startups with highly motivated and talented coders. I’ve handled different roles from programmer to head of product development and now founder and head. I’ve handled complete software lifecycle: requirements analysis, software design, development, testing and QA, deployment and support. I enjoy designing and developing solutions to serve customer needs using technology to redefine client operations bringing speed, smartness and reliability into organizational processes.

Relevant Skills & Experience:

  • Experience building and packaging a custom linux distribution – Debian packaging
  • Experience with REST APIs and interaction between multiple software via HTTP
  • Extensive database experience with several DBMS including MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, SQLite, Oracle and MSSQL Server
  • Several years experience with Open Source having worked on several projects and contributed some CPAN modules
  • Web Application development experience with MVC frameworks (perl-Catalyst, ruby-on-Rails) and microframeworks (ruby-Sinatra and perl-Dancer), HTML, CSS, Javascript, jQuery

Terence’s Impact:

Discovering MifosThe original FLOSS Weekly talk on Mifos on Nov 2008 with George Conard and Adam

Contributions Made to Date: 

  1. Built Mifos X Messenger, an application that sends automatic SMS notifications to any client mobile number for financial transactions like loan repayment or savings deposit/withdrawal. SMS template with local currency and customizable format and easy to use other (non-English) languages. Successfully implemented for couple of provider in India sends transactional messages so it is received by all numbers including those registered in Do-not-disturb lists
  2. Built a Debian package and setup a Debian repository that simplifies installing Mifos X to a single command on Debian/Ubuntu or any Debian based distribution. The package automates a whole slew of steps installing dependencies and performing configuration tasks and more. It sets up the Mifos X backend, the community app as well as the API documentation.

Current Projects: Working to get Mifos X included in Debian, Ubuntu and/or Turnkey Linux. First, setting up a source package which can be built to generate the binary distribution to fulfill Debian policy requirements and facilitate inclusion into Debian and other derivatives particularly Ubuntu and Turnkey Linux.

Impact on the Poor: Currently working on solution for organization serving 18,000 poor in 3 districts of central Karnataka State. Hoping to reach 5 million clients in 3 years

What’s Rewarding about Working on Mifos: Cool technology stack with greatly extensible architecture and good API documentation. Great diverse global community united by common mission. Nothing can beat the satisfaction of knowing that contributions can reach far and wide making a difference and bringing positive transforming change

Top Piece of Advice for Others in the Mifos Community: Keep up the good work and keep having fun while making a difference


Fun Facts about Terence

Favorite Food: : Mostly mum’s cooking

Favorite Open Source Project: Mifos X

If Terence Could Travel to One Place in the World: Brazil

Interesting fact/tidbit about yourself you’d like to share: These days gardening helps me unwind

You can find out more about Terence and San Jose Solutions at:

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