Social entrepreneur and programmer.
A Little Context
The core of my work lies somewhere between social entrepreneurship, programming and philosophy. The combination of these fields has allowed me to explore multiple areas of knowledge that I would never have thought to explore otherwise.
My passions come from the goal of ensuring that everyone is treated fairly. In this way, my work falls into the categories of ed-tech, mental health advocacy, social sustainability, open source software, knowledge management, and computer ethics.
I did a Master’s in Digital Communication Leadership at Aalborg University in Denmark. My thesis aimed to understand the ethics behind algorithms and what are the implications of such matters in society.
I also currently collaborate with OPENschool by developing their platform. OPENschool is an organization that aims to change the ways how things work within the classroom by giving more freedom to children to decide what they want to learn and have the teachers as guides only.
Before enrolling in this master’s program, I worked for around 5 years as a software developer at MD Systems GmbH, the top Drupal contributor in Switzerland.
I am an advocate of multidisciplinarity and collaboration. This allowed me to create my own initiatives related to mental health awareness, sustainability, music, video production, and game design. You can see all my previous projects here.
On the side, I focus on developing my digital garden where I upload my own essays and notes.
A Little History
I was born and raised in El Alto, Bolivia. I grew surrounded by mountains in a young city located at 4000 meters above the sea level.
I graduated with a bachelor’s in Computer Systems Engineering at Del Valle University in La Paz, Bolivia and in 2014, I was awarded an exchange scholarship to Tokyo, Japan. This initial experience changed my way of looking at things and how I understood other cultures. I started learning Japanese and getting to teach English on campus.
By 2016, I got accepted as an intern in Switzerland and I moved to Zurich to work for 7 months. During that time, I found my passion for Open Source technologies and community building. This experience led me to connect with Drupal communities around the world and create bonds with other communities. After going back to Bolivia, I joined Nucleo GNU/Linux, a study group of free software. This community opened new worlds to me in order to support others to also work abroad with Open Source and Free technologies.
My passion for Sustainability was later enhanced when I was selected for the Young Sustainable Impact program in Norway. Among more than 8000 applicants, 24 people were selected. Meeting so many motivated individuals gave me a new perspective on life. I was sure I wanted to become an advocate for sustainable causes.
Ever since then, I started creating multiple projects to use all the skills I had learned. I co-founded organizations tackling mental health, sustainability, and gender equality issues. I volunteered in organizations as a videographer, photographer, HR manager, and Community manager. And created my own podcast and songs.
After living in 5 different countries, I am trying to find my place in Copenhagen, Denmark. I enjoy an active life.
You can find me on Twitter and Instagram. If you like longer texts, you can send me an email at hello@johnchque.com.
Key Achievements
The list of selected achievements I am the most proud of.
- Erasmus Master Scholarship for the Digital Communication Leadership program (2021, Salzburg - Austria)
- Winner of Short Story Contest organised by Club de Lectura La Paz about Gender violence (June 2020), one of the ten winners among 132 participants.
- Winner for Emprende Games (September 2019) in the category of best audio with the game Puma Punku worth of 21 000 Bolivians.
- Award JCI TOYP Bolivia (Aug 2019), in the category “Personal Improvement and/or Accomplishment” one of the 10 winners during 2019 of all Bolivia.
- Featured at “To change the world” documentary (2019) produced by Young Sustainable Impact in Norway with the project Hubbing.
- Program YSI Global (2018, Oslo - Norway), one of the 24 participants selected among 8500 applicants. Innovation program to develop solutions for the UN sustainable development goals.
- Speaker at Drupal Mountain Camp (Mar 2019, Davos - Switzerland), talk: “Drupal and Android through REST: Quick integration”.
- Speaker at Drupal Europe (Sep 2018, Darmstadt - Germany), talk: “Drupal PKM: A personal knowledge management Drupal distro”.
- DrupalCon Grant (Apr 2018, Nashville - USA), awarded with a full grant for expenses due to contribution to the Drupal community during 2017.
- Top 15th Drupal Contributor in the world during 2017. Drupal.org.
- IAESTE Internship (Jan 2016 - Aug 2016, Zurich - Switzerland), selected for an internship abroad at the company MD Systems for 7 months.
- Exchange Scholarship Soka University (創価大学) (Sep 2014 - Aug 2015, Tokyo - Japan), selected as the only recipient of the annual scholarship during 2014.