In 2018, Anna-Lena Marx was preparing to begin the final thesis for her master’s degree. She was also working for a German company developing kernel drivers and fixing bugs in the Linux kernel and Android internal system.
Anna-Lena wanted to improve her Linux kernel development skills, so she applied for and was awarded a Linux Foundation Training (LiFT) Scholarship in the Kernel Guru category.
We followed up with Anna-Lena recently to hear what she’s been up to since completing her Linux Foundation training.
Linux Foundation: What training did you take with your scholarship?
Anna-Lena Marx: I took the Developing Linux Device Drivers class, not only for my personal interest but also to help with preparation for my thesis on writing device drivers on different operating systems and kernel architectures.
LF: What was the most useful thing you learned through this training?
ALM: The class helped me a lot in both areas, and despite the fact that I already had a good basic knowledge about drivers in Linux and its internals, I learned a lot that was new to me. I think the best thing I learned was a very clear and helpful explanation on Linux memory management and the memory regions. It’s really tough to understand and is architecture dependent, but the great illustrations by the lecturer especially helped me to better grasp these concepts. As a bonus, I was able to use this knowledge and similar illustrations in my thesis.
LF: Has your job changed since receiving the scholarship?
ALM: After finishing my studies, I started working as an embedded software engineer for embedded Linux and Android systems, which I like a lot. Of course, I love it most when I can do Linux kernel stuff, but that’s not always possible when working on changing projects.
LF: Are you contributing to any open source projects? Which ones?
ALM: Currently I’m not contributing to open source projects. There is unfortunately barely time for it as I started studying electrical engineering through distance learning in addition to my job. I’m working to gain more knowledge on the electrical side of embedded systems and gain a deeper understanding for the hardware I’m writing drivers for. It’s hard and a completely different way of thinking, but it is cool and I’m happy with my progress since I received the scholarship.
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2020 LiFT scholarship recipients were announced in June; 2021 applications will be available in the Spring.
