Red Hat evolves with a techie camp

Ethan Boyette has known for some time that he wanted be a computer engineer.

But when it came to a possible employer, Red Hat was never on the list.

That is, until this week. After a few days on the software company's Raleigh campus, the rising ninth-grader is making plans to return professionally.

"Now that I've seen what the company is ... I'd love to work for them here," said Boyette, 14, who lives in Kenly.

It seems Red Hat High is already paying off.

In its inaugural year, the weeklong technology camp has attracted 52 students from half a dozen counties to Raleigh to learn about technology, collaboration and innovation. The rising eighth- and ninth-graders, all picked for their interest in science, math or engineering, are living in N.C. State University dorms and spending their days in Red Hat's computer labs and on the college campus.

"While we're some of the world's geekiest people, Red Hat is a fun place to work," said David Burney, the company's vice president of corporate communications. "We want the kids to see that's what it can be like to work in technology. We want the kids to see there's a bigger world out there, and there's a place for them in that world."

In just a few years, Red Hat has grown from a funky high-tech startup to the leading company providing open-source software and services. Open-source software, which typically is developed by a community of users, is not proprietary and is inexpensive, sometimes even free.

Launching a technology camp is another step in Red Hat's maturity. This summer, it joins the likes of IBM, Microsoft and Texas Instruments, which all sponsor summer programs to sell youngsters on science and math, before the subjects become uncool in high school.

"Great companies understand they have a social mission," Burney said. "That's what we're trying to do."

Many of the programs are focused on recruiting women and minorities to the technology industry. Both groups are under-represented in high-tech fields, with women making up 25 percent of the work force in 2000 and black and Hispanic employees representing a combined 10.1 percent, according to the National Science Foundation.

Encouraging students to choose careers in science and engineering is a practical mission, too. Technology companies are experiencing a shortage of workers with the kinds of creative and innovative skills necessary to become today's computer scientists and engineers, said Thomas Conway, N.C. State's dean of undergraduate academic programs.

"You have to foster that pipeline, so in the next generation you aren't looking at dwindling numbers of people interested in computer science, math and technology," said Alise McNeill, a spokeswoman for IBM. "That's the talent pool we'll be tapping years from now."

Next week, about 35 boys will gather on IBM's campus in Research Triangle Park to build robotic cars and circuit boards, tour the company and visit college campuses. In June, the company held a similar camp for girls.

Red Hat took a different approach. Students picked one of four tracks -- Web design and development, 3-D animation, video or audio -- and spent the week building projects. Red Hat staff volunteers provided just enough instruction to get them started, then set them loose, sometimes individually, but usually in teams.

Their creations included a proposed commercial for next year's Red Hat High, a documentary about program volunteer Chris Evich, a Red Hat technical account manager, and a Web site hosting online discussions about basketball.

At this point in its development, it's hard to tell where Red Hat High is headed. If the program is as successful as Burney hopes, in a few years the company could be sponsoring similar programs in China, India, Brazil and Eastern Europe.

Red Hat, true to its mission, has provided open-source software tools for the students, but staff members also have tried to introduce a broader network of photos and songs for them to borrow and alter in their own creative ventures.

"It's open source as a development model, as a model for creation," Burney said.

Open-source development strategies -- and students like those on Red Hat's campus this week -- will fuel the next generation of software innovation, he said.

"We have a lead role to play in this large global movement," Burney said.

Tony Burwell, a rising eighth-grader at Lowe's Grove Middle School in Durham, said it was cool to learn about a company that shares everything.

He plans to take that lesson home with him, although perhaps not in the way Red Hat expects.

"I'm going to share with my brother more, because I don't share with him at all," he said.