After participating herself, Sofía Aritz now helps out with Youth Hacking 4 Freedom, Free Software Foundation Europe's programming contest for teenagers. Mission:Libre asked her some questions about YH4F and her life in free software.
Hi Sofía! Please tell us a bit about yourself.
I'm Sofía Aritz, a young programmer passionate about technology as a tool for social transformation. I work on projects with social impact such as Munin, an initiative that supports palliative and dementia care.
I am currently part of the FSFE System Hackers, the team responsible for maintaining the FSFE's technical infrastructure. I am also part of its Policy Team, where I contribute to various policy activities within the FSFE.
So, I've heard a lot about Youth Hacking 4 Freedom. Can you tell us a little more about it?
Youth Hacking 4 Freedom (YH4F) is a competition for young Europeans that encourages them to learn to code and collaborate with other young people. After six months of programming on their Free Software projects, six YH4F winners are chosen after deliberation by our jury. Each of the six YH4F winners receive a cash prize between 1024 and 4096 Euros and an invitation to spend a weekend in Brussels with a family member to attend the Awards Ceremony.
What was your experience with YH4F like as a teen? How did you get involved?
Although my time was quite limited and the programming phase had already begun, YH4F was exactly what I had been looking for for years: a programming competition where you could work on anything as long as it was free software! So, I decided to join.
Back then, I couldn't attend every monthly meeting, but whenever I did it was always an insightful experience. We discussed and learnt about topics relevant to our projects and to the broader Free Software ecosystem, and we had the chance to exchange ideas, share our progress and learn from one another.
YH4F helped me learn how to manage projects more efficiently, how to work on a project whose requirements change constantly and how to give and receive constructive and actionable feedback. I believe YH4F provides the perfect environment to explore new ideas, experiment, and learn new things, whether you're new to programming or already have experience.
What happened after your experience with YH4F?
After YH4F, I continued working on my project in collaboration with doctors specialized in palliative care and experts in data security. Although I was already somewhat active in smaller Free Software projects, mainly helping on the technical side, I soon applied for a Policy internship at the FSFE. This experience allowed me to explore a different side of Free Software.
What are you doing around free software today? Are you involved in any interesting projects?
Since joining the FSFE team, I have become involved in the political and social aspects of Free Software. On the technical side, I continue to work on Munin (aka Identity), the project I originally submitted to YH4F, and on MP Explore, a tool that supports the FSFE's policy activities by retrieving official and publicly available up-to-date contact information about Members of Parliament and integrating them with capabilities such as filtering.
What advice would you give to teenagers wanting to be part of free software?
My advice, especially for teenagers, is to just start! When I first got involved in free software, I felt discouraged by the complexity of the ecosystem and the idea that you needed deep technical knowledge to make a meaningful contribution. But that couldn't be farther from the truth!
There are countless ways to contribute to most projects aside from programming new features and fixing bugs: helping others in forums, contributing translations, reporting bugs, testing upcoming releases, and so on. Many experienced contributors are happy to guide newcomers through their processes, structures, and codebases.
That said, it's equally important to keep yourself safe online. Learn how to identify unhealthy or toxic behaviours, and refrain from engaging with those. After all, your well-being is the top priority and you are always in control.
How can people find out more and sign up for YH4F?
The next round of YH4F will start on January 1st, 2026. All practical information, including registration, is available on https://yh4f.org. If you're not yet sure whether you want to take part, or if you have any questions about registration, you're welcome to contact the YH4F team at yh4f@fsfe.org.