Community and shared learning is a through line for Selena Deckelmann’s career and extracurriculars.
From the librarian in a small town in Montana who helped her find books every day after school, to the freshman year college friend who first introduced her to the internet (this was the mid-90s, mind-you) to those who taught her how to build a computer and install Linux, to the community of birders who will show up and learn together when someone finds an unusual bird in an unusual place.
“That’s just been a theme in my life, having access to that opportunity to learn from others and people freely giving of their time and helping others. That really hooked me,” she said.
In Portland, Deckelmann helped found Legion of Tech and Open Source Bridge Foundation. She was a major contributor to the PostgreSQL database and has helped start many conferences. Her career has spanned Intel, Chris King Precision Components, Mozilla and now Wikimedia Foundation, the group that operates Wikipedia, where she is chief product and chief technology officer.
We sat down with Deckelmann to talk about her career and her new position.
You graduated with a computer science degree in the late '90s and moved to Portland and not Silicon Valley. What kept you in Oregon? I had an experience where someone low-balled me on an offer. I found out that one of my friends got offered a lot more and there was no way they had more experience than me, we were both out of college. I went through an interview process with Intel (in Oregon) and they were very transparent about what they were doing. I had a lot of respect for the transparency and a better offer overall. So that kept me here. And I just really like Portland. It’s a great city. I never had to look too hard when I decided I wanted to try something new.
Speaking of that, what attracted you to this new role at Wikimedia Foundation? Well, I think Wikipedia is the most important website in the world. The Wikimedia Foundation is part of what makes the free knowledge movement possible. There is this incredible volunteer movement that exists in the world. What attracts me to the mission is it feels almost impossible. I love that challenge. This is the largest collection of free knowledge in the world and it’s powered by a vibrant volunteer community and some remarkable technology. (CEO) Maryana Iskander’s leadership, too. She was somebody who talked to me a lot. I hadn’t been looking for a new opportunity.
How did you handle not only switching jobs but changing companies in this pandemic world? My onboarding has been co-designed carefully. I spent a week meeting in-person with people in San Francisco. I met with volunteers as well as my colleagues. Since then, we are doing this thing we’re calling a “live learning tour.” I came up with key questions that I wanted everyone to think about: Tell me about the impact that our organization and movement has had on the world in the last five years; and what you are most proud of? The things that people tell me really are the heart of what makes people excited to be here.
When you aren’t working, what are we likely to find you doing? I’m a bird watcher.
What is the most interesting bird that you have seen in a place you weren’t expecting to see it? We do these things called stake outs. There was a Yellow-throated Warbler that showed up on Thanksgiving at my father-in-law's house. It was a classic stake out situation. We saw the bird on a feeder and we were like, we haven’t seen that bird, what’s going on. And we notified the local bird mailing list and then everyone just started showing up and fortunately, the woman’s house it was, she was super accommodating to all these weirdos coming to her house to see this bird. She started serving coffee and hot cocoa and telling people about the warbler’s habits every day.
Selena Deckelmann
Chief product and chief technology officer, Wikimedia Foundation
Hometown: Kalispell, Montana
Education: Bachelor’s, computer science, minor in chemistry, University of Oregon
Most recently read book: “Trust,” Hernan Diaz
Last thing you binge watched: “The Sandman”
Most played artist on your playlist: “Honestly, Enya’s 'Shepard Moons,' my kids listen to that to go to bed every night."
Favorite Portland restaurant: “I’m on a mission to do a different restaurant for date night. The last one was Dame. It was very good.”
