Hello readers. As mid-March has rolled around, the time has come for me to wrap up my Outreachy internship. How time flies! It seems like it was just a few weeks ago that I received my Outreachy acceptance email ;-;
Looking back to about 3 months ago, as I was going through the contribution period while applying for Outreachy, I was already beginning to feel a like an imposter. I had a feeling that it would be too difficult for me to understand a completely new, and mature project like OpenStack Ironic; especially when I did not know much about the entire OpenStack platform (and its many projects). On the other hand, I was determined to try my level best to contribute to the project. I selected a bug that I would work on (from ones marked on the website where Ironic bugs can be found); and set about the lofty goal of solving it. It took me many days to set up a development environment, and when I did I realized that I was looking in the wrong repository! (and had therefore set up a development environment I did not need xD) I was determined to move forward, and do everything in my ability to understand the bug I was trying to solve. Every evening, in the quietness after dinner, I would stay at it on my laptop, making progress little by little. After about 2 weeks, I was able to send my patch in, and complete my application for the project. Then came the time to wait for results, and I remember counting the days down until that date!
When the internship began, my biggest fear was not being able to step around major hurdles, or not being able to figure out what framework to use, etc. However, as time passed, and problems surfaced, I realized that staying persistent and asking for help when I was stuck helped me move towards my goal, and learn a lot in the process! My mentor, Julia Kreger, was incredibly supportive throughout the journey, helping me understand and solve difficult problems, and highlighting the things I needed to focus on. While most software engineering work can be, and is, self-taught (in my experience), having a mentor to guide you while navigating a new project is an incredibly valuable experience; especially as I am still in the early stages of my career. Being able to participate in a community with so many experienced people is also an excellent learning opportunity. In this regard, Outreachy is an excellent platform that can help enable you to learn and grow as a professional.
Having completed my internship journey, the biggest thing I learnt was that it is okay to not know everything about a particular subject/project before you can contribute towards it. Even if a problem or goal is intimidating, it can be broken down into smaller, actionable steps, and consistent effort can give amazing results! Working on my project, I improved not only my Python programming, but re-discovered what it’s like to write via blogging, interacted with a community I did not know much about, and also my mentor, and this helped me be slightly more outgoing as well.
I will definitely miss being an Outreachy intern and working with the OpenStack Ironic community. It has taught me so much about open source, and I am excited to keep contributing!