Hi, I’m Esther but I prefer to go by ‘emptycodes’ cause well, it sounds way cooler. I am a recent computer science graduate that has embarked on the path of Open Source Contribution with Wikimedia largely due to Outreachy.
I had never really thought about what core values I have until writing this post, but I have settled on the following: learning, responsibility and determination. These values played a major role in my selection as an Outreachy Intern.
Open Source
According to Wikipedia, Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Some of the most popular open source software (OSS) are VLC media player, 7-Zip for compressing files, Mozilla Firefox and the Android Operating System.
Contributing to open-source projects is invaluable. Beyond the sense of accomplishment from contributing to tools and platforms that many people (including yourself) use, it also serves as practical work experience—an asset for beginners in tech like me.
Outreachy and Wikimedia
Outreachy offers completely remote and paid 3-months internships for applicants from around the world who face under-representation, and systemic bias or discrimination in the technology industry of their country.
I am proud to be one of the 25 selected interns for this round, working with Wikimedia Foundation. It is the host of Wikipedia, the seventh most visited website in the world.
I am working on the Wiki Education Dashboard specifically, which is “a web application that supports Wikipedia education assignments, edit-a-thons, and other editing projects. It provides data and course management features for groups of editors — instructors, students, and others — who are working on Wikipedia, Wikidata, and other Wikimedia wikis.”
So how exactly did this happen?
Me, Open Source, Outreachy and Wikimedia
One day in August, I saw a post on X (fka Twitter), explaining what Outreachy is and encouraging people to apply as the application period had commenced. So I did more research, watched videos from their official YouTube channel to understand more about the program and I went ahead to apply.
The application process is in 3 stages (read more about this here): the initial application, contribution period and final application. The initial application results came out on October 1st and I got in, meaning I had moved up to the Contribution period stage. I was honestly surprised and initially wanted to not participate because I felt I was not prepared enough but while debating it, I stumbled upon this quote:
A major life hack: Don’t wait until you feel ready. Start now, and you’ll learn as you go. Confidence is built through action, not preparation
This strengthened my resolve and I decided to just give it a shot and try my best!
I decided to contribute to two organizations initially, Creative Commons and Wikimedia’s Wiki Education Dashboard but I ended up focusing on the Wikimedia project "Improve observability of Wiki Education Dashboard" and submitting a final application for it.
Getting familiar with the Wiki Education Dashboard codebase took some time as it is built with Ruby (on Rails) and React which I was not very familiar with but the Open source community is very welcoming and after joining the respective slack channel, I and other applicants could freely ask any questions and promptly get answers.
I dedicated an average of >4 hours daily to learning and working on the issues I had taken responsibility for and focused on completing them to the best of my capabilities. Before the final results were announced, I had a total of 6 contributions: 5 merged PRs and 1 Documented issue.
My determination thankfully paid of, because come November 28, I got the acceptance email🥳.
I am very excited to be part of something so big and I cannot wait to continue making meaningful contributions. I have started working on my project and I will share updates soon.
A special shoutout to my mentor Sage Ross because he has been so helpful throughout this process; he always answers any questions I have, patiently reviews my PRs on GitHub and instructs me on what changes to make🙏. His dedication to his work frankly inspires me and I look forward to learning more from him throughout the duration of this internship.
Last but not the least, If you read this till the end, thank you and I hope you have learned something useful! 😊✨