A glance inside the beginnings of my Outreachy Internship

“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”
― Marilyn Monroe

The notion of introducing oneself is strange and might be difficult at times. I’ve been working on it for a while now, and I think I’ve gotten it somewhat.

Hello there 👋, my name is Subhasmita. I am an undergrad at Sharda University in India, pursuing my bachelor’s degree in Computer Science Engineering. I am now working as an Intern for the Apache Software Foundation at Outreachy on the project “Improving Scalability of the Apache Camel-K Integration”. My diverse interests vary from technical areas such as exploring with Machine Learning and DevOps inclusion in application development, open source to doodling, cooking, collecting books (especially Paulo Coelho), and travel (this saves my soul from burnout). Aside from these, I’m a huge fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and occasionally binge watch action anime. I really enjoy celestial photography, specially the wonders of the dark sky.

Core Values

It is beneficial to define our essential values at various stages of our professional careers. These are my own principles, which guide me when making crucial decisions and doing tasks. Identifying important values in life can aid in the development of personal and professional objectives.

Balance

“Our feeling of balance comes from using our time in ways that allow us to express most or all of our basic beliefs while also allowing us to express our creative side”.

Balance for me is finding time for the things that are important to me while minimising those that are distracting, feeling increasingly energized, fulfilled and on purpose. Values are not limited to “life” apart from “work”. The ideal balance is when I am satisfied with how I am progressing at work but still having the tranquillity of living my curious self richly.
Fortunately, balancing does not have to be all or nothing. It’s alright to temporarily compromise on particular principles in order to achieve a larger aim. Perhaps I will opt to decrease my speed toward certain goals in order to be completely present with my loved ones. At times, I may need to solicit my family’s understanding and support as I follow my passion.
The trick is knowing when to say YES! to life — to pursue what stimulates, energises, and sometimes even scares us — and when to say NO to everything else. I believe we must passionately defend what is important to us, since answering an obligated YES to something that drains our time and energy — and which we later despise — is actually saying NO to something that may bring us closer to our highest objectives and greater balance.

Curiosity

“Stay Hungry Stay Foolish”
― Steve Jobs

I first heard this saying in elementary school, and it has been a guiding principle in all facets of my life ever since. This spark ignites my desire to learn something new or to fill a gap in my knowledge. I’ve always been a pretty restless and nosy kid, but this has also helped me make some incredible decisions in my life. I live by the need to understand “why something functions the way it does” and “how can I produce something that challenges current rules to create something new”. Curiosity has strengthened not just my resilience but also my ability to deal with uncertainty and change.

Motivation behind applying to Outreachy

Now let’s talk about my motivation behind applying to Outreachy. Let’s get some background first, so I had been introduced to Open Source programs since 2020, I was skeptical of my future career, and I was looking for a way to make a difference and open-source seemed the best possible answer then.
I started to contribute to open source projects in my free time, but I was not sure if I would be able to make any difference in the world. I began small, participated in Winter of Code(WoC), Hackoberfests, and constantly contributed to some of the best free software available. From changing the documentation of the projects: fixing mere grammatical errors to writing functional features for some of the largest open source projects like Kubernetes, I grew for the love of community and the joy of helping others.

I recall applying to Outreachy, Gsoc, and other programmes with high hopes of being accepted, but being denied taught me many vital lessons that I would not have learned if I had been accepted. As famously quoted `”Everything happens for a reason and at the right time”`. I’ve learnt the strength of confidence, patiently driving my efforts without expecting returns & the calm of being grateful for what I already have in life.

When the Outreachy application was launched in 2021, in the thick of my University’s mid-semester exams, I was all set to participate and offer my best with a terrific initial submission. I ran out of luck, and my best pal was diagnosed with dengue around the same time, so I did what felt appropriate at the moment: I stayed by her. That woman got my back and uplifted my spirits that I applied for Outreachy again in 2022, and this time I got in.

I was introduced to the incredible Camel-K community and a fantastic mentor Antonin Stefanutti. Throughout the contribution time, I was besieged by self esteem issues and imposter syndrome because there were so many outstanding people around with so much fire and excitement to engage. The majority of the projects listed to pick from after the first applications, were manageable, but I chose Apache Foundation’s Camel-K to learn in-depth properties of Scalability and performance metrics. As I worked on setting up the project locally, I had an immediate connection to it. I defy you, the method, as simple as it appears, is extremely difficult.
My first PR was to offer a plausible solution to make binary files compile on Windows systems; after extensive researching and brainstorming with my mentor and team members, we were able to isolate the fundamental reason. I was unaware that this modest solution unexpectedly impacted hundreds of individuals working on Camel-K integrations or getting started. The satisfaction of witnessing my tiny effort assist so many individuals inspired me to stay in the community and make additional contributions.

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Airman’s Odyssey

OpenSource FTW! 🚀