Outreachy Blog #1 — Getting Started

Hello everyone!

I’m excited to start sharing my experience with the Outreachy internship program through this blog series.

About Me

My name is Adetutu Oluwasanmi from Nigeria, a First-Class Microbiology graduate from Lagos State University. I recently completed a 1-year diploma in software engineering at AltSchool Africa, where I gained coding and software development skills.

Before transitioning into tech, I worked in various fields, including non-profits, pharmaceuticals, and recruitment. These roles have helped me develop skills in communication, collaboration, talent management, and project management.

Now, I am contributing to the MDAnalysis open-source project through Outreachy, a program that supports diversity in tech by providing internships to underrepresented groups.

My Core Values

• Growth and Learning
• Diligence
• Compassion

Growth and Learning

I am deeply committed to continuous learning and self-improvement. I seek opportunities to enhance my skills, expand my knowledge, and take on challenging tasks. I achieve this by reading books, enrolling in courses, seeking and embracing feedback, setting goals, and gaining valuable hands-on experience. This approach fuels my growth and helps me excel in all my endeavours. I believe there is more to everything and there is always room for improvement.

Diligence

I am dedicated to putting forth my best effort in whatever project I embark on and ensuring that I achieve the desired outcome. Diligence is an attribute that colleagues and superiors have often commended me for. I have a strong work ethic and am committed to delivering results in any endeavour I undertake.

Compassion

People are important. I believe in showing kindness and care towards others, irrespective of their background or circumstances. I have a genuine desire to help and support people in any way that I can.

Why did I Apply for Outreachy?

I chose Outreachy because of its commitment to diversity and inclusion in open-source, offering remote internships to people facing biases and underrepresentation in the tech industry where they are living.

I had always been interested in contributing to open-source projects, but the process was quite complex and overwhelming. However, when I discovered Outreachy, I was excited to find a structured platform that not only allows me to contribute to open source but also helps me improve my skills and provides mentorship. I am grateful for this opportunity and can’t wait to get started.

MDAnalysis

MDAnalysis is one of the participating organizations and Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) community in the May 2024 to August 2024 Outreachy internships round.

MDAnalysis is a Python library used for analyzing trajectories from molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. It can read and process particle-based trajectories, like biomolecules in PDB format, and allows access to atomic coordinates using NumPy arrays. This library provides an efficient way to perform complex analysis tasks on MD simulation data.

I will be interning with MDAnalysis on the project “Develop a communications strategy for a growing MDAnalysis user and contributor base”. I will be working with my mentors Jenna Swarthout Goddard and Micaela Matta on this project.

Project Goals and Objectives

The goal of the MDAnalysis project is to develop a comprehensive social media and communications strategy to grow the MDAnalysis user and contributor base.

My proposed timeline and objectives of the project include:

May 27th — June 24th

• Get to know MDAnalysis and its existing communication channels, such as Discord and GitHub discussions.
• Conduct surveys and gather data from MDAnalysis users and developers to understand their communication preferences.
• Develop initial recommendations for directing discussions towards particular platforms and increasing engagement.

June 24th — July 22nd

• Based on survey findings and observations, develop a detailed social media and communications strategy outlining which platforms to prioritize and for what purposes.
• Improving the strategy by getting feedback from the community.
• Set up an email newsletter to keep users informed about MDAnalysis updates, announcements, and events.

July 23rd — August 23rd

• Implement communications strategy across Discord, GitHub, Social Media and other preferred platforms.
• Publish the first edition of the MDAnalysis newsletter and establish a regular schedule for newsletter publication.
• Monitor the effectiveness of the strategy implemented based on user feedback and metrics.

Thanks for reading! See you in my next blog.

You can connect with me on LinkedIn and X(Twitter).