Chapter-1: My road to Outreachy

I am currently working as an intern in Outreachy round 15 with Open Data Kit and this is the first chapter of my journey with Outreachy!!!

What is Outreachy ?

Outreachy is an Open Source Program which provides three-month internships for people from groups traditionally underrepresented in tech. You can get more information about this program here. Outreachy is a program which will help you dive into the world of Open Source and will teach you to try, fail, try again and learn!!!

How to get into Outreachy?

I am quite a newbie to Open Source and came to know about Outreachy through my seniors in college who had earlier participated in this program. With further explorations and contributions, my interest in Open Source got compounded.

After the list of organisations was announced, I started exploring various projects to find out the one which could bring the best out of me. My search ended with the Open Data Kit landing page. Open Data Kit provides tools to create forms, collect and aggregate data for surveys in the most efficient and simplest possible way.

My mentor Adam Michael Wood reviewed my work and guided me at every step which further boosted my enthusiasm. He described things in the simplest possible way and that made it easy for me to rectify my mistakes and learn. Hélène Martin is the most active person on the developers’ slack and responds to all doubts and issues with the most amazing solutions. A special thanks to Adam Michael Wood, Hélène Martin, Yaw Anokwa, Ronald Munjoma and Kate Chapman for making this journey such a great learning curve!!!

Do subscribe to the Outreachy announce mailing list so that you get all the updates about the program.

I followed some simple steps to take the road to Outreachy and reach my destination:

Step 1: Find your interests

A journey always begins with a desire to dive deep in and explore your destination. What propelled me into this was my curiosity to explore the world of Open Source and to learn persistently once I pursue it. The most necessary thing is to find the field which interests you for it is this inclination that exhorts you to strive tirelessly for perfection.

Step 2: Know about your destination

I started learning git and made a few contributions to become more familiar with git and GitHub. Making your first open source contribution is not a herculean task. All you need to do is learn git and explore the projects based on your interests. I recommend trying this to learn the git commands. I made my first contribution to Mozilla’s screenshot project. Try to solve the beginner friendly issues to make your first Pull request. So, to issue your first PR: learn git, search for projects which you can contribute to, solve a beginner friendly issue and you are done!!!

Step 3: Choose your road

The next important step is to choose the best possible route to your destination. For the best shot, a project most suited to your prowess and inclination should be chosen. It will push you to make valuable contributions and will keep you motivated during the intern period.

Step 4: Start your journey

Set up your work environment and try to understand the code base. Go through the documentation, google your doubts and start solving beginner friendly issues.

Community bonding and interacting with your mentors is another crucial part of your work. The warm and welcoming ODK community and their contributor friendly documentation provided a congenial environment for me to begin work.

Step 5: Investigate about the turns and twists

It is not easy to work on someone’s project and understand their work in a single go. There maybe times when you may feel like a fish out of water but this is when you need to stay motivated and persevere through your problems by seeking help from your mentors and the community. You may be stuck into problems, failing to find a solution but this is not unprecedented in any manner, all face the same. It is incumbent that you take your time and with full dedication tune all the frequencies into beautiful curves.

Try to solve your doubts and explore all fields on your own but do not hesitate to ask. Ask your mentors, discuss issues with your community, after all they are all there to help you and keep you motivated. Give your hundred percent first and if you are stuck approach your mentors.

Step 6: Go slow

You don’t need to rush up. Give yourself sufficient time to understand and solve your doubts as well as wait for your mentor’s response. They have a plethora of work to do and whenever they find time they help you with your issues. So, don’t rush into things rather try to dive deep in and get a clear understanding of everything. It is not the quantity but the quality of the contributions that matters.

Step 7: Keep going

Keep yourself motivated and give up the fear of failure. Always remember that failures are the stepping stones to success. Perseverance will ensure success at the tip of your hand!!!

Step 8: Make a plan for the final step

Your ultimate endeavour is to prepare a proposal for your intern. The first thing for this is to discuss your ideas with your mentors and choose the best plans which will improve and enhance your project. Your initial plan need not be perfect. You just need to layout your timeline and discuss with mentors to keep on improving it.

Be honest with the details you provide and make a timeline which you would be able to execute efficiently. Try doing things in your timeline and describe them with complete details in your proposal. You can also include images and screenshots of your work to provide a vivid picture.

Do not crowd your timeline with a large list of plans instead try preparing an efficient timeline with small goals and milestones. Get your proposal reviewed and incorporate the suggestions of your mentor. You don’t need to write something special in your proposal. All you need is an efficient plan which you can execute successfully.

Here is my proposal, feel free to go through it to get started.

Follow these steps, be persistent with your efforts, and boom you will reach your destination…!

Feel free to share your reviews and queries and stay tuned for Chapter-2!!!