Starting My Outreachy Internship
Hello! 👋
Rose Kimondo here, and I’m thrilled to be starting my Outreachy internship working on the OpenStack Manila Dashboard- Manila UI.
My mentors are Goutham Pacha Ravi and Carlos da Silva.
A Bit About Me
I come from a background in Data Science and Software Development, with experience in Python, SQL, and building web applications.
I also enjoy exploring open-source software, contributing to community projects, and learning new tools along the way.
My tech career is a pivot from the construction sector, but that is a story for another day.
Side Quests
Besides my tech side, I consider myself adventurous. When I’m not coding, you will find me hiking, running, swimming, camping, and on a slow day, reading or crotcheting.😄😄
Why Outreachy?
I applied to Outreachy because I wanted the opportunity to contribute to real-world open-source projects in a structured mentorship environment. The prospect of learning from experienced developers while working on cloud infrastructure software like OpenStack motivated me to push through all the application stages, from preparing my initial application to navigating Git workflows and understanding community contribution guidelines.
My first application during the June cohort was unsuccessful. But on this second attempt, I got accepted.
What did I change? I was on time for the initial application submission and was done within 30 minutes after the window opened. My answers were ready in a Google Doc.
For the contribution, I narrowed down on the Manila project fast as it was the most appealing, and gave it all my attention, working on something new throughout (a lot of transnighting 😄).
The Contribution Period
During the contribution phase, I explored the Manila codebase, set up a local development environment, and familiarized myself with its architecture. I also reviewed documentation, and submitted multiple fixes via Gerrit.
This period taught me how to work in a large open-source project, understand REST APIs for shared file systems, and navigate the workflow of submitting and reviewing patches.
My mentors Goutham and Carlos have been very helpful and understanding, and very keen on feedback that improves on each submission.
I definitely would not have been able keep contributing if not for their kindness and support.
I am, however, sure that I have a lot left to learn, and I am so EXCITED for what’s to come.
I was and still am pretty nervous and unsure of some of the things that I am doing, but I know that this is going to be a life-changing journey, and that is what matters.
My Proudest Contributions
Even in these early days, I’m proud of:
- Successfully setting up the Manila development environment on Linux.
- Debugging features related to volume capacity and resource locks.
- Learning and applying the Gerrit workflow for code contributions.
- Getting some of my patches merged, I did not believe this at first.
- Getting to use the IRC platform for communication, not easy at first (as I was using an app called Hexchat whose UI is not that pretty), but kinda cool.
- I have already started setting up Devstack, the test environment that I will use to text my code changes.
What I Hope to Gain
I’m excited to contribute to new features in the Manila Dashboard, including metadata management for shares, snapshots, and access rules.
Beyond technical skills, I hope to deepen my understanding of open-source community collaboration, improve my Python expertise, and leave a lasting and meaningful impact on the OpenStack ecosystem.
This first week, I am setting up my local environment to be able to test any code changes that I make, and it is exciting, but challenging as it is with these set-ups. Wish me luck! 😉 😉
I’m looking forward to this journey and sharing my experiences in upcoming blog posts. I hope to document my experiences each week.