My Outreachy Experience!❤️

Hello there!👋

I hope you don't find this blog too long🥲. I'll outline my experience for outreachy internship (application, contribution and intership itself) I have other blog written throughout my internship but this one here is the general or summarized one.

If you are:

• Thinking about applying to the Outreachy Internship, this blog would provide a detailed insight into the whole program.
• Passionate about contributing to open source (remember you don't need to be an expert in contributing to open source--I was also a first timer--)
• Interested to learn about my internship experience and how it made a difference for me, I've got you covered.

For others, I'd encourage you to read this article and let me know what you made of it.

So yaay let's get started!🥳

Outreachy is a program that provides 3-month paid internship which is ideally like 12 weeks to people who want to contribute to open source. And its not just people, it has to be an underrepresented person in tech.

This is an experience that gives you practical knowledge that you can send to your resume right away.

I remember I first learnt about Outreachy through linkedIn when I was still a student, it was a post by a past outreachy alumni (sadly can't remember their name so well🥲 --cheers to you wherever you are🥂--). And then applied the first time (2023 december cohort) which I didn't proceed to contribution stage, finally the second time was successful

Look at my Outreachy Application - Internship Timeline

• I've created a timeline detailing the sequence of events that led me to this point

There are 3 stages for one to be considered for the internship;

1. Initial application
2. Contribution to a project (could be code, documentation or anything)
3. Final application

Initial Application

• This is the first stage of the application process. In this round, Outreachy wants to understand your passions, interests, life experiences, and time availability. Check your eligibility here

I can remember so well some of the questions from that application like (remember, these are just some of the questions not all);

• Which underrepresented group do I belong to?
• What systematic discrimination might I face if I applied for a job here in Kenya?
• Does my learning environment have people with a similar story or background as I have?
• What discrimination have I experienced when building my skills?_

TIP: For those questions they all stemed from my personal experience. I made sure to provide an authentic, concise, and straightforward✅ account of my story. Be very authentic in giving your story/experiences and don't use chatGPT or any AI to generate your reponses, remember Outreachy want to understand your unique background and perspectives, something AI cannot replicate. Remember that the questions build on each other, so ensure your responses are cohesive and interconnected💯.

PRO TIP: Reach out to past Outreachy interns (this really worked out for me) - they can provide valuable insights on how to stand out throughout the application to contribution process. Find out what strategies worked best for them to become Outreachy interns.

For myself, I'd like to give a special shout-out to Shakira Ndagire, Michelle Mounde for their invaluable 🫶🏻❤️‍🩹guidance and support during my Outreachy application, from the initial stage all the way through to the contribution period.

Contribution Stage

For you to have reached to this point means your initial application was accepted, Congrats🎉🥳🎊🎁

For me, the contribution period was the most rewarding part. It's where I learned the most and had the opportunity to interact with the open source community. Prior to Outreachy, I had never contributed to any open source projects, although I had been using a lot of open source products and participating in their communities whenever I needed help. So you can imagine this was my first ever time throwing in some code to an Open Source Project Wooow😲 just woow.

So immediately after my initial application was accepted🎉, I had to thoroughly review the available projects and identify the ones I felt I could realistically handle. Shakira's advice made more sense here - she encouraged me to choose a project that aligned with my existing skills, rather than taking on something I wasn't as familiar🫂 with. She rightly pointed out that the open source communities often have members who are extremely knowledgeable about the projects, and it would be important for me to be patient❤️ with myself and take the time to carefully evaluate the options. This advice really helped me, as there were indeed some projects that I had to pass on because I didn't feel I had the necessary skills. I'd go like " Mmmh no this one I can't, not gonna lie to myself😅"

I ended up choosing the "Accessibility review and accessibility improvement of the Ushahidi Platform Client" project for Ushahidi because I felt my existing skills in HTML, TypeScript, accessibility, and Angular which were also required in the project would be a good fit. While I didn't have extensive prior experience with accessibility (apart from hearing it through friends) specifically, I was confident I could learn and apply those skills effectively. I knew I could do it, I'm my biggest cheer leader don't play🤣

TIP: Select a project that you are genuinely passionate about and would enjoy working on. During the contribution period, be sure to lend a helping hand to other contributors when they are stuck, even if it's a small thing like helping them set up their development environment, platform, or application. Keeping your mentor updated, introducing yourself to them. Remember consistency is key here (contribute passionately).

Final Application

• This is the last phase of your application where you apply after making some contribution, documenting your contributions (inside your Outreachy dashboard) is part of this phase. For me I believe the contribution stage will have alot of impact to this final application if well done.

TIP: One thing I learnt here is that during your contribution it's very important to meticulously track your contributions. It's crucial that you don't overlook or omit any of the work you've done. When documenting your contributions (could be documentation, pull requests, or GitHub issues.) , be sure to provide detailed descriptions but not so long.

NOTE: Even after my final application, I didn't stop contributing. That's why in the beginning I said choose a project you are passionate contributing to🤗

I don't want to make this long, I have other blogs throughout my internship. If you really enjoyed🤗 this one here and I want to continue, please lets jump on the other side here 😉

If you want to apply for the december cohort, visit the Outreachy website to apply now