Working with the Fedora Project this past month, has been quite an interesting experience for me. Being new to the open source community and going through my contribution period brought on a plethora of different emotions that I can't help but both laugh and smile at. As the Outreachy application deadline draws close and my project contributions are being wrapped up, I thought this would be a great time to share a personal reflection of my experience leading up to my final application:

Starting Out

After receiving my acceptance email from Outreachy, I had mixed emotions.

Though hard to explain I was somehow bursting with excitement, breathing in relief and also planning with seriousness after being accepted. This was absolutely great news, don't get me wrong, but this now meant that I was beginning the next stage of my application and the work had just began.

For the month of March, I was being tasked with the duty of making contributions to 1-2 projects of my choosing thereby being required to learn the ins of outs of the companies I chose and make valuable contributions to them. The acceptance of my final application would depend on how well I performed and what my awesome mentors thought of my work in comparison to the many other amazing interns applying to the program and so there was one thing I understood very clearly: The pressure was on.

Choosing a Project

When I browsed the list of projects I wasn't quite sure where to start but the Fedora Project caught my attention. This is why:

1. Skill Alignment/Experience: The Fedora Project I chose required the following skills/experience:

Project Introduction via Outreachy

After reviewing the skills required, I realized that this project would be a great fit for me because of my background. As a Marketing Major turned tech student, I had participated in many marketing/administrative roles which would've helped me to build my skillset in the above areas.

My experience spanned creating copy and graphics for LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter , working with different productivity software to manage my content calendars and schedule posts ahead of time, writing 3-4 blogs weekly and managing the schedules and itineraries of Executives . This would've equipped me with an arsenal of skillsets to efficiently complete the tasks required for my internship period.

2. Challenge: The Fedora Project required me to explore something new: Linux OS and distros. Though familiar with operating systems from my technical fundamental courses and classes, this was the first time I was working with and hearing about Fedora. I grew up having experiences with mostly the Windows or Macintosh Operating Systems and so now, being exposed to a new operating system, one that was open source at that, brought on a wave of excitement. Testing and working with a new operating system for me was akin to a car enthusiasts finally being able to afford his dream car. Like can you imagine just what one could do with it?

3. Community: The Fedora Community is supported by individuals from diverse backgrounds who share common values known as the Four Foundations: Freedom, Friends, Features, and First. It's one thing when a company has their values posted on their site but it's a whole other thing to actually be able to experience it. When I joined the Fedora project, I felt welcomed in the community environment. My mentors were great at communicating and answering questions, as well as providing feedback which greatly contributed to my growth. My experience with Fedora in those early weeks of my contribution period therefore solidified my choice of project.

Photo Cred: The Four Foundations via Wikipedia

Working on the Project

Working on the project was the funniest part of my experience. I had to be a master of time, learn to improvise and just do it anyways even when things weren't perfect. This meant:

Master of time: Unfortunately there were two challenges that I faced during my contribution period: 1) an unstable internet connection and 2) my schedule being a little more packed due to the season. And I know what you're thinking:"This is probably the worse thing that can happen for a remote internship where you need stable internet and your commitments should be minimal". And trust me, I felt that way too. However, because this was not the internship period but my contribution period, my commitments in this season could not be avoided and as such I had to problem solve and pivot ALOT.

How did I do it? I arranged my schedule in such a way where I could return home for the weekends and spend focussed time working on my contributions. This meant that weekdays were spent using my phone to read documentation and watch videos about Fedora and weekends and late nights spent were spent typing away.

via GIPHY

During this contribution period, I maximized on my time in order to make everything work together as I prepared my final application.

Learning to Improvise: With the challenges faced, I knew that I would be improvising a lot especially as an individual who is very detail-oriented and who has a lot of ideas. I had to therefore make SMART goals for this contribution period and allocate some of my other ideas for my internship period. This meant deciding to focus on learning about the Fedora Project and upcoming events/launches such as SCaLE2024, the Slimbook 16 and Fedora 40 Beta. And doing my best to be an active contributor within the Fedora Community.

Just do it anyways: Since this was a Marketing project, it meant that I would have to make use of my social media platforms. Earlier in the year, I made a decision to deactivate and do a cleanse of my social media platforms in order to slowly build a personal brand. With this project now underway it meant that my goal had to be expedited and as such I began posting on LinkedIn with the intention to build an organic audience during my contribution phase.

I spent time crafting valuable posts and copy that would benefit my audience of tech/college students. I wanted to ensure that when I started posting on LinkedIn, they wouldn't see a random post on a Thursday morning about the Fedora project but that they would understand why it was on their timeline, how it could benefit them and how it aligned with my personal brand. After spending time to craft the posts, I then scheduled them to launch in line with my article releases or my exploration of a new Fedora topic. Though, this was not what I originally planned regarding building a personal brand, I knew my LinkedIn community and I would gain something very rewarding.

A Rollercoaster: The Hardest Part

For me, the hardest part of working with Fedora was probably familiarizing myself with the documentation. Learning new terms and software can be daunting especially if you are new to tech. I had moments when I was looking at Fedora documentation about the different use cases, features and releases where I was like *"*What does an ROCm 6 even do?" And "how do I explain why these features are important to both a tech and non-tech audience?" When I did find out what it was and had my "Oh" moment I laughed at myself for asking the question to begin with.

When exploring Fedora features and editions it can be easy to want to just regurgitate whatever you read without effectively understanding. However taking the time to truly understand a product and its features is better for everyone involved and allows you to be more confident as you market it to potential users. So I spent my time thoroughly reading and going through documentation page after page knowing that on the other side of confusion there was new found knowledge waiting for me.

My Favorite Part: The Process

"It's not the destination, It's the journey"-Ralph Waldo Emerson.

I think my favorite part of my Fedora Experience would definitely be the process. Joy is found in the little moments like these when I'm writing an article, scheduling a post, creating a graphic or even reviewing analytics. There's just so many real life skills that can be taken from this experience concerning building a brand or reaching your community and I'm happy I got the opportunity to be apart of this journey.

As the deadline approaches, I look forward to submitting my final application and spending the waiting period contributing and connecting with my awesome fellow interns.

Whatever the results, I am glad that I had an opportunity to just be here.

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I wish everyone the absolute best as they prepare for their final applications. We made it this far and we have even further to go.

Sincerely,

Safia M.

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