Outreachy Week 1: A Bit About Me

I am Oyelola Victoria Abimbola, and I live in Lagos, Nigeria. I am a frontend developer with a non‑technical background in physiology who started coding in the most random way. If the version of me from university could see me now, she would be extremely shocked. I not only moved from physiology to tech, but I also get to work on a tool that directly affects one of the most popular projects I’ve known since I first discovered the internet.

I did not think this was in the cards for me. I am grateful I took the leap, pivoted, and eventually got into Outreachy to intern with the Wikimedia Foundation, the host of Wikipedia and other projects.

My Core Values

After some back‑and‑forth and fighting the urge to list all of my personality traits, I narrowed it down to three values that truly define me: Curiosity, Persistence, and Empathy.

Curiosity

The whole reason I am in tech in the first place is largely due to curiosity. It started with wondering how to write an interactive story for a mobile game, discovering that it involved coding, then learning how to code, and finally asking myself what more I could do outside of that space. Even now, I am still curious about my capabilities. There is a saying that curiosity drives innovation, and I strongly believe in playing around with things and figuring out what works, even if it means breaking stuff along the way, because you never know where it will lead.

Curiosity pushes me to keep growing, explore new tools, ask “what if?”, and stay excited about the unknown instead of being afraid of it.

Persistence

Things have not always gone smoothly. I have coded through laptop lag that could test anyone’s patience, worked around power outages, and kept pushing even when my confidence wobbled. No matter how frustrating or slow the process gets, I usually try again.

Persistence, for me, is not about being perfect. It is about showing up despite countless odds. From the outside, it often seems like people have it all figured out and have things work out easily. But once I get to know them, I learn that persistence played a huge role in their success. It is important to keep showing up every day to improve, even if it is just a little at a time.

Empathy

This value helps me pause and ask: How will this affect others? I care deeply about people, my family, friends, the users behind the code, the teammates I collaborate with, and the communities I contribute to. I want the things I build to make sense to someone who has never touched a line of code. I want my communication to feel kind and thoughtful. I want people to feel seen, included, and respected. In open source, where people from all kinds of backgrounds come together, that question matters.

These values are not just buzzwords for me. They are the reasons I’m here, and they will guide me every step of the way during my Outreachy journey.

What Motivated Me to Apply to Outreachy

I started contributing to open source near the end of a software engineering fellowship I took part in the summer before I applied to Outreachy (August 2024), and I kept contributing afterward. I began with small fixes and eventually contributed larger lines of code. I focused on projects where I could sharpen my frontend skills, typically JavaScript, React, and TypeScript, and I learned a lot from the software engineers who offered tips for improving code quality and efficiency.

I came across Outreachy by accident on LinkedIn, but the application deadline for the December cohort had already passed. I put it at the back of my mind to apply for the next round if I could. My motivation for applying was to challenge myself with hard things and further develop my skills while working on projects that impact real people. Of course, the stipend was a nice motivator, because who doesn’t like getting paid?

I ended up applying for the next cohort when the application opened in February 2025. I got past the initial application phase, then the contribution phase, submitted a final application, and got into the June–August 2025 round. I will write a more detailed blog on my experience applying to Outreachy. Blogs like those were very helpful when I was applying, and I love the idea of making someone else’s application easier.

It is currently the morning of the first day of the internship, and I am excited for what is to come. I have gotten to know some other interns, and the talent pool is INSANE. I have spoken with one of my mentors, and she seems really sweet. I cannot wait to start working on the project and sharing what I learn along the way.