Launching a Tech Career through Open Source
In October 2022, I took my first step into open source by participating in Hacktoberfest, a month-long celebration of open source projects, maintainers, and communities. At this point in my tech journey I was just a beginner, there to test the waters. But this first step sparked a passion.
Two years, many lines of incorrect code, and a few projects later, I’m now building and contributing to software that reaches thousands of users. Along the way, I’ve learned more than any classroom could have ever offered!
Open Sourcing your Passion
After Hacktoberfest, I was HOOKED. The spark of passion led me to create CF-Stats — a Codeforces stat generator on GitHub. It came as a nice surprise, but my project creation gained over 190 stars on GitHub. This boosted my confidence and gave me the courage to get involved with bigger projects.
I started contributing to chkware, a low-code API testing tool, and later participated in Google Summer of Code in the summer of 2023. My open source journey was really gaining momentum at this point, so I then started contributing to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), diving into one of my big interests of cloud-native tech. By January 2024, I had become an official org member of CNCF’s Keptn, a tool for cloud-native application life-cycle orchestration. It was an incredible experience being part of a project that automates delivery and operations at scale.
Throughout this time, I was pursuing my degree in computer science, but these projects taught me more than I ever expected about practical problem-solving.
Stepping into the Fellowship
After seeing the benefits of working on real-world technology, I started looking for the next opportunity. That’s when I found the MLH Fellowship, a program that became an absolute game changer for my trajectory into a tech career.
The Fellowship wasn’t just another internship — it was a deep dive into the kind of “hands-on” tech that you rarely get in a classroom and even many traditional internships. In Spring 2024, I was lucky enough to land a spot contributing to Apache Airflow. I worked directly with one of the core maintainers. My 12 weeks in the program were intense and challenging, but totally worth it. I was finally getting a taste of what it’s like to work on production-grade projects used by developers and teams across the world.
Later in the year, I had the opportunity to participate in the MLH Fellowship again, this time contributing to Yunikorn while receiving mentorship from the team at G-Research Open Source Software. This project was a perfect fit for my interest, background, and skills in cloud-native tech and Kubernetes.
I went all in. I contributed to everything from Helm charts to REST APIs, testing with K6, and fixing bugs. I even got to do some peer reviewing, which helped me see things from a whole new perspective. By the end of the program, I’d merged in a solid stack of PRs and written enough code to make a real impact.
Life as an MLH Fellow
Participating in the Fellowship, I felt like I had stepped into a real tech job. Even though we worked remotely, we followed all the rhythms and ceremonies of a real team, with daily stand-ups to share updates, tackle blockers, and keep each other motivated. These little touchpoints made me feel like I was part of something bigger than myself, not just working alone from home.
In addition to these regular meetings, we had brainstorming sessions and demo days to present our work. These sessions were huge for me — by listening to others’ ideas, talking tech every week, and getting feedback I really broke out of my shell. These sessions boosted my confidence in ways I didn’t expect, making me more comfortable speaking up and sharing my work with others.
Participating in the Fellowship, I felt like I had stepped into a real tech job.
MLH also hosts workshops and seminars with industry pros throughout the program where you get tips on crafting your resume, prepping for interviews, and standing out as a job candidate. I realized that showing off your work is just as important as doing it. Now I know how to present my contributions in a way that’s clear and impactful. The support didn’t stop there, though — MLH also helped with referrals and even set me up with some interviews.
Overall, the Fellowship gave me a confidence boost, a solid network, and a clearer path to launching my career in tech.
From Passion to Profession
After I wrapped up my stint as a Fellow contributing to Yunikorn, I was even more hooked on continuing my open source journey. You might be thinking I joined the Fellowship for a third time, which would have been awesome, but I actually landed a spot with the G-Research Open Source Software team as a Software Engineer. Now I get to write impactful code, work with brilliant developers, and contribute to tools that really matter in the industry. Every. Single. Day.
This is the power of open source. From submitting my first PR in Hacktoberfest to joining the MLH Fellowship, open source has been my best teacher, because open source is about more than just coding. It’s about community. It’s about learning. And it’s about building software that actually makes an impact.
If you’re curious about technology, take a dive into open source! You never know where it might take you.
