Start the Journey

Work with your Mentor

Depending on the projects, a mentor will be assigned to you throughout the program, from the application process to course completion. It is your responsibility to actively engage with your mentor to ensure you complete all tasks during the application process for acceptance. Once accepted as a mentee, work closely with your mentor to ensure you are learning effectively, getting answers to your questions, and contributing to the project. Be proactive and reach out to mentors to schedule weekly check-in meetings. Use one of the first meetings to align on expectations, communication channels, norms, tools, and any vacation or academic scheduling conflicts. Set up your development environment and tools, and do some practice work. Start contributing to your project by writing clean code or clear instructions in the documents, and have them reviewed by your mentor in a timely manner. Ask for feedback or suggestions on your progress, and seek advice to excel. During the application process, work with your mentor on a project plan that includes project objectives, milestones, deliverables, methodology, and documentation. The project plan should be posted on the wiki for transparency and accountability at the beginning of your application to the program. Respect your mentor’s time. Your mentor is volunteering their time to help you grow, taking time out of their busy schedule. Therefore, regularly attend scheduled meetings, provide updates on your work status, and take full advantage of your mentor's guidance to learn. Remember that your mentor is the most valuable person to help you successfully graduate from the mentorship program.

Learn and Practice Open Source Culture

It can be intimidating at first if you are new to the open-source world. However, always maintain the culture when working in that environment, as Bill S. Preston Esq says—“Stick to the Open Source Culture: Be excellent to each other.”

• It is synchronous by nature. Most collaboration occurs through email, forum posts, mailing lists, and pull requests.

• Cooperation and consensus-building present the greatest challenge. Since others can’t see your face or hear your voice, emotions can be lost and intent muddled.

Open-source development is truly global, encompassing all cultures, all languages, all time zones, and all continents—yes, even Antarctica.