Rejection stings, especially when you’ve poured your heart and time into an application. Outreachy is competitive, and not everyone who applies will make it through.

So if you’ve found yourself on the other side of the selection list, don’t despair. The Open Source sky is wide enough for every bird to fly.

If you're truly passionate about contributing to open source and building a successful open source career, this article offers practical advice on how to pursue that path—whether you get into Outreachy or not.

Table of Contents

• Why You Were Not Selected

• Should You Reapply?

• Alternative Routes to Contributing to Open Source

• Keep Contributing to Open Source

Why You Were Not Selected

First, it’s important to understand the context. Outreachy receives hundreds of applications for a limited number of slots. The selection process is rigorous, and even highly qualified applicants may not be chosen due to factors beyond their control.

Note that this is just my perspective, drawn from personal experience and conversations with other past interns. It may not fully reflect the specific reasons why mentors or organizers might not select an applicant. But the factors I’ll discuss are worth considering and can help guide your future applications.

1. Project fit

Project fit is about more than just matching technical skills. I often advise applicants to choose projects that they’re passionate about. It’s not enough to only have the technical skills the project requires. Do your interests align with the project’s goals? Have you shown an understanding of its challenges? Are your contributions relevant to what the project actually needs?

Mentors look for candidates who don't just want an internship, but who genuinely care about the project's mission. They seek individuals who can see beyond the code to the broader impact of the open source initiative.

2. Contribution quality

Applicants are encouraged to start with smaller tasks and progress to more complex ones. But because contributions are tracked, some applicants may be tempted to focus on the quantity of their contributions rather than the quality.

If you were a mentor for a project focused on improving accessibility, whom would you choose: an applicant who has logged 10 contributions, all consisting of typo fixes in documentation? Or one who has made 2 contributions, including a comprehensive accessibility audit and a detailed report?

One thoughtful, high-quality contribution often outweighs several superficial ones because it demonstrates your potential to add real value to the project.

3. Overall application narrative

Your application is a story, not just a list of achievements.

• How compellingly do you explain your motivations?

• Do you demonstrate a long-term commitment to open source?

• Can you articulate your learning goals?

• Do you show potential for growth?

• How do you connect your past experiences to the project?

Mentors read hundreds of applications. Those that tell a coherent, passionate story are more likely to stand out.

4. The sheer volume of exceptional candidates

Sometimes, there are just so many exceptional applicants and not enough internship slots. It’s a tough decision for the mentors.

In this case, whether you’re selected or not is a matter of mathematical probability. So, if you are not selected, it doesn't mean you're not skilled or deserving enough. Understanding this can help you approach rejection with a growth mindset rather than self-doubt.

Should You Reapply?

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again" — William Edward Hickson

Many successful Outreachy interns were not selected on their first try. I’m one of them. If you’re eligible and still passionate about the program, by all means, reapply.

Here’s how to strengthen your next application:

Start Early: Start exploring past Outreachy projects and building connections with mentors well before the application phase. Some communities (for example, Oppia, Wikimedia, Fedora, and Bioconductor) are regular Outreachy participants and are likely to participate in the next internship round.

Expand Your Skills: Use the time between application cycles to deepen your knowledge in areas that align with Outreachy projects, whether it’s coding, documentation, or community management.

A friend of mine, Karimot Isiaka, started learning about accessibility after discovering that the project I worked on during my Outreachy internship was focused on this area. Today, she’s one of the December 2024 interns working on a project centered around accessibility. Had she not taken the initiative to expand her skills and dive into accessibility, she likely wouldn’t have been prepared for this opportunity. Be like Karimot.

Build Relationships: Join project communities, participate in discussions, and contribute consistently. Mentors often notice applicants who’ve been active contributors.

Alternative Routes to Contributing to Open Source

Outreachy has played a significant role in introducing people from underrepresented groups to open source, providing mentorship, and offering a pathway to impactful contributions. But it’s just one route among many. Open source is a vast ecosystem, filled with opportunities to learn, grow, and even build a career.

Here are other ways to make an impact in open source:

1. Independent Contributions

One of the most direct ways to get involved in open source is by contributing independently to projects that align with your interests. You can:

• Go on GitHub or Gitlab and look for issues tagged as “good first issue” or “help wanted.”

• Contribute to documentation, test cases, or bug fixes.

• Participate in Hacktoberfest, an annual celebration that encourages people to contribute to open source projects while earning rewards and gaining experience.

Independent contributions allow you to build a portfolio and demonstrate your skills in a practical context, which can be just as impactful as participating in a formal program. Here’s a helpful article by Fanny Nyayic about how to get started as a beginner open source contributor.

2. Other Open Source Internship Programs

If you’re bent on the internship route, there are other structured open source programs similar to Outreachy. Some of them include:

1. Google Summer of Code (GSoC): GSoC is a global program that introduces students and new open source contributors to real-world software development. Participants work on a project with an open source organization, receiving mentorship, a stipend, and experience contributing to the open source community.

2. Google Season of Docs: This program connects technical writers with open source organizations to improve their documentation. Writers work on tasks such as user guides, tutorials, or API documentation, enhancing the usability and accessibility of open source projects.

3. LFX Mentorship: Offered by the Linux Foundation, LFX Mentorship provides hands-on experience working with Linux Foundation projects. It supports contributors in learning about open source technologies, networking, and growing their technical expertise through paid mentorship opportunities.

4. MLH Fellowship: The Major League Hacking (MLH) Fellowship is a remote program where participants build and contribute to open source projects in areas like software development, systems design, or data science, while collaborating with peers and receiving mentorship from industry experts.

5. Season of KDE: This mentorship program is run by the KDE Community, an open source organization focused on free software projects. Participants work on KDE initiatives such as software development, design, documentation, or community-building activities.

6. AsyncAPI Mentorship Program: The AsyncAPI Mentorship Program offers contributors opportunities to work on improving AsyncAPI tools and documentation. Participants collaborate on projects like software libraries, community initiatives, design, or technical documentation while learning open source best practices.

7. Summer of Bitcoin: This program introduces university students to Bitcoin and open source development. Participants work with experienced mentors on projects that contribute to the Bitcoin ecosystem, focusing on coding, documentation, or research initiatives.

3. Paid Opportunities in Open Source

Open source contributions can open doors to paid opportunities. Here are some ways to monetize your efforts:

• Sponsorship Platforms: Programs like GitHub Sponsors and OpenCollective enable contributors and maintainers to receive financial backing for their work.

• Google Open Source Peer Bonus Program: The Google Open Source Peer Bonus program recognizes and rewards contributors for their impact on open source projects.

• Open Source Job Hubs: Platforms like Open Source JobHub, OSSJobs, and Open Source Design curate paid opportunities within the open source ecosystem and connect contributors with roles that align with their skills.

• Bounty Programs: Many open source projects offer bounty programs where contributors can earn money for completing specific tasks, fixing bugs, or adding features. The AsyncAPI Bounty Program is an example. Platforms like Bountysource, IssueHunt, and Gitcoin also connect contributors with paid tasks in open source

• Full-Time Roles: Many tech companies hire developers to focus exclusively on maintaining or enhancing open source projects they rely on or sponsor.

4. Non-Code Contributions

Non-code contributions are an underrated yet valuable way to get involved. If you’re a non-technical person, you can contribute to open source in any of the following ways:

• Design: Creating UI/UX designs or social media graphics for open source projects.

• Community management: Moderating forums, organizing meetups, or managing social media. Amarachi Johnson has a helpful article here on contributing to open source projects as a community manager.

• Advocacy: Writing articles, giving talks, or creating tutorials about the project. Christine Belzie has a helpful article here on how technical writers can contribute to OSS.

5. Personal Projects

If you’re passionate about solving a particular problem, consider starting your own open source project. That side project you’re working on? You could make it open source. Invite other people to contribute. Build an open source community around this project you care about. Who knows? You could build the next freeCodeCamp.

Keep Contributing to Open Source

Rejection hurts, but it’s not the end of the road. Many accomplished contributors faced rejection at some point. Some didn’t make it into Outreachy or GSoC but went on to become project maintainers, speakers, or leaders in the open source space.

If you haven’t gotten into Outreachy, take a moment to regroup and then try again. And while you’re at it, explore other opportunities. Don’t give up. Rejection is just a step in the journey. Keep pushing forward, and you'll find your place in the open source world.

I started learning JavaScript 10 months ago and the journey has been full of frustration, hope, and motivation. Before starting JavaScript, I thought I knew most of it — but I was wrong. There was a lot to learn, Vanilla JavaScript, Node.js, React — and then making some dummy side project to apply the knowledge. And time was short because I wanted to learn and implement everything in just 2–3 months to start a job as soon as possible.

Being jobless and not having the skills you want to work with is the worst feeling ever. And you need great willpower and motivation to keep learning and keep going, staying hopeful for the future.

I started the freeCodeCamp curriculum along with a couple of other tutorials (I’ll share more about them in another post) to learn and polish my JavaScript skills. After grasping a good amount of knowledge and making a fully functional web app in Express.js, Node.js, Handlebars and MongoDB, I got some confidence and decided to jump on the front-end and learn React.js. Then I got hold of some basic knowledge of React and made some throwable apps.

But I couldn’t focus on learning more, as I wanted to earn now. It had become hard for me to work without making money anymore. So, I actively started applying to remote JavaScript jobs. I used to apply for at least 2 jobs a day but for most of them, I was not the perfect candidate so the answers were NO.

After applying for numerous jobs I realized that most companies are not interested in hiring a junior developer remotely. They prefer to have juniors on site, while those who have some experience can work remotely.

Disheartened but motivated, I decided to fully focus on completely learning React, and went back to my freeCodeCamp curriculum. I decided to make a portfolio in addition to making myself worthy enough to get a fine remote job.

One morning when I opened my mailbox there was an e-mail from the Outreachy newsletter announcing the opening of their applications. I had signed up for this newsletter a few months back when the applications for the previous rounds were about to close and I was just starting my journey. I almost forgot about it and it popped up again after a few months right at the time I needed it. So I forgot all the jobs I applied to, stopped looking for more jobs, and fully focused, deciding to work hard to get the Outreachy Internship.

I read numerous articles by the previous alumni, noted down their suggestions, explored Outreachy, watched Youtube videos and what not. I gave myself a chance to prove myself. I couldn’t see anything else except Outreachy. I worked hard, learned about open source, stayed awake late nights, and worked on weekends to achieve my target. It was a chance to prove myself to myself.

Today, I’m sharing my journey with you to help you. To help someone who is struggling to code, who is struggling to survive in this tech world, who is dreaming of a great remote job and a dream home office desk. This article is for you, Outreachy is for you.

What is Outreachy?

Outreachy is a program that provides 3 months paid internships in Free and Open Source Software for people who are typically underrepresented in those projects. Interns are paid a $5,500 stipend and a $500 travel grant to attend any national or international event related to their project approved by their mentors. Outreachy internships are not limited to programming only. They also includes UI/UX, documentation, data science, graphic design, video documentation, and illustration.

The best thing about this internship is that it is remote and Interns can work anywhere from the world without the differences of color, nation, religion, gender or culture affecting their work.

Many dream tech companies share their projects and accept interns to mentor them and give them the opportunity to work with their best developers. Mozilla, Debian, Git, GNOME, Kubernetes, and OpenStack are a few.

Previously Outreachy was only accepting Women, Transgender, Trans-men, gender-queer and some other underrepresented people in Tech. But the good news is that from this round it is open for all now.

How I won the Outreachy internship at Mozilla

Here is the Outreachy application process and how I went through it.

1) Initial Application

After creating the account I found an initial application form. You provide some information and they decide whether an applicant is accepted or rejected for the next stage. In this form, you provide info such as your name, gender, country, city and most importantly your availability during the internship.

Outreachy requires interns to be available full time during the internship, which is 40 hours per week. I came to know that one applicant couldn’t make it to the next step because she was not available for full-time. So the first step is to filter those candidates who qualify through the criteria. I qualified for the next step which is selecting a project and starting contributions.

2) Project selection and contribution

Ahhh! This is the most important step and a bit of a tough part of the process. A wrong project choice can cause you to lose the internship or the right choice can open doors of learning and exposure for you. After clearing step one, interns now can see the list of all projects and their details.

The project I was selected for

Wrong way of selecting:
Going through every single project and company, reading details, and not remembering anything and thus ending up getting all confused.

You don’t need to read and see details of every project and switch from one to another. It will burn your time and energy.

The right way:
Just shortlist the projects based on the required skills which match your skillset. Now you have a few projects in your bucket. Next, you can further shortlist based on the supporting skillsets required with the major skill. Or you can choose based on your area of interest.

In my case, I am good at JavaScript. I had many JavaScript based projects but I was interested in ReactJS to enhance my skills. It was easy for me to choose a project and stop wasting time on other projects because I was clear in my mind that I wanted to work with React.

3) Setting up the project, understanding the codebase, and starting contributions

Ladies and gentlemen, tighten your seat belt as you are going to experience a lot of different emotions at this stage of the application. You are going to feel dumb, not confident at all, fear of contribution, fear of rejection of pull request, fear of not writing quality code, fear of asking questions of the repo owner to help you set up the project, and much more.

Throw that syndrome out the window :)

This is what my mentor asked me to do in response to my fears. And I recommend you do so, too. Once you throw it out you will do well. You will win it. Fear is going to take you nowhere!

Now you have to set up the project repo, make it run on the local machine with the help of available documents, and start finding good first issues. It is helpful to start with good first issues as they get solved pretty easily and you gain a lot of confidence and motivation to continue.

Remember, Outreachy requires at least one contribution to be eligible for the final application and internship — but they highly encourage interns to keep contributing to increase chances. Now, based on my experience I warn you not to get trapped and feel accomplished with one or two contributions.

Competition is tough, people contribute more than once from around the world and increase their chances of selection. So make sure you have more than one — and really good contributions increase your chances.

I had never contributed to any project ever before, I didn’t even know what a Pull Request was and how to do it. In fact, I learned everything during the application process.

I found one issue unassigned and opened a Pull Request with a solution. My mentors were in a different time zone, so before they would wake up I had two Pull Request opened and I couldn’t sleep just waiting to see the response. I stayed up till 3 AM until I got the response on my PR. And to my surprise it was…

and then

Yay :-D

You can’t imagine how happy I was. I felt like flying, like Superman going up above the sky. In short, I was in 7th sky!

But I had to come down to solve more issues. This gave me great confidence and then I didn’t stop contributing. By the time of the last date of application submission, I had 6 Pull Request merged. I submitted my final application and kept contributing afterward.

Before the Outreachy results were announced, I had a total of 10 Pull Requests in my bucket which made me a stronger applicant for this project.

Results announcement

It was hard to wait for the results. I was impatiently counting days to get the news. With confidence and hope, there was nervousness too. And the news of acceptance was nothing more than a cool breeze in the weather of frustration and journey of learning. I was excited and happy and what not. A long journey of learning and making test applications got me here at Mozilla working with the finest developers on earth.

I couldn’t stop imagining learning more and become another fine developer in the next few months. And then the news of a getting a MacBook Pro from Mozilla was like a cherry on the cake. I already started disliking my HP machine. :-D

Finally, I am now going to start another journey of learning by working on a real project with mentors in one of the world’s top tech companies. My internship is starting on 4th Dec 2018. I’m excited and can’t wait to start it. I am hoping to learn and get the most out of it.

Why I found Mozilla so special

Interns at Mozilla get three more benefits other than the stipend and travel grant, which make this internship even more exciting.

1. All Mozilla interns get the latest MacBook Pro with cool heavy specs.

My MacBook Pro is arriving in a few days with the following specs:

• 2.9GHz 6-core 8th-generation Intel Core i9 processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.8GHz
• 32GB 2400MHz DDR4 memory
• Radeon Pro 560X with 4GB of GDDR5 memory + Intel UHD Graphics
• 512GB or 1TB PCIe-based Flash Storage
• Touch Bar

Mouthwatering? It definitely is!

2. An Invitation to Mozilla All Hands, which is an event where all the company’s employees are invited to meet their colleagues in person and share experiences and interact with other people they may not normally meet in person. Interns get a chance to meet other employees, volunteers and more specifically their mentors of the project.

3. All Mozilla interns get LDA credentials which mean they will have an official Mozilla e-mail id — username@mozilla.org.

Nuggets of wisdom to win Outreachy

Based on my experience and observations, here are the things which led me to win this opportunity that I suggest you do:

• Leave every fear, insecurity or moment of low confidence behind and jump into it. Apply for Outreachy, contribute, learn, ask questions, try to solve the issue. It is okay if you don’t get it correct at first attempt — you will get feedback and you can make it in the 2nd or 3rd or 4th attempt. In the end, learning matters — not the number of times you made mistakes.
• Don’t feel too accomplished or overconfident after making one or two contributions. Try to solve as many issues as you can. Keep contributing even after the deadline until you get the results.
  This helped me a lot. It made my mentors realized that I’m a learner, enthusiast, and an active participant and they always appreciated it. So I recommend you to keep contributing.
• Don’t be afraid of asking questions even if they are stupid. For one issue I asked too many questions from my mentor, but he was kind enough to answer them all.
  Still, make sure you are asking after some personal research. Don’t throw any random questions out there. Ask if anything is not clear to you. Ask. Ask. Ask.
• Keep an eye on your competitors. I used to visit the project repo daily to check how many new applicants were trying to solve the issues. How many PRs were opened and who would be my biggest competitors.
  My heart used to beat really hard whenever a new applicant popped up which helped me not to stop.
• Start as early as possible. Sign up for the newsletter. If you start early you will have a lot of unassigned easy bugs which you can solve. You will have a good chance to understand the project and solve the most issues.
  The application process is long and time consuming, and you can’t make it in one or two weeks.
• Engage with the project mentor. Don’t let them forget you.
  Contribute, solve bugs, and ask (valid) questions.
• Most Important: I already knew that Mozilla offered a Laptop and All Hands meeting invitation, but I didn’t apply to the Mozilla project for these two things. I applied because among all listed projects, there were only a few projects that required JavaScript and React — and only 2 projects I could understand a little bit. And one of them was from Mozilla.
  Your primary purpose should be winning the internship with any organization, gaining knowledge, learning and making your way towards a better future. Don’t select one company because of a few perks. You will end up losing a good project and banging your head against some other project that’s not of your type. Select a project if you really feel that you can do well there.
• Focus on one project and give your best to it. In case your project doesn’t have more issues, ask your mentors to refer you to some other project. This happened in my case.
• Forget about the outcome. It’s okay if you don’t win the internship, you will learn a lot. You will get some mentors and a start to the opensource journey. At a point, I decided to keep contributing to the project even if I didn’t win the internship.
  Because the amount of knowledge I gained during the process was significant compared to what I gained working on demo projects over the past few months.

Hah! I have a lot to say. I should keep other things for the next article. I’m excited to start my internship at Mozilla. And I highly encourage struggling newbies to apply for Outreachy. You don’t need to be a great developer — you just need to be a great learner.

These internships are here to teach you to increase your knowledge. If I can get it you can definitely get it. Anyone who is motivated and willing to learn and work hard can get it. Next round of Outreachy is starting in Feb 2019. Don’t miss it!

A Big Thanks

In the end, a big shout out to Outreachy organizers Sage Sharp, Marina, Elizabeth Noonan at Mozilla and everyone who supports Outreachy helping newbies to learn and excel in open source. Lastly, a big big big thanks to my husband for telling me about Outreachy, sending me the link, and motivating me to apply and work hard. This wouldn’t be possible without his moral support.

It would be totally unjust if I don’t mention the support and motivation given by my mentors Armen Zambrano and Dustin Mitchell. I feel blessed to have supportive mentors who celebrated little achievements. Needless to say, their unwavering support was always there to sort out all kinds of issues I faced. Thanks a bunch for being so kind and helpful.

Ahh! I can’t wait to start!

Motivated?

If you are planning to apply for next round and not feeling confident or feeling lost in the application process, feel free to get in touch. I would be happy to help you. I want Outreachy to reach out to everyone struggling for a good career start.

Remember

“People are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.” -Alchemist

My code is @aimenbatool and I tweet @aimenbatool. Contact me if you need help.

Working as an Outreachy intern with LibreHealth this summer has been a great experience! Needless to say, I had mixed emotions when it was time to hand in my final project. I am proud of what I’ve contributed, thankful to have worked with great mentors and a fabulous intern-mate, and saddened that it ended.

For those needing to catch up, you can read about the beginning of my experience. The rest of my journey links will be at the end of this article. For those of you who have been with me throughout this summer, I’ll just jump right in.

Projects

As a Documentation Intern, I provided some of the documentation on the LibreHealth Electronic Health Records system in English. Adele was my intern-mate. She translated all of the documentation into French. You can follow her journey here.

From May 23 to August 31, I contributed four documents to the LibreHealth wiki.

User Guide

My first document was the LibreHealth EHR User Guide. This was an overview of the basic appearance and features of the LibreHealth EHR system. We walked through the different screens and focused on the different functionalities of the system. The goal was to help the user run the electronic health record system smoothly and efficiently. We explored the Login, User Preferences, and Menu Navigation sections.

user-login-1

I followed a video by my EHR mentor Harley Tuck called LibreHealth EHR Introduction To Libre. Even though it was only a few months old, things had changed. I used the website demo to capture the flow and images not covered in the video. I like the way Harley speaks — clear, articulate and precise. I tried to keep the tone of the User Guides conversational, as he did.

A doctor, also referred to as a provider, was already listed in the demo. I created a new facility — also referred to as a practice — to show the various methods of calendars and user preferences.

nav-cal-two-day.jpeg

Provider Orders

The second document was the LibreHealth EHR Provider Orders guide. I created a patient who was in need of a referral for an x-ray. Then I created the lab that would perform the x-ray so that we could send the orders.

I used the same doctor and facility that I had used for the previous User Guide. I also created three users. They were the Front Desk Receptionist, the LPN, and the Transcriber.

Encounters or Visits

The third document was the LibreHealth EHR Encounters guide. It was similar to the Provider Orders. However, instead of sending the patient to another provider, we administered medication on-site.

encounter-soap-med.jpeg

This is where I learned a lot about healthcare codes. Understanding how the services, procedure and justification — for insurance billing — worked together to create the fees to be paid.

Notice the two CTP4 codes:
99203 is the initial patient visit at $25.
96372 is the injection at no cost. The fee for the injection was covered in the medication — HCPCS code.

HCPCS J28000 is the medication in solution form at $27.

They all came together with the ICD10 Diagnosis code of M54.5 as low back pain.

Fee Sheets

The final document was HOW TO: Create Fee Sheet List Categories. This How To guide showed how the administrator would add a medication and the proper code to a Fee Sheet List. The information on the Fee Sheet List will be used for the billing of the visit on the Fee Sheet.

Lessons Learned

Wiki

Wiki is wide open for contributors. This means that we had to be very careful on how we named our files and images. Otherwise you may end up using someone else’s images.

I solved this issue by prefixing the image by the document or section nick-name and then the actual image name. For instance: orders-vapgar.jpg.

orders-vapgar.jpg

Wiki markdown is not the same as the GitHub ReadME.md files. And it is not HTML. I had to make a code attitude adjustment, because I couldn’t quite style the way I normally would.

The <;p> tag didn’t work for me at all. So I tried a
tag. No, that didn’t work either. However, the
tag did work.

I couldn’t break columns up — as you would on a grid. However, <div>, and`

solved my problem.

I could not use the <img src=“section-image.jpg” /> tag. Images are referred to as files. So instead, I had to call [[Files:section-image.jpg]].

My code to create a two row, two column image section looked like this:

<div>
<blockquote>
‘’’Referral Transaction’’’: ‘Referral Date’ = ‘’’Procedure Order’’’: ‘Order Date’
<br><br>
<span>
[[File:trans-refDate.jpg|500px]] [[File:trans-ordDate.jpg|500px]]</span>

It worked!

It was different for me, and took some time to adjust.

Healthcare

SOAP Notes is not about soap to wash with. It is the doctor and nurse notes that reflect the patient statements, and the doctor’s objective observations, assessment of the situation, and the plan of treatment for the patient.

Also, if it’s not on the SOAP Note Plan, Don’t Do It….

Work flow is very specific. Many of the staff members have restricted access to various areas of the patient information.

order-access.jpg

Billing, Medication, Fees and Justification codes are very stringent. I double-checked a lot with my mentor to make sure that my work was correct.

Documentation Styles

My first three documents carried a conversational tone. However, the last document was a Step-By-Step instructional style.

It wasn’t easy for me to place arrows and numbers in this one. Although it was the smallest document, it took more of my focus to get it how my mentor wanted it.

Achievements

This summer was filled with many blessings and feelings of positive achievement for me.

I learned a lot about the health care practices, codes and work flows. I also learned a lot about technical and user documentation.

And I learned more than one way to create markdown documents.

Outreachy

This summer would not have gone this direction if I had not first been accepted to the Outreachy internship. It meant a lot to me that out of 45 candidates, I was considered to be someone who could help with their LibreHealth project.

That they were willing to pay me while I learned was even more awesome.

Then, they provided a travel stipend for the New York Minute of my Journey.

I recommend that every female tech student apply for the Outreachy Internship when the rounds open up.

freeCodeCamp

One of my duties as an Outreachy intern was to write every two weeks about my experiences. I really don’t consider myself a writer, so this seemed like it would be a daunting task.

As a freeCodeCamp camper, and an editor for freeCodeCamp on Medium, I had the perfect publishing platform. Fortunately, our founder Quincy Larson agreed.

Our executive editor, Abigail Rennemeyer, has been the first to see my drafts — after my husband, Alex Shortsleeve. She has led me to write more and stop making 1-minute articles.

And, we have an awesome editing team who makes my final work look good. But the images are all on me…

Top Contributor Award

I was one of two hundred Campers who were awarded the Top Contributor badge from freeCodeCamp. It was a great honor, but I wasn’t sure I could afford to travel to the other side of the mainland.

That’s when my LibreHealth mentor had me contact my Outreachy organizer. I was approved for the travel stipend! I arrived late Friday night and left early Sunday morning. But my Saturday was awesome!

I was able to meet some of my heroes and authors, a couple of my favorite moderators and the great people running study groups from all over the world. It was incredible. You can see the live stream here.

Honestly, I feel like I didn’t do much to deserve this. I just enjoyed editing some of my favorite authors’ articles, and answering the questions I thought I knew the answers to on the Forum. But I’m glad they didn’t realize I was just being nosy…

Regrets and Hopes

I had hopes of learning more about the LibreHealth Radiology Information System. I began to work on two different documents, the User Guide and the Tech guide.

I wasn’t able to complete it due to technical difficulties. I am hoping that the next intern will be able to create it properly.

Advice for future interns

As of September 19, applications for the Outreachy December 2018 to March 2019 internships are now open. You can apply here.

Find something that interests you. Something you can enjoy learning and that you can contribute to.

Follow the Outreachy guidelines. Your project will also have guidelines in place for you. You can make them both happen. When in doubt — such as deadline dates — ask your Outreachy Organizer.

Be patient. Not everyone is in your time zone. And everyone has a different schedule. So place your question out there, but realize that it may take a couple of days to get an answer.

Remember the holidays. In America, we have a lot of national holidays. And every state has it’s own days of celebration set aside. Family usually comes first for this. If you have a holiday coming up — where work, services and banks are shut down — let your team know ahead of time.

Be transparent. You will be working within an open source environment. Don’t Direct Message your mentor unless it is a question about your personal workload. The rest of the team and mentors need to see what everyone is doing.

Be friendly and play nice. Yes, this is a competition. But keep it a friendly competition.

Appreciation

Special thanks to my mentors, Harley Tuck and Robby O’Connor. You both kept me on path, encouraged me to stretch myself, and applauded when I got it right.

And my thanks to you, my readers. Your feedback has been priceless. And the fact that you have stayed with me on my journey has really helped make my Summer a special season.

What now?

The Autumn season begins with the ending of a special editing project, and the beginning of working with a fellow camper on an interesting new library.

I will also return to my freeCodeCamp curriculum and see if I can make real progress on my React-Redux challenges. And hopefully make something special to share with the world.

Previous Articles

• How I beat the odds and became an Outreachy Intern
• My Outreachy internship begins today! Here’s what I’ve done and learned so far.
• The next steps on my Outreachy journey: Docker, big challenges, and small victories
• Every step brings something new on my Outreachy journey
• Special Moments on my Outreachy Journey
• How I’ve absorbed as much as I’m able on my Outreachy Journey
• I made it to NYC and celebrated with freeCodeCamp on my Outreachy journey
• Sharing the Aloha Spirit with the Cloud

You can catch me on GitHub or join me on Twitter. You can also visit my website.

I am proud to have been chosen as one of freeCodeCamp’s 2018 Top Contributors, and to have been invited to the celebration in New York. I am also very thankful that Outreachy sponsored my travel so that as an Outreachy Intern, I could attend this awesome event.

I arrived late the night before, and left early the following morning. So, I’d just like to share with you what happened on Saturday, August 18, 2018 — in Brooklyn, New York.

One of the plans I had for this visit included a live meetup with one of my LibreHealth mentors. Sadly, he was not able to connect with me during my short visit — but I am happy to say that he is now feeling better. So instead, I toured the neighborhood and prepared for the party.

The event was held at Rough Draft NYC on Hooper Street in Brooklyn. I was to arrive a little early to assist in the setup for the party. I took a Lyft to get there, and I was running about a half-hour early. Since I didn’t know the area — and my driver didn’t either — I was a little concerned about where to hang out while I was waiting to meet the others.

The worries were unfounded, however, and as it turned out, there was no problem…

A Pre-Party!

My driver turned left — and stopped. He said “I can’t go any farther, but you can walk to the end of this block and it’s across the street”. He was stopped by a block party! The band sounded good, children were laughing and playing, and the food smelled great. Then a lady announced “Last Call for Cotton Candy” and gave me a free stick of pink cotton candy!

It was great! I ate my treat and listened to some great sounds while I waited for the others to arrive. They began to move tents and take down tables, so I decided to explore the rest of the neighborhood.

Meeting up

As I crossed the street, I saw two other top contributors, Gwen Faraday and Matt Potter, chatting in front of the venue. Gwen has written some articles that I’ve enjoyed reading (check out her most recent one on Resources I Used to Teach Myself Blockchain Development) so I was excited to meet her.

Matt makes us look great on the YouTube channel. This channel has almost everything for anyone — at every level.

Then the car pulled up with Quincy Larson, Abbey Rennemeyer, Beau Carnes and Stuart Taylor.

Quincy Larson is the founder of the freeCodeCamp and the reason I became involved in the first place. He’s also my mentor on the Medium platform.

And, he created the Top Contributors list that brought us all together for the party! Thank you Quincy ?

Abbey manages the content for our freeCodeCamp Medium publication and podcast. She is great to work with. She keeps all us volunteer editors in line and quickly responds to questions for the authors or about the articles. I enjoy her feedback on my articles.

Beau teaches JavaScript (among many other things!) on the YouTube channel. Great place to go if you get lost in learning to code.

Stuart is from England and currently lives in Ireland. I love to listen to his voice. He worked on our beta curriculum platform and coded the freeCodeCamp Guide.

We all walked to the local store a few blocks away to pick up a few extra supplies for the party. It was a great chance to catch-up and connect.

When we returned to Rough Draft, we saw the tents and chairs had been moved to create a mini-concert area where the block party had been held. We were going to have great sounds for the night!

Setting up

We met with the manager, Alison Zullo who showed us around as we prepared to set up. And Ethan Arrowood, our Python instructor, arrived just in time to help.

Stuart was helping Abigail prepare the badge table

Ethan had a willing smile for everyone who asked for his help during set up

Quincy was in his corner preparing

Ready to go Live!

It’s almost Party Time!

Party Time!

Now the guests began arriving, and the energy was great!

The guests are arriving!

I was happy to meet Johnny Bizzel, who is my coding hero for his help in the forum — he got my Tic-Tac-Toe game to stop cheating. Without him, it may have taken years for me to get my front-end certificate.

Bill Sourour is another author I love to work with. My favorite of his works is Don’t do it at runtime. Do it at design time.

Greg Smith and Auriel Leslie are wonderful moderators on the freeCodeCamp Forum. They give guidance to us lost campers with simple explanations in English, and a positive attitude.

Jesse Weigel has a great sense of humor. He walks us through his coding fun and mishaps on YouTube.

I also met a lot of study group leaders. They were each fascinating to talk to, and so excited about what they are doing.

My first Camper hero, Rafael Rodriguez was also in New York. He was one of the first people I followed and looked to for guidance. His code is so smooth and the logic makes sense. I felt that if my projects could ever be as good and readable as his, I could do anything. I was glad to see him, but was totally tongue-tied. I did manage to chat with him for a moment later in the evening.

Jennifer Bland is another member of our Editing Team. We weren’t sure she could make it, so I was thrilled to see her.

The attending freeCodeCamp Editing Team — Quincy, me, Jennifer and Abbey

As the party was under way, Quincy made it a point to meet everyone. Some of us were interviewed for the live stream.

The condensed video can be seen here:

My interview was at 15:21 until 18:58. We discussed how I became involved with freeCodeCamp as an editor, how my basic editing schedule works, and how the lessons I’ve learned as a freeCodeCamp editor have helped me to become an Outreachy intern. Quincy and I totally agreed that Outreachy is a great organization. But I was stumped as to whether it was part of Mozilla…

Note: I found out later that while Outreachy offers a great opportunity for those wanting to work with Mozilla, just as I work with LibreHealth, it is actually a child of the parent organization Software Freedom Conservancy.

And I do know that Outreachy has been instrumental in helping women and underrepresented individuals find paid internships and work in the tech industry. If you haven’t yet, and are interested, sign up to be placed on their announcements list. The new session starts on September 10.

Reflections

And for everyone who wants to learn to code, become certified, and work in the tech industry, freeCodeCamp is the place to do it. The curriculum is good, the videos are great, the forum and chat rooms are helpful, and the Medium publication always has informative articles.

During the party I received a text from my husband. It said “I joined freeCodeCamp. Only 1408 Coding challenges to go!” Yay, I brought in a new camper! ?

I didn’t expect to be honored for doing something I enjoy. I appreciate the award, and also the privilege to travel here. I met some of my first and greatest heroes. It was nice to be recognized as me, “Oh, you’re Koni Kodes!”

It was amazing to see what all is involved in an online free open source educational community — and to meet some of the people who are making it worthwhile.

Thank you for joining me in New York. Next time we’ll continue our Outreachy Journey as I prepare to wrap-up my internship.

Previous Articles

• How I beat the odds and became an Outreachy Intern
• My Outreachy internship begins today! Here’s what I’ve done and learned so far.
• The next steps on my Outreachy journey: Docker, big challenges, and small victories
• Every step brings something new on my Outreachy journey
• Special Moments on my Outreachy Journey
• How I’ve absorbed as much as I’m able on my Outreachy Journey

Outreachy gives three-month paid internships for persons that are underrepresented in tech. Interns are paid a stipend of $5,500 and have a $500 travel stipend available to them.

Outreachy interns work remotely with mentors from Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) communities on projects for programming, user experience, documentation, illustration and graphical design, and data science tasks.

I participated in Outreachy round 14 from May through August 2017 with Ceph. I was working on expanding S3 testing for Ceph’s Rados Gateway. This opportunity changed my career for the good. From starting me working with open source to making me a confident engineer — and giving me the platform to many job opportunities.

_Image from [Planet Outreachy](https://www.planeteria.info/outreach/" rel="noopener" target="blank" title=")

The Outreachy internship applications open twice a year — in February for the May through August — in September for the December through March cohorts.

Well, like me during my application process, you are probably wondering “How do I ace this?” if you are an applicant. From some direct messages and pings I have gotten on this in the past, I will share some thoughts.

The process

Before I share my thoughts on how to go through this process, I will point out a disclaimer. These thoughts are not a guarantee that you will get in, they are just guidelines that could help you in my opinion.

Before you get lost in the so many details in this article, applying for an Outreachy internship is a very engaging process. It requires you to make many decisions and to commit the effort of making contributions as part of the requirements to be accepted.

To get the most of your application process, you need to ensure:

• You Start Early
• Narrow down your project choices to two at the most
• Set your goals
• Engage with the community and project Mentors frequently
• Focus on progress not perfection
• Remember the process is much more important than the outcome

Let me elaborate on these.

Start Early

One of the things you need to do is not procrastinate till like a week before the deadline. The application process is engaging. You need to start the process early so that the project mentors and community get to know and interact with you and the magic you can do early in the process.

If the mentors get to know you early and longer, then their decisions to choose you will be more informed than if you come in days before the deadline.

Narrow down your project choices

Outreachy usually has a list of organizations and most of them have interesting projects you would love to work on. In fact, when I was applying for my Outreachy internship I wanted to be everywhere. But you can’t be. That is the fact and if you do try to be everywhere, your chances of getting accepted become few.

The reason you need to focus on a few projects is that this will enable you to concentrate on being a great candidate for that project. It means you will spend more time understanding the project, communicating with the mentors, and in turn making significant contributions to the project — as opposed to being everywhere and achieving half-baked progress on many projects.

Set some goals

After you have selected what projects you want to apply to, you will reach out to the mentors for guidance on first time tasks to work on — or you can look at the project’s issue list for potential tasks. Set some goals for what you want to work on and what kind of candidate you want to be known for.

For example you could say “I want to make 5 contributions for my application process and have a good proposal”. With your own goals, you won’t fall prey to unnecessary pressure. This shouldn't be a competition with other applicants. With your set goals, you are competing with your own goals and no one else.

Engage the community and project Mentors frequently

One of the ways you will get to understand the project and get more help on the task you are doing is by talking to the project mentors and community frequently.

This makes you get used to working with the mentors and community early because during your internship you will need to do this. Discuss what you are about to work on, what you are working on and even discuss the patch. This gives the impression that you know what you are doing but also helps you get feedback early enough.

Ask questions when you are stuck, open source projects are worked on as a community. There is no need to die with a blocker.

Tasks are not meant to kill people but there should be a balance between you finding a way of solving some problems independently as well.

Do some homework before asking, do some research on the subject before asking. If you fail to get a solution, then engage your mentors as soon as possible. Challenges keep us motivated to work on a daily basis, so try that challenge and then ask your mentor. Do not spend 2 hours on a blocker, just reach out.

Progress not perfection

When you are given a task, you may get tempted to go hide yourself in the basement so that you come up with a solution a week later with all its glory, unit tested and whatever you think in your head is the best solution to the task.

The focus is to commit early, and get feedback as early as possible so that you get a patch merged in the shortest time possible. Patches become perfect only after being committed. It is the feedback that we get from reviewers and community that makes patches perfect. Therefore, quit the basement and work with the community.

Discuss the internship project with mentors

There is usually a project you will be working on that you won’t start until you are accepted to be an Outreachy intern. As you make contributions, create some time to discuss the milestones of the project that you will be working on, if you are accepted, with your mentors. Let your mentor advise you on scope and time lines.

This will inform you on how to create a time line when you are filling in the Outreachy application form. You will fill out this form with an informed mind on the project tasks and this is a plus when they are assessing you.

Also, ask for feedback on the proposal/application form contents before the deadline. Feedback will always make anything you work on better.

The process is much more important than the outcome

The tough truth to your Outreachy application is either you were accepted or you were not accepted to this round of Outreachy. I have had the chance of knowing how both decisions feel.

Now let me tell you something, the real beauty about Outreachy is the process.The first time I applied to Outreachy I didn’t get in.

But I learned Golang. I used that skill on my next project. I was accepted the second time and now I work on a couple of Go projects. Maybe this is not convincing enough.

I applied to an organization that did not accept me. But from the tasks I worked on with Python compatibility, I got inspired to write my first book about Python 2 and 3 Compatibility. Due to the scarcity of material on the subject, Apress gladly accepted it for publishing.

The application process should be attempted by everyone. Whether you get in or not, it is always a win. You will have made contributions to a project that will act as your project references for your next opportunity.

You will have started yourself in open source if you are a beginner to FOSS. The FOSS mentors are always willing to guide you should you want to continue with contributing.

You will have been introduced to and learned from the best and most welcoming people in this tech industry to prepare for your future opportunities.

If you forget anything here, don't forget the fact that applying to Outreachy is always a win, accepted or not. And do not forget to apply again in the next round. If you fail — keep trying till you get in.

Good luck to everyone applying!!! May the force be with you. As always ping me if you have any questions.