Project Sum Up

Well, internship is coming closer to its end. It’s time to sum it up and reap the benefits. Let’s start with project progress. I remind you, the goal of my internship was to add the support for Elasticsearch datastore (new backend), which would provide support for data type mapping between Elasticsearch and Java types as well as Elasticsearch operations such as add, update, delete and conditional query. I can proudly say I did it! The goal has been successfully completed at the moment, and my pull request is awaiting approval.

What’s changed?

Even though I came here primarily for the experience and to expand my knowledge, the internship impacted me in many different ways. Outreachy completely changed my perception of open source and free software contributions. I thought that free software and contributing to it are unreachable to me.I did not know much about how such organizations work and how I can start to contribute to them. Outreachy helps me feel more confident in making open source and free software contributions.

Outreachy explained to me the importance of networking and taught me how to build them. I met with communities (not only with my community), which develop and support free software. People happened to be so responsive and helpful. They are open to share their experience and help you with your issues.

And of course, technical skills. During my internship I was able to sharpen my skills in Java programming, teach how to diagnoze problems and solve them. I gained a deeper understanding of Object–relational mapping technique and worked with Elasticsearch datastore. The internship also boosted my communication skills and my English. I feel much more confident now.

What’s next?

I was a little nervous about my future after the internship. I have some limits, I described in my previous post. However, last week informal chats gave me a lot of confidence. Having spoken to people, especially with past Outreachy interns, who passed the same career path, I came to the conclusion that there’s nothing impossible.

Already missing

I will miss Outreachy and its community. I will miss most of all people. They are so open here. Always ready to help you, always share their experience, which is incredibly valuable. It was exciting, interesting and challenging at the same time. It was a great and rewarding experience that helped me grow as a professional.