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From YouTube: How Contributing to AsyncAPI Tools Inspired a Career in OSS - Florence Njeri, GSOD Intern
Description
AsyncAPI Conference 2022 - Day 2
4th November 2022
AsyncAPI is an open-source (OSS) project that seeks to promote and facilitate the development of asynchronous APIs and event-driven architecture (EDA). In this talk, I will detail how getting involved as an OSS contributor in the AsyncAPI initiative has opened a new career path for me in OSS. By the end of this talk, the audience will learn how my personal experience working in corporate as a software engineer contrasts with my OSS contribution experience, now inspiring me to pursue a new career path in OSS.
A
A
A
As
a
software
engineer
began
in
2016,
where
I
joined
University
to
pursue
a
degree
in
software
engineering,
part
of
my
degree
requirements
was
to
fulfill
a
mandatory
three
months.
Internship,
where
I
started
interning
in
2019
at
a
local
software
company
called
mobidev
as
an
Android
intern,
while
there
I
faced
a
challenge
one
day
and
they
went
to
my
mentor
and
told
him,
I
could
not
find
a
solution
for
the
problem.
I
was
encountering
and
he
helped
me
resolve
it.
A
But
the
next
day,
I
faced
the
same
problem
and
I,
could
not
remember
the
exact
steps
that
momenta
had
taken
to
resolve
the
problem.
So
I
went
back
to
him,
approached
him
and
told
him
I'm
sorry,
but
I
forgot
the
exact
steps
that
you
took
yesterday.
Can
you
please
explain
it
again,
so
that
is
when
he
told
me
as
a
software
engineer,
whenever
you
Google
for
a
solution
to
a
problem,
you
are
facing
online
and
you
don't
find
a
solution
for
it.
A
The
best
approach
to
take
is
to
create
a
blog
where
you
write
solutions
to
the
problems
that
you're
facing,
because
it
will
help
you
in
the
future.
When
you
encounter
the
same
problem,
and
it
will
also
help
another
developer,
that
is
facing
the
same
problem,
to
be
able
to
resolve
their
problem,
that
is
how
I
started
writing
documentation
just
as
a
way
of
documenting
all
the
problems
that
I
solved.
A
That
I
could
not
find
a
solution
for
online
or
problems
that
had
taken
me
a
really
long
type,
so
that
I
could
go
back
and
reference
to
it.
Whenever
I
got
a
problem
in
2019,
I
got
started
in
open
source,
where
I
contributed
for
one
month
to
Oktoberfest
and
I
got
a
really
cool
t-shirt.
That
was
the
first
contribution
that
I
made
to
open
source
that
I'm
still
very
proud
of
to
date.
A
In
this
next
session,
I
will
be
talking
about
my
career
in
open
source
and
what
I
have
discovered
while
working
at
a
Sync
API
that
has
made
me
get
inspired
to
work
in
open
source
full
time
in
the
future.
The
first
thing
that
I
discovered
when
I
joined
the
Sync
API
is
that
there
are
people
who
get
paid
full
time
to
work,
to
contribute
to
open
source,
to
maintain
software,
to
write
technical
documentation.
I
had
no
idea
that
there
are
people
who
do
this
full
time.
A
I
thought
that
this
is
something
people
did
part-time
after
their
nine
to
five,
so
that
was
a
very
interesting
discovery
that
I
made
this
year.
Another
thing
is
career
progression.
I
realized
that
you
can
progress
your
career
very
fast,
while
working
in
open
source,
mostly
because
you're
building
in
the
public.
Your
work
is
out
there
in
the
open.
While
it
can
be
scary,
it's
a
very
good
thing,
because
you
get
recognized
you
get
to
work
with
industrial
leaders.
A
You
get
to
read
multiple
developers,
multiple
audiences,
your
black
is
seen
by
big
organizations
and
from
that
they
can
reach
out
to
you
to
hire
you,
and
also
you
gain
credibility
about
your
skills.
Whenever
you
are
trying
to
switch
jobs,
you
can
always
say
I
contributed
this
open
source
tool.
This
is
my
work.
This
is
what
I
did.
A
Another
thing
I
have
learned,
while
working
in
open
source
is
the
collaboration
and
communication
style
that
is
used
in
open
source
companies,
or
rather
open
source
project,
which
is
really
nice,
which
is
really
fast,
and
also
the
ability
to
take
full
ownership
of
the
feature
that
you're
building
or
the
contribution
that
you're
making,
because
you
don't
have
someone
that
constantly
asks
you
for
updates.
You
have
to
take
the
initiative
to
make
sure
that
you
have
completed
a
certain
task.
A
You
have
been
able
to
reach
out
to
mental,
have
been
reaching
out
to
my
mentor
whenever
I
get
stuck.
I
have
been
communicating
to
my
fellow
intern
practice
whenever
I
need
his
help,
so
it
has
really
helped
build
my
collaboration,
my
communication
skills
and
also
it
has
made
me-
love
the
working
style
and
the
communication
style
that
is
there
in
open
source,
as
well
as
the
collaboration
style.
The
last
and
the
most
significant
thing
is
learning
about
the
impact
of
my
work.
A
I
realized
the
work
that
I
have
put
in
for
the
past
six
months
will
be
used
by
multiple
developers
from
all
over
the
world
who
need
help
getting
started
with
a
generator
tool,
and
that
fills
me
with
a
lot
of
Pride
with
a
lot
of
happiness
and
I
think
this
is
literally
the
coolest
thing.
I
have
done
in
my
career
for
the
past
two
years
generally.
This
is
what
has
really
made
me
proud
and
really
made
me
want
to
continue
working
in
open
source
and
to
keep
contributing
and
building
a
career
in
open
source.
A
A
So,
while
working
here
at
the
first
month
was
on
boarding
the
first
whole
month
where
we
were
not
expected
to
make
a
contribution,
we
were
learning
about
the
tool.
My
onboarding
experience,
however,
at
I
think
API
was
very
different
because
for
the
first
month,
I
did
not
feel
the
pressure
or
the
expectation
to
have
of
my
pull
request
up
or
to
have
a
pull
request
or
something
merged,
because
it
was
mostly
getting
on
boarded
learning
about
the
generator
tool,
learning
about
a
Sync
API
learning
what
it
does,
because
it
was
a
very
new
experience.
A
I
had
not
acted
asynchronous
apis
before
so
it
was
mostly
learning
what
to
do.
What
is
done,
what
expected
to
document
and
to
do
getting
to
know
my
other
colleagues
who
I'll
be
working
with
and
I
did
not
feel
any
pressure
whatsoever,
and
it
was
actually
a
very
awesome
experience.
My
onboarding
experience,
however,
at
a
Sync
API,
was
very
small
and
very
easy.
Is
it
going
in
nature
in
the
sense
that,
for
the
first
month
we
did
not?
I
personally
did
not
feel
the
pressure
to
get
started,
writing
documentation
for
the
generator
tool
fair.
A
A
I
was
getting
on
slack.
Talking
to
my
mental
Lucas.
Talking
to
practical
is
my
with
my
colleague
who
I'm
working
with
to
document
the
generator
tool.
So
it's
been
very
asynchronous
driven.
We
don't
have
to
work
at
the
same
time
and
what
matters
is
you
get
your
back
done?
It
doesn't
matter
the
time
that
you
log
in
and
starts
making
your
contribution,
so
that
is
very
different
from
the
experience
hacking
in
the
corporate
world.
Another
thing
about
working
in
corporate
is
the
impact
most
of
the
time.
I.
A
Don't
really
realize
the
impact
that
I
am
having
because
I
don't
get
to
interact
with
the
end
users
on
a
day-to-day
basis,
so
I
don't
know
how
impactful
my
wife
is,
however,
watching
for
the
higher
documenting
the
generator
tool
has
made
me
realize
how
much
impact
my
technical
documentation
is
going
to
make
because
I
think
API
is
enough.
Is
the
official
is
the
official
specification
guide
that
is
used
by
most
of
the
asynchronous
apis
to
Define
their
specifications?
A
So
I
know
that
my
work
will
be
read,
or
rather
my
articles
will
be
read
by
developers
from
all
corners
of
the
world
and
in
all
kinds
of
Institutions,
from
Big
institutions
to
small
institutions.
I
feel
like
the
impact
of
the
work
that
I
have
put
in
for
the
past
six
months,
supersedes
the
impact
of
the
contributions
I
have
made
for
the
even
the
past
one
and
a
half
years
so
yeah.
That
has
been
a
really
awesome
experience.
A
Contractual
agreements,
you
can't
really
talk
about
what
you're
watching
on
so
nobody
really
knows
what
has
Florence
been
doing.
What
is
she
working
on?
I
feel
that
unless
you
are
someone
that
can
go
on
LinkedIn
or
go
on
Twitter
and
talk
about
what
you
did
that
particular
day,
apart
from
your
teammates
and
maybe
the
project
manager,
nobody
really
knows
about
your
capabilities
about
your
skills
and
experiences.
A
Unless
you
actively
push
yourself
to
broadcast
your
experiences
and
your
work
out
in
the
public
platforms,
however,
lacking
at
a
Sync
API,
we
regularly
get
tagged
whenever
a
new
feature
gets
released
and
they
are
the
one
that
has
contributed
to
that
to
get
tagged
on
Twitter.
You
get
tagged
on
LinkedIn,
so,
regardless
of
what
you
do,
whether
small
or
big,
whether
you
you
are
shy
about
broadcasting,
your
luck,
your
luck
will
be
out
there.
Everybody
will
know.
This
feature
has
been
developed
by
Florence.
A
Something
else
that
I
have
found
very
different
working
in
corporate
versus
working
here
at
a
Sync
API
is
the
collaboration
and
the
communication
style
because
incorporates
whenever
you
have
walk
up,
you
just
tag
your
teammates,
you
tag
them
and
you
may
be
putting
this
officials
like
Dev
Channel.
Please
guys
reveal
my
TR.
However,
in
open
source
since
open
source,
there
are
so
many
contributors
them.
Your
mentors
will
get
so
many
things
in
their
email
about
a
new
contribution
and
they
can
actually
get
so
overwhelmed
work
that
they
don't
really
see
your
email.
A
You
have
to
be
proactive
about
your
work.
You
have
to
reach
out
to
your
mentors
and
to
their
and
to
their
maintainers
of
the
project
and
tell
them
hey.
Please
review
my
PR.
It's
up!
It's
ready!
This
is
what
I
have
done.
Maybe
you
can't
help
with
sized,
and
also
the
collaborations
style
is
very
different
because,
as
compared
to
corporate,
where
you
work
within
the
same
time
zone,
so
you
can
pin
your
your
colleague
on
slack
and
get
a
reply
immediately.
You
can
hop
on
a
quick,
Zoom
call
and
resolve
a
problem
in
open
source.
A
This
is
completely
different
because
you
don't
work
in
the
same
time
zone
because
when
Alejandra
starts
working,
it's
like
6
p.m.
For
me
and
I
mean
it's
not
actually
be
online,
it's
very
asynchronous!
So
if
I
have
a
problem,
I
just
ping
her
but
I
do
not
expect
an
instant
reply,
or
even
my
teammate
pratik,
who
is
like
three
hours
ahead.
It
has
definitely
been
a
very
different
experience
and
learning
how
to
work,
collaborate
and
communicate
with
people
in
multiple
time
zones
in
an
asynchronous
way.
A
While
working
in
corporate
you
do
get
mentorship
and
support,
but
not
in
the
extent
that
you
do
while
working
in
open
source
because
everybody
has
their
own
designated
tasks
and
while
the
mentorship
and
support
that
you
get
is
more
of
helping
and
block
you
whenever
you
are
stuck,
but
also
the
developers
can
have
a
lot
of
work.
So
working
incorporate
the
mentorship
and
support
is
there,
but
the
mentorship
and
supports
that
I
have
received,
while
working
in
corporate
is
really
different
from
the
mentorship
and
supports
that
they
have
received
while
working
at
a
Sync
API.
A
So
the
major
difference
is
you
don't
get
the
constant
support
in
corporates
unless
you
actively
ask
for
it?
So
you
don't?
Sometimes
you
don't
don't
get
a
dedicated
mentor
to
help
hand
hold
you
for
the
first
few
months,
as
they
are
transitioning
as
you're
learning
about
the
software,
as
you
are
learning
about
the
tool,
so
that
can
be
really
hard
progression
or
hard
to
adjust
to,
as
you
are
as
an
early
career
person,
and
also
the
support
is
not
as
immense
as
the
one
I
have
received.
Her
working
at
I
think
API.
A
The
mentorship
that
I
have
received
has
been
very
active
where
we
have
a
set
one
one
hour
session,
each
and
every
week
to
get
unblocked,
and
apart
from
that,
we
can
always
reach
out
to
our
mentors
during
the
week
on
slack
and
ask
them
any
questions
and
they
will
get
back
to
you.
And
if
you
need
more
support,
you
can
always
schedule
for
a
support
session
via
video
call.
That
has
been
another
thing
that
I
have
experienced
that
contrasts
slightly
to
working
in
corporate
incorporate.
A
We
always
have
deadlines
where
you
have
a
zero
task
that
has
a
specified
weight,
so
you
are
expected
to
complete
a
certain
feature
within
one
day
or
within
two
days
or
within
three
days.
So
you
have
active
deadlines
to
complete
a
certain
task
or
a
certain
number
of
tasks
in
a
given
time
frame
so
in
open
source
here
at
a
scene
kpi,
we
don't
have
deadlines,
it's
more
of
an
ownership.
A
Moreover,
proactive
approach
where
you
have
to
set
your
own
deadlines,
you
have
to
just
take
ownership
of
each
and
every
task
that
you
pick
up
and
make
sure
that
you
complete
it
when
it's
up
for
preview
reach
out
to
your
mentors,
tell
them.
I
have
completed
working
on
the
specification
file.
Please
reveal
my
work
and
you
constantly
have
to
keep
responding
to
the
feedback
and
make
sure
that
your
tasks
get
merged
according
adding
to
the
deadline
that
you
have
set
for
yourself.
A
The
next
major
difference
is
networking
and
Community
corporate
organizations
are
not
really
Community
Driven,
so
you
don't
really
get
to
actively
interact
with
the
end
user
as
a
developer.
So
each
and
everything
is
conveyed
by
the
project
manager
and
also
the
networking
is
also
there
where
you
get
to
meet
and
to
get
to
know
your
colleagues.
However,
in
all
pencils,
it's
more
Community
Driven,
where
there's
a
whole
community
of
people
who
are
supporting
a
certain
tool,
so
you
also
get
to
network
with
the
whole
Community.
You
get
to
work
with
people
from
the
USA.