Table of content
- Introduction
- My blogposts
- Skills growth
- Mentor help
- Opportunities
- Continuing in my organization
- Informal chat
- Boosting my confidence
- Progress on my project
- Conclusion
Introduction
Outreachy has been a rewarding opportunity for me. It was such an honor working as an intern at Mboalab Yaounde, Cameroon.
My blogposts
This internship has helped me and documenting most of it is my personal inspiration. We have it as tradition to update ourselves weekly by writing blogposts such as"
- Who I am
- My struggles during the internship period,
- Something new I came across
- An overview of my project and now,
- My Outreachy internship wrap-up.
Skills-growth
Outreachy has helped me grow, especially in my design skills. I have been an academic research assistant for a while, doing data analysis using SPSS software for final year students too. Being a graphic designer, I Had just started struggling with UIUX designing, and this internship improved this skill alongside my technical writing, project management and great interpersonal skills in a geometric way.
Mentor help
My mentor has been with me every step of the way during this internship. Creating time from his schedule and giving me all I need to scaleup during this internship. We have had weekly standups, and the chat forums such as WhatsApp, Slack and Zulip were always available to ask for help. He has shared links to countless opportunities on our WhatsApp chat forum which is the most active during this internship. He shared opportunities in open source such as internships, study programs, conferences, jobs etc. Most of what he shared, I forward them to my Google Developers Group, Bamenda, and Women Techmakers Bambili, WhatsApp groups for which I am a co-organizer at both communities. These opportunities has helped many community members.
Opportunities
I am super grateful to my mentor for always sharing, and because of that, I got into Open Life Science (OLS-7) internship for which I am working on a global network for tech careers to reduce the confusion and mental health of struggling in the tech field. This platform will enable everyone find their way through the tech field with ease either with their academic qualifications such as a bachelor, masters degree or their natural skills such as great communication, great interpersonal skills, organizational skills etc.
Through this internship, i got to know about other programs such as Google summer of code, Google summer of docs, Summer of bitcoin, linux foundation, and a host of others which I will share and exploit. Outreachy has a job stream on zulip and an opportunities page.
I will be mentoring in Mboalab under Outreachy on a global network for hospitals, so information on available services and illnesses can be shared, thus referrals won't be as complicated given each medical personnel and patient will know exactly which hospital offers which service and where. This will intend reduce mortality rate worldwide, and improve the health system technologically.
Continuing in my organization
I discussed with my mentor on how to continue contributing to the growth of Mboalab, which also doubles as a Higher Institute of Learning (University) now. I intend to visit and get to know more about the organization physically in some weeks ahead. I have been sharing about my Outreachy journey at events organized by GDSC Bamenda, GDG/WTM Bambili, GDG/WTM Bamenda. On one, I was a panelist at WTM Bambili and shared my experience.
I am looking forward to sharing my Outreachy experience during other events such as international women's day.
Informal chat
Outreachy has helped discovered so many things especially using markdown for writing. I also got to know about informal conversations with people you admire and how to approach them.
On an internship task of having an informal communication, I reached out to @kolokodess about being a member of SCA, and she replied my request. I admire the organization and all the opportunities I come across on her slack channel. Hopefully, we get a chapter in Bamenda as many young women are thriving in Tech from that community.
Boosting my confidence
Outreachy has boost up my confidence in many ways. I was usually scared of writing, thinking i can only write if it was a WoW article, but the blogposts during this internship is a reminder that every moment is a wow moment and deserves to be documented. I got to make friends, and got introduced to Google cloud games, which I love doing, and currently, the arcade is making it interesting for me, with 9+ badges as seen on my Google cloud arcade game profile.
Progress on my project
The project is to develop a digital stethoscope. I was the UIUX intern and with all the positive criticism from my mentor and fellow interns, we finished the UIUX of the stethoscope application as seen on the design. The part I did not complete was to create content for the application. These articles were in relation to user guide, and some health tips. Given the development is still in progress, I did not finish writing the articles.
The next step to completing this project will be to finish the development and articles of this project.
Conclusion
I have updated my LinkedIn profile as an Outreachy intern. Thank you Outreachy organizers, my mentor and fellow interns (or colleagues) for an amazing 3 months learning experience.
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