It has been a few weeks since I started my first Outreachy internship at Wagtail, and here is an update on my experience so far.
The internship has been a whirlwind of learning opportunities and challenges that is very well organised - by both Outreachy and Wagtail.
Outreachy provides structure to the internship and supports interns via regular online meetups, where interns, mentors, and organisers share experiences and ideas on topics such as remote work, tech conferences, and job opportunities.
Wagtail ensures project-related support, including:
- initial onboarding sessions to introduce me to the code base
- daily stand-ups to track progress using a Kanban-style project board
- regular mentoring sessions to provide guidance and answer questions
- and even weekly retrospective - where we look back, reflect, and discover ways to improve future behavior and outcomes
Though feeling enthusiastic after being selected as an intern, I quickly realised that the internship will be much more challenging than the contribution period. The problems I’m dealing with are larger and more complex, and usually require a lot of research and debugging.
Over the past few weeks, I've had the opportunity to learn and work with so many diverse things, from the basics of Django and Python to open-source licenses, precision and recall and assessing testing tools, web components and shadow DOM, RTL language support, axe core. It is certainly not a full list and doesn't include web accessibility, basic JS, CSS & HTML which are prerequisites for this internship. It's an ocean of new information, and as soon as I feel comfortable with one topic, there are more waiting for me.
It's natural to feel overwhelmed and doubt yourself, but I've been lucky to have supportive and encouraging mentors who are guiding me through the process and providing help when I need it. On top of that, I'm doing a lot of research on my own using resources like StackOverflow and ChatGPT. While StackOverflow provides answers verified by the community, ChatGPT can provide more tailored explanations, though it's important to use it with caution as it may not always know the correct answer.
One of the biggest struggles during the first few weeks in a new role is accepting that the process of learning and growing involves asking lots of "silly" questions and making mistakes. It's normal to want to start adding value from day one, but it takes time to get up to speed.
If I could go back in time and give myself (and all future interns) some advice, it would be the following:
✅ Be prepared for impostor syndrome and be kind to yourself. Remember that mistakes and failures are inevitable, and they're actually a crucial part of the learning process
✅ Be curious and ask questions. You have so much to learn!
✅ Experiment with code, try new things, and see what works. Code is all about experimenting and problem-solving
✅ Don't give up: software development can be challenging, and you'll likely face some setbacks along the way. Don't let that discourage you. Keep pushing through and don't give up, even when things get tough
Despite the challenges, I'm so grateful for this opportunity to expand my skills and knowledge. I've already learned so much, and I'm excited to see where this internship takes me next. I know there will be more challenges ahead, but with the support of my mentors and my own determination, I'm confident that I can overcome them and continue to grow as a developer🚀
Stay tuned for more updates!
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