DEV Community: Geoffrey Logovi

What I learnt during the Tublian Open Source Internship

Geoffrey Logovi — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 17:49:13 +0000

Introduction

Hi, welcome and I'm glad you're here. I will share things I learned during my open-source internship in this article. Back in December 2023, I applied to join Tublian four (04) weeks internship, and guess what, I got in; it was a big pleasure joining the programme. Let's discover from my application to acceptance and my day-to-day journey as intern.

What is Tublian

Tublian is an open-source platform that serves as a marketplace for anyone in the technology industry based on the credibility of their activities (Streetcred). Tublian aims to solve this issue. Their mission centers around open source, providing unparalleled opportunities for those striving to excel in the technology industry. Tublian has identified a problem with developer recruitment: the requirement for a certain number of years of experience. Tublian aims to address this issue. Open source offers transparency, accessibility, and the power of collaboration.

Tublians goal has always been to help developers to build in public. Because building in public and contributing to Open Source is one of the best ways to gain experience & build an amazing career in tech. Nilanja Founder Tublian

Application and how I know about it

I heard about the internship programme in September 2023 from one of my friends (Wachiou BOURAMA - Wasiu), he was very excited to share the opportunity and described very well the process, once completed you get hired and get paid. At that time I was busy with stuff and learning, so I decided to wait for the next cohort. On the 12th of December, I applied and received my application review response.

I do love what Nilanjan Raychaudhuri is doing, giving a huge opportunity to everyone to learn, grow, and get experience at the same time grow the open source community. Contributing to open source projects is not only by coding, and with this chance to collaborate, network, and improve skills even more, learn to code if you want to.

Acceptance in the programme

Afterward, I received the mail saying I got in, and I experienced a strong sense of belonging and felt compelled to contribute to open source projects, which I have been doing for some time.

Tublian AI Copilot

To make open source accessible and comprehensive manner to everyone, Tublian developed the ultimate tool that assists you in finding the perfect project and guides you through the contribution phase step by step in activities you will do to complete specific issues. Tublian AI Copilot helps you discover the project based on your interest and skills defined upon your profile, gives you tips on how to contribute, and helps you find a partner to collaborate on the issue or project.

It helps me find my projects and understand the project, then contribute to it.

My day-to-day journey

Well, now you know how I got accepted into the programme, let's dive into my journey activities and challenges that I encountered.

I started my journey by learning everything open source, learnt about Git and GitHub, what is open source, through community platforms such as Digital Ocean, Open source Initiative, etc. What is nice about the internship is once you join, you have a kind of roadmap tailored to give you the essential skills needed, and each week you have learning resources and at least one contribution to make.

So, contributing to some projects is kind of easy, anything related to non-technical (such as Technical Writing, Documentation, API & Technical Documentation, Translation, Review, Help, Guide, etc). Hence, I contributed to two projects to validate my two weeks and started struggling to find a project related to me. But hopefully, I have the community and like-minded people I can ask questions and ask for help, mentors, community members, and also fellow interns. Especially Harlimat - Lymah :), thank you for the invaluable help.

Lastly, I've worked on the Million.js project improving the experience and accessibility, I contributed to the translation of a few pages where the foundation got merged.

I'm really glad it got merged, and others as well will benefit from learning more about the Million project.

Takeaways and Advices

My involvement in the open source realm so far has led me to discover numerous opportunities and develop my communication, technical writing, public speaking, technical presentation, and leadership skills. I have had the chance to network with open-source experts and feel a deep sense of satisfaction that my contribution is benefiting many people and impacting their lives. I am grateful for this opportunity.

Communication and resilience are crucial for personal growth. Curiosity and research are key to improving oneself.
Anyone can contribute to open source projects in various ways. To get started, familiarize yourself with the project and find your domain of interest.
Remember your motivation for contributing and don't hesitate to seek help.
Start small and gradually tackle bigger issues. Ask questions and be patient when learning.
Be open and kind. Give back to the community by helping others and getting involved in organizational activities.
Make an impact through open source software by sharing and speaking at conferences, etc.

Conclusion

My experience during the Tublian Open Source Internship was transformative. I gained valuable insights into open-source software development, gained technical skills, especially learning about Python, and developed an appreciation for collaboration and community-driven initiatives.

Learn more about open source by following my content and reading the comprehensive guide I contributed to at OpenSauced : Intro to Open source.

Connect with me on GitHub. I want to learn about your experience and takeaways, kindly like and post your thoughts in the comment section, see you in a future article.

Is Developer Relations your new career path to get into tech?

Geoffrey Logovi — Tue, 16 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Opening Hook

Hey readers, welcome to 2024, a happy new year filled with endless opportunities and possibilities. Bref; Let's return to the subject: Developer Relations(DevRel).

I will keep it simple and stupid (KISS), to respect the do not repeat myself (DRY). In 2023, I started digging into the DevRel domain and I wrote about it: What is Developer Relations, I'm inviting you to read it, and let's start from there if it suits you as a career path.

"Developer Relations (DevRel) is a strategic approach to improving business-to-business (B2B) communications between a software companys internal programmers and the external programmers who will be using the companys open APIs" Margaret Rouse. DevRel is an interdisciplinary role that sits at the intersection of product, engineering, and marketing.

If you are interested in pursuing a career in DevRel, it is important to have the following skills:

Communication skills,
Public speaking,
Networking skills,
Technical skills (Coding),
and Community Building.

If you have experience building a community or organization, please share it. This could be from college, open source projects, online communities, or any other relevant experience.

DevRels should have strong content creation skills, including the ability to create talks, YouTube videos, tweets, blog posts, and documentation/API documentation. If you do not have any existing content, we recommend creating some.

It is worth noting that the daily responsibilities of a DevRel professional can vary significantly between companies. Additionally, since DevRel is often integrated into other departments such as product or marketing, it may not have a distinct career path. However, some companies have implemented career ladders specifically for DevRel.

Outro

I hope this helps you understand the ins and outs of a Developer Relations Engineer, and it will guide you to an amazing career and even more shape your way into tech.

Thank you for reading me, please do like, comment, and share; give me a follow on GitHub, Twitter, and let's connect on LinkedIn.

Source: DevRel career insights from 7 industry leaders

Docsify, a simple and lightweight documentation site generator

Geoffrey Logovi — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 17:39:47 +0000

Introduction

In the realm of open-source, documentation has a crucial role. Documentation boosts user adoption and fosters collaboration. That's why we're excited to share our exploration of Docsify. Docsify is a simple and lightweight documentation site generator. In this article, we are going to explore docsify.

What is Docsify ?

Docsify is a documentation site generator that is simple, lightweight, and easy to use. It converts Markdown files into a static website with no build process required. This makes it a great choice for creating documentation. Also for open source projects, personal websites, and more. It helps create beautiful, responsive, and customizable documentation websites with ease.

Why using Docsify ?

Markdown Compatibility: Docsify supports Markdown. This allows you to write documentation using a simple and familiar syntax. Making it accessible for all team members, including non-technical folks.
Single-Page Application (SPA): Docsify creates a single-page application for your documentation. There are no page reloads, resulting in a smooth and fast user experience.
Customizable Themes: Various themes, and you can also create your own. It allows you to make your documentation stand out.
Automatic Sidebar and Navigation: It generates navigation menus and a sidebar. This by based on your documentation structure. It saves time and ensures the documentation organization.
Full-Text Search: A key feature of Docsify is its built-in full-text search functionality. Users can find what they're looking for. It improves the usability of the documentation.

Demonstration

Installation of Docsify

To install Docsify, you can use the following command, make sure you have Node.js installed. If not, install Node.js. This command will install Docsify globally, so you can use it from anywhere on your system.

Create a new folder and open it in Visual Studio Code. Type the following command

npm i docsify-cli -g

Initialization and deployment

To deploy Docsify, you can use GitHub Pages, or any other tool (e.g. Vercel, Netlify etc). To do this, you will need to create a new folder. Initialize it with Docsify by running the following command:

docsify init

If you want to write your documentation in a specific folder, like docs for example, run:

docsify init ./docs

This will create a new index.html file indocs. You can edit this file to configure your Docsify documentation.

Here is a minimalistic configuration of the index.html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <title>Ducumentation OSS Culture</title>
  <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge,chrome=1" />
  <meta name="description" content="Description">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, minimum-scale=1.0">
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="//cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/docsify@4/lib/themes/vue.css">
</head>
<body>
  <div id="app"></div>
  <script>
    window.$docsify = {
        themeColor: "#fefefefe",
        name: "OSS Culture",
        repo: "geoffreylgv/oss-culture",
        relativePath: true,
        subMaxLevel: 3,
        search: "auto",
      };
  </script>
  <!-- Docsify v4 -->
  <script src="//cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/docsify@4"></script>
</body>
</html>

Once you have configured your Docsify documentation, type the following command to deploy.

docsify serve docs

This will deploy your documentation, go to the browser and type localhost:3000 to preview.

Conclusion

Docsify is a great documentation site generator. Great for open source projects and personal websites, even to showcase workshop presentations. It is simple, lightweight, and easy to use. Remember, clear and concise documentation bridges your project with its users and contributors. Adhere to metrics and units and remove non-essential fillers. In open source, a well-documented project thrives. Docsify is a valuable asset on this journey.

How I learned about accessibility through open source contribution

Geoffrey Logovi — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 09:26:59 +0000

Introduction

Hola, welcome to this blog post. Through my contribution to the open source project, I learned about accessibility. Let's talk about it in this post.

My experience with Accessibility

Accessibility is how any person can use or enjoy a website, system, or app. Improving accessibility helps everyone, not only people with disabilities. It makes things easier to use, improves performance, and reaches more people.

I found out about accessibility from Open Sauced, This platform helps contributors track and display their contributions to open source projects. Open Sauced offers a course called Intro to Open Source. In this course, you will learn about open source and how to contribute to open source projects. The course was available in English. It's well-designed and well-structured for everyone. Even for beginners and experienced contributors.

I wondered about my French fellows. Are they able to access the same things? I checked the issue's tab. Christine Belzie (@cbid2) and Antonio Pedro were translating the course into Portuguese (Brazil). Afterward, I said I wanted to translate it into French to make it easier for people to understand. It was so nice how the contributors received me, working alongside Christine.

This course is for everyone. It explains Harlimat (@lymah)'s type of contribution to open source in a clear way. The website is available in English, French, and Portuguese-Brazil. We will add more languages later.

I found the website very accessible. I could navigate through different sections and menus using the sidebar. I could also see and hear the information using the text-to-speech. I enjoyed contributing and using it, a handy course I recommend.

Conclusion

This experience taught me a lot about accessibility and how to apply it in practice. I learned how to use various tools and techniques to make products more accessible to people. I learned to work with other developers and contribute to open source projects. Shout out to the maintainers of open sauced. If you want to contribute to open source, start by taking the open sauced intro course. Visit the Insights website. Make an account. Show off your contributions and resume.

In future blog posts, we'll explore all about accessibility. Thank you for reading, do not forget to leave a comment, like, and share.

Why companies should have a devrel team?

Geoffrey Logovi — Mon, 25 Sep 2023 19:24:34 +0000

Introduction

Hola, welcome back to this series where we navigate the developer relations (DevRel) world. In the previous one, we talked about DevRel and what it's about. As you noticed, developers don't like to stress themselves, they want to feel like they are part of the community, and there comes a developer relations role. Because no one understands developers more than developers themselves. They play a vital role in the success of your company.

Importance of developer relations

Understanding what developers want will help meet their needs, so, devrel engineer will be going to champion developers and their needs within your organization. Developers are curious, have critical thinking, are innovators, and are always learning. Let's highlight key thematic that make developer relations important

Brand impact and awareness
Fostering community
Customer satisfaction and support deflection
Market Insights

The quote below summarizes why it's really important and the key definition of a developer relations engineer.

Conclusion

Devrel is not only beneficial for the company, but also for the developers, who can enjoy a better product experience, learn new skills, solve problems, share ideas, network with peers, and have fun. Devrel is a win-win situation for both parties. From this note, we learned about the importance of having a developer relations team. There are a bunch of reasons that point out the real importance, as we are going, we'll learn more about the developer relations engineer's day-to-day work and personas.

We are almost on day four, a combination of day three, shout out to you all who are reading this note, open for feedback, and if you want to reach out to me, you can find me on X (Twitter) or Linkedin.

What is Developer Relations

Geoffrey Logovi — Sat, 23 Sep 2023 19:58:05 +0000

Introduction

Welcome to this series, where I'm going to take you into the world of Developer Relations. It's not a hidden thing, you've heard the word "developer relations" a few times now and wondered what it's all about, or you already have an idea about it; let's go through the definition of developer relations and demystify the first impression people have.

What is developer relations (DevRel)

DevRel stands for Developer Relations, as you can see, it is an umbrella term that covers the strategies and tactics for building and nurturing a community of mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and developers. It means bridging the gap between the company he is representing and the developers community he is representing as well. See it like this, DevRel engineer is the API (Application Programming Interface) collecting data from the Backend (Company) and connecting them to the Frontend (Developer's community) and vice versa.

A DevRel program may include a framework built around some or all of the following:

Developer marketing: Outreach and engagement activities to build awareness and convert developers to use a product.
Developer Education: Product documentation and educational resources to facilitate learning and build affinity with a product and community.
Developer Experience (DX): Resources such as a developer portal, product, and documentation to activate the developer with the least amount of friction.
Developer Success: Activities to nurture and retain developers as they build and scale with a product.
Community Management: Nurturing a community to maintain a sustainable program.

What does a DevRel Engineer

DevRel engineers generally work closely with engineering teams to understand developers' needs, provide them with useful resources (such as working on the documentation, code samples, tutorials, and discussion forums), and help them solve any problems they may encounter. They can also organize community events, such as hackathons, conferences, and meetups, to bring developers together and encourage collaboration. In the same way, attend events to promote the company's products.

DevRel's ultimate goal is to build a community of enthusiastic, who can help use, and promote the company's products or services and provide valuable feedback to improve products. This can help strengthen the company's reputation as a key player in the technology industry and stimulate business growth.

Conclusion

In this article, you learned about developer relations, what it stands for, what a developer relations engineer does, and its key goals. As the technology landscape continues to evolve, Developer Relations is an indispensable function that persistently serves as the pivot between technology innovators and end users. In the next one, we will learn why it's important to have a developer relations engineer team.

Thank you for reading me so far, this is a combination of days 1 and 2. Feel free to comment, like, follow me on X (twitter), or connect with me on Linkedin, available for feedback.