This blog is not really technical.
So, the release happened, and also not during a final, so I got to witness it. Its not perfect yet, but fixes will happen, and its not really what this blog is about.
Take OSD700
To get straight to the point. If you, dear reader, happened to stumble here cause you're still trying to decide if you should take this course or not. Short answer is "just take it".
Here's my metaphor of OSD700. You come in, you're thrust with a bunch of people, but no worries, you'll get to know them soon enough cause these are your co-parents for the next few months. "Telescope", or whichever project for your class, is now your new adopted child, imperfect, but beautiful in its own way. It's your job to take care of it, and your responsibility to make sure it stays alive and healthy. Obviously, as a kid, Telescope is very fragile and needs a lot of attention, and if you ever feed it anything bad, be sure to be prepared for all the tantrums that follows.
This course is like no other. All throughout the semester there is this sense of comradeship. You're all in this together, you don't have to worry about keeping your code away from one another, and its more about sharing your research and experiences with each other. This gets stuff done more efficiently, and you'll never have to feel like you're alone.
Fair warning though. A team can only carry you so far. You, yourself, will have to break out of your comfort zone and get passed that initial feeling of inconfidence and awkwardness of reaching out for help. And, even though there might always be some people who are seemingly on a whole other level, in the end, all that matters is how much you've learned and have grown.
My Change
At the beginning of the semester I was utterly clueless to what "Telescope" is, and immensely frightened. Before the grades came out I had thought I had flunked OSD600, and me coming back for more in 700 just felt like going for something way out of my league. Not to mention all the confusion and all these questions in my head. Like, what in the world was "Docker", or "Nginx", or "Redis", or "Traefik", or "Elasticsearch"? What about all these microservices and what do they do, and how do they even work with each other? And, whoa, there's also something called a "Satellite"?
But now after 14 weeks of experimenting and sorting out the threads, I've come out a whole new person. I know the insides and out of the Search service, made friends with Jest, and became intimate with Elasticsearch on a level I would never have imagined. Along the way I became familiar with the nuts and bolts of our back-end (Parser), and got comfortable in working with tools like Docker, Nginx, Redis, and Traefik. I even poked a bit in Satellite, and had a taste of working with the front-end. There was also that time when I was Sheriff... I might not have enjoyed it as much as others, but it was a different experience and it kept me on my toes. Not to mention the large amounts and variety of PRs that I had a chance to take a look at and learn from.
Undoubtedly, I was lucky to get to work with a huge group of talented people. You can read all their blogs on Telescope itself, or you can check them out selectively on the repo wiki. We also got a lot of support from alumni, and of course the Prof (humphd) himself. To this day I am still amazed how he can still keep on top of things with so much going on.
Conclusion
For me, working on Telescope is a roller coaster of emotions. Sometimes its fun, then the next second, tortuous. Finishing the code could be exhilarating, but not breaking through could be agonizing. Sometimes I'd look forward to the next issues to work on, but there are also times when I want to pretend the project doesn't exist. Undoubtedly, the scale definitely tips more towards the positive side. Plus, the amount of fluidity and uncertainty in open source projects like these is just another aspect to the uniqueness of this course.
I'll probably stick around especially for Elasticsearch related things, but I might try dip my toes in other areas without the pressure of trying to get things done for the next release.
All in all, its the best course that Seneca could ever offer, and I'm glad I stuck with it. Even you, dear reader, student or not, Telescope is always there with open arms. Consider contributing today!
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