Recently, after internal discussions, the Apache Software Foundation invited several PMC Members from the Apache SeaTunnel project to become ASF Members—one of the highest honors within the foundation. Among them is Wang Hailin.
Congratulations to @wang Hailin on becoming an ASF Member! As a key contributor to the SeaTunnel community, this recognition is not only a personal milestone, but also a moment of pride for the entire community.
Over the years, he has remained deeply involved in the community: from refining documentation to improving code, from participating in technical discussions to helping newcomers. His contributions can be seen across almost every corner of the project. Beyond SeaTunnel, he has also been actively contributing to multiple ASF projects, consistently practicing the Apache Way advocated by the foundation. It is this steady, long-term dedication that has led to this important recognition.
To mark the occasion, the community conducted an in-depth interview with him. This article is structured into five sections—personal background, open-source journey, the path to ASF Member, SeaTunnel community development, and open-source culture—to give a closer look at his growth, his experiences in open source, and the passion and persistence behind his contributions.
Personal Background & Open Source Journey
Q1: Could you briefly introduce yourself and how you got into big data and open source?
A: Hey guys, I’m Wang Hailin, and my GitHub ID is hailin0. I mainly work on data infrastructure, with a focus on data integration, data synchronization, and data platforms.
Outside of work, I enjoy engaging with open-source communities—sharing practical experience and exchanging ideas around data platforms and integration technologies.
My entry into big data and open source is closely tied to my earlier work experience. While working on systems like data development platforms and performance monitoring, I frequently dealt with data ingestion and synchronization challenges, which required exploring various data integration tools.
That’s when I came across SeaTunnel. What stood out to me was its extensible architecture—it supports a wide range of data sources and complex synchronization scenarios, making it well-suited for enterprise use. This sparked my interest, and I gradually started contributing to the community. Over time, through continuous contributions and discussions, I became one of the core contributors.
Q2: When did you start contributing to SeaTunnel, and what was the trigger?
A: It started from a practical need at work. At the time, I was building a data platform and needed a reliable data integration tool. During that evaluation process, I discovered SeaTunnel.
Back then, the project wasn’t as mature as it is today, but its architecture left a strong impression on me—especially the plugin-based Connector system and the flexible data synchronization model.
I began using SeaTunnel in real-world scenarios, and gradually got involved in contributing. Starting with small fixes and bug patches, I later participated in more feature development and community discussions, eventually becoming a long-term contributor.
Q3: What key areas or features have you contributed to in SeaTunnel?
A: My contributions mainly fall into a few areas.
Early on, I worked on Connector development and improvements. For a data integration platform, the Connector ecosystem is fundamental—it determines which data sources and systems the platform can connect to.
As I became more involved, I also contributed to framework-level and infrastructure work, such as improving the E2E testing system and refining the logging framework to make the project more robust and standardized.
Later, as I gained a deeper understanding of the synchronization engine, I started working on CDC (Change Data Capture) capabilities, including CDC read/write and DDL synchronization. In real production environments, schema changes (DDL) are unavoidable. If a system cannot handle schema evolution properly, data pipelines can easily break.
Overall, these efforts are driven by a single goal: to make SeaTunnel not just a data synchronization tool, but a reliable data integration infrastructure for enterprise environments.
Open Source Contributions & Growth
Q4: Which contribution or experience left the deepest impression on you?
A: One experience that stands out is working on DDL support in CDC scenarios.
At first glance, DDL may seem like a simple SQL parsing problem. But in a data synchronization system, it must flow correctly through the entire pipeline: from Source capturing the event, to passing it through the data stream, to executing schema changes on the Sink.
The real challenge lies in maintaining consistency between DDL and data changes. In practice, synchronization jobs run concurrently across multiple nodes, so DDL events must maintain a consistent order throughout the distributed pipeline.
This requires tight integration with state management mechanisms like Checkpoint and Savepoint, ensuring that after recovery or restart, DDL and data events remain in the correct order.
When you combine all these factors, DDL handling becomes a system-level challenge involving distributed data flow, state consistency, and multi-system compatibility.
This work took quite a long time and involved extensive discussions with other contributors. It’s one of the more complex aspects of many data synchronization systems, and we aimed to make SeaTunnel more reliable for enterprise real-time scenarios.
Q5: What do you think is the most important skill in open source collaboration?
A: I would say communication and collaboration are critical.
Technical skills are the foundation, but many decisions in open source are made through discussion and consensus. Being able to clearly express your ideas, understand others’ perspectives, and move toward agreement is essential.
Another important factor is patience and long-term commitment. Open source is not a short-term effort—it requires sustained involvement.
Q6: What advice would you give to newcomers in open source?
A: Start small. For example:
- Fix a bug
- Improve documentation
- Submit a small feature enhancement
This helps you get familiar with the codebase and development workflow.
Also, participate in discussions. Even asking questions or joining simple conversations helps you understand the project’s design.
Open source is a long journey—you don’t need to aim for big features at the beginning. What matters more is understanding the architecture, not just the code.
Many core contributors grow over years—from users to contributors, and eventually to maintainers.
For me, the biggest gain from open source is not a specific piece of code, but the opportunity to collaborate with developers from different companies and backgrounds. That experience is incredibly valuable.
Becoming an ASF Member
Q7: What was your first reaction when you were invited to become an ASF Member?
A: I was surprised and very grateful.
ASF Membership is not something you apply for—it comes through nomination and voting by existing members. So it represents recognition from the community for long-term contributions.
Q8: How closely is this achievement tied to your work in SeaTunnel?
A: Very closely.
The SeaTunnel community gave me many opportunities to grow—from contributing code to participating in community governance. Through this process, I gradually learned how Apache communities operate.
It’s not just about technical contributions, but also collaboration and governance, which are all important factors in becoming an ASF Member.
Q9: What does becoming an ASF Member mean to you?
A: To me, it represents responsibility.
It’s not only recognition of past contributions, but also a commitment to continue contributing to the Apache community—helping projects grow, supporting new projects entering the ecosystem, and promoting open-source culture.
Q10: How do you see the importance of the Apache Way?
A: The Apache community emphasizes “Community Over Code.”
A successful project needs not only strong technology, but also a healthy community, including:
- Open and transparent decision-making
- Consensus-driven governance
- Encouraging participation from diverse contributors
- Continuously welcoming new contributors
These are key reasons why Apache projects can succeed in the long run.
SeaTunnel Community Development
Q11: What are the key milestones in SeaTunnel’s growth?
A: Several milestones stand out:
- Entering the Apache Incubator
- Unifying APIs and introducing the Zeta engine
- Graduating as a Top-Level Project (TLP)
- Rapid iteration in the 2.3.x series with increasing stability
SeaTunnel was open-sourced in 2017, entered the Apache Incubator in 2021, and became a TLP in 2023. This journey reflects not only technical evolution but also the maturation of community governance.
Q12: How do you see SeaTunnel’s positioning in data integration?
A: In recent years, the demand for efficient data movement has grown significantly, and synchronization scenarios have become more complex.
SeaTunnel aims to be a high-performance, extensible platform that supports diverse data integration needs across different use cases.
It already supports multiple data sources, batch processing, real-time synchronization, and CDC.
Looking ahead, I believe it will continue to evolve in areas such as:
- Expanding the connector ecosystem
- Strengthening data transformation capabilities
- Improving fault handling
- Enhancing ecosystem integration
Open Source Culture & Personal Growth
Q13: How has open source influenced your career?
A: It has influenced me in two major ways.
First, it broadened my technical perspective. In company projects, decisions are often driven by specific business needs. In open source, designs must work across different use cases, systems, and organizations. This leads to a more comprehensive understanding of system design.
Second, it deepened my understanding of software engineering and collaboration. In open source, a feature goes through idea proposal, design discussion, review, and iteration before merging. This process emphasizes design and communication, not just coding.
Working with developers from different countries and backgrounds also brings fresh perspectives.
For me, the biggest gain is the opportunity to collaborate in an open environment and solve problems with talented engineers.
Q14: How would you summarize the spirit of open source in one sentence?
A: Based on my experience, the most valuable aspect of open source is that it provides a space for long-term participation and growth.
I started as a user, using tools to solve problems. Then I began contributing small fixes, and gradually got involved in feature development and core system design.
Looking back, it’s a journey from user → contributor → maintainer.
In a company, knowledge often stays within a team. In open source, your work can be seen, used, and improved by many others. As the project grows, so do the people involved.
So if I had to summarize it in one sentence:
Open source is not just about sharing code—it’s about growing together with the community.
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