The end of a thing they say is better than the beginning, but my experience with HOTOSM was nothing short of good from the start to the end. On the 27th of May, I met with some of the amazing people I would be working with; Kshitij and Shola, my mentors, my co-intern, Azhar, Sam and Eden, her mentors. From the very first moment, I felt welcomed and although there was still that little feeling of doubt you get on your first day at anything, I was sure I would have a great time. Next, I met Petya, the most amazing and supportive coordinator.

It was my first time connecting and working with people from other parts of the world and it was a wonderful experience. Something interesting that hit me from the start was that almost everyone I spoke with was chatty. That was quite a new zone for me. I was used to just giving brief answers to describe myself or my day. But I saw that sharing made it an even friendlier environment. Petya once said, that “sharing is caring”, and I have truly learned that. Shared experiences help people bond and relate to you better. Speaking well instead of vaguely is something I have now adopted and getting better at.

Every Wednesday was a time to look forward to, as that was when I had weekly progress reviews with my mentors. I learned new things in interesting ways, laughed with them, and got to know about them. My mentors were so open to sharing and imparting their knowledge, it was a community that was truly invested in my growth in their ways. The time zone difference was interesting, my wonderful mentor, Kshitij who is almost 6 hours ahead of my time still always gave his Wednesday evenings to fix my task blockers and help me grow in my career. Although I could tell he enjoyed working, I knew that was a sacrifice he made every Wednesday and I am very grateful for that. Shola and I are in the same time zone but with different commitments, she still always showed up and reached out to ensure I was doing okay.

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Open source, open source. What is open-source software?

My dear mentor at HOTOSM, Kshitij explained this to me using a food I like, which is pasta and I would like to share it.

Open-source software is any software whose make-up(source code) is available for anyone to see and contribute. Like pasta, anyone can make it. You can make it however you like. You can add different ingredients to it which can be likened to adding features to open source software.

Being open-source doesn’t mean free. Open-source software is not synonymous with free software. Let’s hit it home with pasta. That anyone can make pasta doesn’t mean that pasta will be free. Cooking pasta costs me effort and resources, and I could charge for that. Likewise, it is the same for software, it could be open-source but not free.

If however, I have a restaurant where anyone can come in to help cook pasta to distribute freely to people, that is what you will call Free and Open-source pasta. This is mostly the case with most open-source projects Do a quick check. Check if your favourite applications are open-source and appreciate the community behind them.

How about proprietary software? Think about your favourite restaurant to eat pasta. I assume you don’t know how to make it taste like theirs, as you don’t have their recipe. You can’t walk in there to add ingredients to it while they cook because you are not a chef at the restaurant. That is the opposite of open-source. You can’t access the make-up(source code) and you can not add to it. Proprietary software can either be paid or free. Just as your favourite restaurant can either charge you for their pasta or give it to you for free (winks).

I hope this short explanation was worth your read. Let me know.

Hi, dear reader.

This is over a week-due post. I posted it on my blog on Dev.to and decided to share it here. Enjoy.

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The people I admire the most used to be healthcare professionals, like my eye doctor. Once, I spent a good time telling him how he was improving lives. I mean he helped me see better. That was noble to me.

Now you know my new set of favourite people? They are the ones who have chosen to dedicate their time to improving people’s lives with open software. They come in different forms: open-source contributor/volunteer, maintainer, committer (I just learnt of this, courtesy of Open Source Guide). These people come together with the shared goal to build and improve software whose source code is available to everyone. As opposed to private proprietary software.

It is with joy that I share that I will get my first experience contributing to open-source for the next 3 months. Through the Outreachy internship, I was selected to work with HOTOSM from May to August 2024.

Outreachy is a paid internship that supports underrepresented individuals in tech to contribute to open-source projects. And HOTOSM(Humanitarian OpenStreet Map), the organisation I will be working with uses open mapping for humanitarian purposes, providing map data to aid in disaster management, community development and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals.

I have had a great first week with HOTOSM. I have received warm welcomes from my mentors, fellow intern and our coordinator.

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