Selected as a contributor for GirlScript Summer of Code 2023: three months of building in the open, with maintainers and contributors who take the work seriously.
Into the Open
GSSoC is one of the larger open-source programs of the year, and it runs for three months. That length is the point: enough time to get past the easy first pull request and into the work I actually enjoy, real problems on real projects.
My plan going in was simple. Show up, take the harder issues instead of the easy ones, and leave every project a little better than I found it. Open source rewards the people who keep turning up, and GSSoC gave me a reason to keep turning up on purpose.
The best part was the people around it. Maintainers who review carefully instead of just approving whatever you send, and contributors who pass on what they learn, are why I keep coming back to open source.