Hello everyone! After a month of contributions, my Outreachy 2020 summer internship has finally begun! I’m Aashna Jena, a Computer Science hailing from New Delhi, India. This summer, I’ve begun my remote internship with the Apache Software Foundation under my mentors Zoran Regvart and Maria Arias de Reyna Dominguez.
With this new beginning, there some a few things I’d like to remind myself and share with others. Things – or values – that I hope to strengthen within this period. The first is undoubtedly EFFORT. What matters most is whether I have put in my best effort into my work or not. Things may not always work out, everyone may not always be happy about what I do, but as far as *I* know I gave it my best, I’ll have no regrets, and that’s what I wish to live by. The second is ORIGINALITY. I always strive to bring originality in my work, because that’s what helps me grow. Wanting to create something original will force me to push my boundaries and amp up my creativity. Don’t you also feel proud of yourself when you make something from scratch, and it turns out to be better than you expected? The third and last is COMMUNICATION. I’m someone who is very conscious about living up to the expectations of those who matter to me. This could be an employer, a parent, a mentor, anyone. So it’s very important for me to communicate my problems, doubts, reasons for possible delays, potential ideas for project etc to my mentors. I know that “good communication” is well known to be the key behind good teamwork, but for me, someone who’s not a big fan of texting/calling, and not used to working remotely, I want to get over the hesitation I feel while reaching out to someone for help.
