The Six Month Checkpoint:
I still cannot believe it. It was slightly more than 6 months ago, that i started contributing to Kubernetes.
I had joined Red Hat, approximately 2 and half years ago, working on container technologies, mostly with tools to help developers get an easy path into the world of containers, and of Kubernetes.
While i got a lot of experience with Kubernetes, via OpenShift, i never really got an opportunity to contribute to the project itself, except for a stray issue or two. I did get to interact with some amazing people who contributed to the project, such as Nikita and Josh Berkus.
However, slightly more than six months ago, i got the CNCF Diversity Scholarship. which allowed me to attend Kubecon + CloudNative Con EU. You can read about it in the blog i have linked, but the important thing here, is that is allowed me to kickstart my contributions to Kubernetes. The Kubernetes patch, which i got notwithstanding, pushed me even more :).
I joined up in the the Kubernetes Release Team, with Josh at its helm at that time, with Aishwarya Sundar, as the CI Signal Lead. I volunteered to shadow her, for the release cycle, and under her mentorship, i got introduced to the amazing community that was Kubernetes.
There was so much to learn, from the amazing people around me, especially my mentor, who did such an amazing job. The Kubernetes 1.11 release was on dot, thanks to the amazing work of such an awesome team of people. I did everything i could to help her, but i would consider my contributions very minor
With the end of the 1.11 release cycle, and a successful release, came the 1.12 release. With Aishwarya moving to shadow the Release Lead for the next cycle , Tim Pepper, another really awesome and talented guy, i took up the mantle of the CI Signal Lead. It was a heavy mantle to wear, and I was afraid I would not be able to do the justice that that the role deserved. But i was encouraged by everyone around me, something I especially love about this community.
It was a crazy ride, with some bumps towards the end, but I learnt so much. Trust me, its not an easy job, when you are wearing a mantle, but its so rewarding and so much fun. Did I mention I learnt a lot, oh yea, but here we go again :P
With another successful release, we are now entering into the next cycle for version 1.13. I am now entering into Bug Triage, hoping to learn a whole lot more, which I know I will.
Thus, we come to the end of my rant. My journey so far, has been amazing. I learnt so much, daresay more than I ever learnt through my day job. I have become a better engineer, a better programmer, and a better person from this experience.
I know how to deal with people better, can now write much better code (especially in golang - but in general as well), am now much better at keeping track of things (trust me that is something you will need to develop very quickly, especially when you are responsible for something very important for a project) and a whole host of other skills. that I do not want to list down and make this piece even bigger.
I know a lot of people think i joined this for the hype. But trust me nothing can be further from the truth. If any of you are simply getting into it for the hype, then no, stay far away. But if you want an amazing experience, crazy awesome community of people(like someone i know with an awesome beard ;)) and the ability to learn something new everyday, then please join me, in what i can only describe as a heaven of technology