Kunal, a junior at Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Technology became the recipient of the Linux Foundation Training Addition program that provides advanced open source training to its lovers around the world. Demonstrating his passion for technology, Kunal was also the recipient of the Google Summer of Code.
Read on to know more about him and his experience!
Key takeaways of the Interview:
- About Kunal Kushwaha
- Describing the application process
- Why was Kunal selected?
- Failures or rejections faced
- Major accomplishments
- Words of advice for budding scholars
Interview
1. Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I am a Full Stack Developer & have worked with various tech stacks such as DevOps, Data Science, Cloud & Web Development.
I believe that diversity in the workplace and participation of people hailing from different cultures is necessary and instrumental for the growth of the IT sector. It exposes one to the multitude of values and principles that people from varying ethnicities hold. Meeting people from around the world teaches one to respect opposing perspectives and opinions, and ingrains in them respect for their peers. I have been working on various open-source projects, and getting involved in communities has helped me a lot in growing as a developer. I’m deeply passionate about software development & innovations aiming to take my projects forward.
2. Can you walk us through your application process?
I applied it on the website (https://www.linuxfoundation.org/about/diversity-inclusiveness/lift-scholarships/) for the Software Developer Do-Gooder category. I filled the application form that consisted of information about my experiences with the community, and questions regarding how getting this scholarship would help me achieve my goals.
3. Why do you think you were selected?
My past open-source experience contributed to this and I mentioned how getting this scholarship would help me contribute to the projects I am passionate about.
4. Any failures or rejections you had to face?
I believe that failures come with a learning opportunity. The borderline is what you consider as a failure. For someone, working on an Open Source project & not getting their PR merged might make them feel bad, but for someone else, they would make the most out of what they have learned during their work on the issue. Similarly, for such programs, if one does not get selected, that is okay. Opportunities are everywhere and the developer and open source community are always there to help you.
5. What are a few of your major accomplishments?
Regarding my past experiences, I am Google Summer of Code’20 & Google Code’19 Mentor with Red Hat & a Google Summer of Code’19 student where I worked on projects such as Kubernetes Java client, Quarks, etc. I am also a part of the inaugural class of MLH Fellows (powered by GitHub & Facebook) where I contributed to projects like Jest by Facebook. I also volunteer at a community (codecau.se/yt) where I started as an instructor, & have 4000+ students learning with us in just under 2 months.
6. Any advice you would like to give our readers?
Keep learning new things and explore until you find your passion. I believe in the pi-shape learning model. As for the scholarship application, just be genuine and focus on conveying how the scholarship will help you in your career.
Just as Kunal hopes to influence people with his love for open-source projects through scholarships, we hope that this article inspires you to pursue your passion too. Good luck!
Great blog