Helping, Learning, Opportunity During COVD-19
Tags: opensource, contributorswanted, leadership
Published: 2020-06-06 12:21:08






##Journey To Open Source Contributor

I got inspired to learn Kubernetes when I saw my colleagues at work get the Kubernetes Application Developer certification. I started learning by taking a Udemy course suggested by my colleagues. During my journey of learning, I found a learning partner named Srikanth Reddy. He was learning about Kubernetes and dev-ops tools and was very helpful. We enjoyed exchanging knowledge but unfortunately I lost my learning partner due to COVID-19. Srikanth traveled to his hometown to support his family, and his hometown has no internet. 
I continued following the documentation provided by Kubernetes and Udemy course. After completing the course, I wanted to set up an application using Kubernetes to have deeper and real-time knowledge. I started setting it up on a cloud platform like AWS and google cloud. I found myself getting stuck with multiple issues and reached out to the community members. They suggested that I should try working with Mini- Kube since it makes it easier to allow anyone to help based on their time and expertise. While using Mini-Kube I again got stuck on some new problems. The challenge with Mini- Kube was that it did not allow me to download the container present on the Docker hub because of network issues. The developer of Mini-Kube helped me by informing me that the community has launched a new driver which would solve the problem. During our conversation, we realized that this information was missing from the Kubernetes website. The developer asked me to help all the community members by updating the information on the website. I updated the information by creating a pull request. This helped me to unlock an achievement to become an open-source contributor! I asked the developer if he needed another help? He shared how I can help them and this allowed me to raise a second and third pull request and so on.
[AchievementUnlockedPostOnLinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:/6658831614866530304)
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##Journey To Help Conference Organizers

I came across Ajay Balamurugadas request for help from his Facebook feed. Several people offered to help and we all got an invitation for a zoom call to understand the goal and what help was needed. The request was to Tribal Qonf Conference by The Test Tribe by creating awareness using marketing and promotion techniques. After the call, Ajay created an excel-sheet with the open task and  contributions during week1 and 2 and so on. In the excel sheet, there were various works mentioned and among them I found a task to interview the conference speakers. I have never interviewed a conference speaker before, and this was a significant opportunity for me to learn. I asked Ajay if I could get that assignment and he assigned me a conference speaker to interview and also helped me by proof-reading. Mahesh Chikane and Geosley Andrades were also helping with proof-reading all communication to the various speakers. This was a significant experience for me as an individual and a great learning experience. _Be a part of the upcoming The Test Tribe Community virtual conference by_ [registering here](bit.ly/tribalqonf).
[AchievementUnlockedPostOnLinkedIn]
(https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6674934217148817408/)
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##Journey To Contribute To The Book

The opportunity to contribute to books during COVID-19 has been amazing.
1. Around the world with #80SoftwareTesters, Viv Richards coordinated with multiple testers to contribute. 
2. Software People … Work From Home, Stephan Kämper and Maik Nogens coordinated with multiple testers to contribute. 
3. 21stskills4testers, Emna Ayadi and Ard kramer coordinated with multiple testers to contribute.
 
These were my contribution during COVID-19. I have received help from Janet Georgy, Ajay, Jyothi Rangaiah, Lena Weiberg,Viv Richards to do proof-reading to enable me to contribute to the books. Deep gratitude to them!
[PublishedBookOnLeanPub](https://leanpub.com/AroundTheWorldWith80SoftwareTesters)
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##Opportunity To Help in the Workshop

I involved myself more in a conversation on women in testing slack channels about observability and Infra and DevOps. We had a good exchange of knowledge with various testers. Being involved in the conversation helped me get myself recognized as someone with keen aspirations to learn. I have received the help from Lisa Crispin about I got the opportunity to include myself by helping attendees in a  workshop hosted by TestingTimes. I am excited to join and learn from the observability experts.
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##Involved In Leadership Course

In one conversation with Emna Ayadi before COVID-19, I shared that I am looking to learn more about leadership. To my surprise, she remembered. During this period Emna helped me get an introduction with Michael Ruderman, who was looking to teach people about leadership. We all enjoyed a six-week course by Michael at Sfax Testing Community.
[AchievementUnlockedPostOnLinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/trishachetani_leadershipdevelopment-communication-managementdevelopment-activity-6662063423800643584-n9UL)


With all these, I have read books, connected with more people virtually and involved in some positive conversation, solved some coding challenges, learned about system design. Deep **gratitude** to all of them giving me this opportunity and feedback while helping me to become a better version of myself.