I do not remember when I started to be part, but since a friend of mine shared me the open source philosophy and movement I started to be part and collaborate in different ways. Nowadays I am not an active collaborator for any initiative but I always try to help when is possible. But this post is not about how I started whit the open source at least not at all.
In June 2021 I read a tweet from a friend of mine and I figured out two things. First one, there are an organization called Data Umbrella (DU aims to create inclusive spaces and share technology knowledge), secondly there was a sprint of Scikit-learn focused in Latin America. This post will be about the second topic. Finally I decided to register to the Data Umbrella: 2021 Latin America scikit-learn open source sprint. This not be the first time that I’m involve in this kind of event but the first time ever that I contribute to an important and big library such as scikit-learn.
In a general view the event was a great experience to interact and meet to core library developers as well as other people in LatAm. The organization was neat, they have a lot of document and pre work to put your hand on in the event day. Also you have your partner already asigned and a curated list of issue to tackle. Data Umbrella organization tackle very well the language barrier and that was a plus. All the people involve could gave their part to collaborate in the library. You do not need to be super smart or an expert in machine learning to help. All of these points allowed to create an atmosphere in where all of the participant with their time and capacities can bring the best of them and generate a postive impact.
Although we do not finished our issue (our PR is open yet) I will participate in this kind of event again. Moreover I’m thinking in finish the pending requested changes and merge the results.
This kind of events give us the opportunity to learn something new, expand our knowledge in different areas and finally help to a library that the most of us use in our daily basis.
If you want to know more about the event and their statistics check this amazing post sprint report.