Accepted Interns Handbook

It is always nice to introduce yourself to the Fedora community. Introduce yourself as the project intern on Fedora Discussion, Fedora Chat, and the appropriate mailing lists.

Not sure how to introduce yourself? Here is a good place to start:

Open source has a very unique culture, that is different from a more corporate structure that many interns often expect. You can talk to your mentor to learn the norms and expectations of the open-source community to help you acclimatize better, including how to respectfully contribute to discussions, submit work, and respect the community guidelines. Familiarizing yourself with the ways to receive and provide constructive feedback within your project team and the wider community is also an essential skill for both personal and professional growth.

There are some tools that we often use in Fedora for account management, documentation, project management, and communication. In a remote setup like this, we rely on these tools a lot, so it is important that you familiarize yourself with these tools. You can find a comprehensive documentation here.

Mentorship is a key ingredient for a successful internship. Think of your mentor as your personal guide in the community: someone who’s been there, done that, and probably got a T-Shirt for it. Here’s how to make the most of it:

Networking is an important part of career growth. We encourage you to engage with the broader Fedora community through forums, mailing lists and various events. You can also ask your mentor to support you and make introductions.

Your internship will focus on a specific project(s) and tasks. However, internships are also learning opportunities for you to grow and develop in your career. Outside of project work, your mentor(s) plays an important role in supporting you in your development goals and skill development. As you start your internship, reflect on areas that you would like to grow and develop in. Are there technical skills that you would like to improve? Do you want to learn more about git, a programming language, or a particular framework? What about soft skills? Are you confident in delivering a presentation and collaborating with a diverse group of stakeholders across multiple teams? These are good questions to reflect on, and ultimately can only be answered by you!

Work your mentor as a partner in your career development goals, and make sure you communicate these development goals to your mentor, so that you can partner on them together and have a successful internship that both contributes to your specific project and also strengthens your portfolio as a working professional in the open source space.

Document your journey and share it through blog posts or talks, and contribute back to the community. Reflecting on your experiences can provide valuable insights for future interns. Here are some examples of works like this by past interns:

Outreachy encourages blogging as a way to do this, providing specific prompts to guide your posts. These blog posts not only document your journey, but also connect you with the broader open source community. They are also helpful for future applicants, just like you may have come across when you were an applicant. For more details on the blogging schedule and prompts, you can refer to the Outreachy Internship Guide.

Ask your mentor about upcoming events and meetings. Participating in these gatherings, whether online or in-person, can enhance your understanding of the project and expand your professional network as well.

For an effective off-boarding process: