We kicked off our intern program last summer and are pleased to have welcomed an amazing group of young talent! They work directly with the community and receive hands-on development experience in NFV. Each intern works closely with an active OPNFV developer as their mentor on a project that suited interest and community need. This blog series aims to showcase these interns and the projects they work on, the mentors who are helping with their professional development, and their experience working in an open source community to help accelerate NFV.
About Shrenik (in his own words):
I am currently in my final year pursuing a dual degree – Bachelor of Technology and Master of Science in Computer Science and Research from the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad. Presently, I am working on Cloud Economics and Resource Allocation problems in Federated Cloud environments. Aside from my studies, I am a big foodie and I like to try out different cuisines.
How did you hear about OPNFV and what got you interested in this internship?
I heard about OPNFV from college mates who had previously worked in OPNFV as interns.
Since I had already worked on docker as part of my research work, I was comfortable with open source and have been able to familiarize myself more with OPNFV and the community.
Can you talk about your experience working on an open source project? Any previous experiences you can share or key learnings from working on OPNFV so far?
I had a wonderful learning experience while working on the StorPerf project. I learned about new technologies, specifically Arm support being one of the most significant new technologies being added to StorPerf.
What’s the best thing you’ve learned from your internship?
The best thing I have learned is more effective communication within the community towards a proposal or a solution, and how to effectively keep on contributing to surpass the barriers of location and time zones.
Who is your mentor and what’s the experience been like?
My mentor is Mark Beierl. He is an amazing mentor who is adept at his work and also very passionate. He has been very helpful and flexible during the entire duration of my internship. even when I bugged him a lot with silly questions.
What’s your advice to other aspiring open source folks out there?
My advice to them would be if you are thinking about open source, the right time to start is now. Don’t hesitate in asking for help. People in open source are amazing and they will welcome you with open arms.
What gets you jazzed to work with open source? (e.g., listening to music, drinking coffee, chatting in IRC, etc.)?
Coffee and chatting on IRC. There are a lot of interesting things to try with IRC (an IRC bouncer being a very simple one).
Being in open source allows you to work from anywhere in the world and interact with lots of different people. What have you found most surprising about the open source developer community?
The unambiguous communication within people spread in all parts of the world with a lot of politeness and respect for each other is very inspiring. The way everyone is welcome to contribute and the fact that people are always ready to help in case of any stuck ups keeps moving you forward.
What do you want to do next? What is your dream job?
I am still trying to figure this one out. But I would go for a job where I am happy with the work I do.