Outreachy Indroduction
Hello everyone! 🤙🏼
I never thought that I would have a blog, but here I am writing my first post 😅.
Today, I’m going to introduce myself and explain why I started this new adventure.
Who am I?
I’m Clau, I’m Brazilian, and I’ve been living in Berlin, Germany since 2020.
My hobbies are cuddling my dogs 🐶, reading, exercising, spending time with my family and friends and playing the best sport in the world: roller derby.
And since December 6th, 2021 I am an Outreachy intern in the Firefox Devtools Project.
How I got here
After 6 years working in HR, I decided to change careers and become a programmer. It was not an easy decision, but I was determinated to start a new career where I felt more challenged. In 2018, I started a frontend development bootcamp aimed at inserting women in the technology area. From then on, my life changed a lot: I learned that I love programming, I met my wife, I learned about Mozilla and Outreachy. All of these things brought me here.
Two years later, I moved to Berlin with my wife and my two dogs. At first, I was focusing on learning English to try a job here, and I decided to prepare myself for the next Outreachy round in may/2021.
I chose to contribute to Mozilla Firefox, because it is my main browser, which I love, and I really admire Mozilla’s mission.
The contribution period was a time that I felt a lot of fear. I was insecure about everything, even sending a message to the mentor, but it was also a period that I felt courageous. Even with all my insecurities, I did a lot of contributions to a big project, with a huge code base. I got out of my comfort zone and did things that I thought I couldn’t do. That was an amazing period, where I learned a lot. Unfortunately, I was not selected, but I was more confident, and I love a challenge, so I decided to continue contributing.
Firefox Devtools
In my second try for Outreachy, I felt more prepared. The terminologies were not new anymore, but the fear of the possibility of not being chosen again was there.
The DevTools are one of the components that I use and like the most in Firefox, since I started thinking about contributing, that is the component I wanted to volunteer for, so when I saw the Devtools submitted a project, I was sure I would try it. Different from the other time, when I tried only one project, this time I tried two (Firefox DevTools HTTP Edit & Resend and Improve reliability of the Firefox Bookmark dialogs). I will confess, it was not a good idea. I wanted to try to increase my possibility of being picked, but it is hard to focus on two projects. In the end, I knew I had dedicated myself more in one than in the other.
In life, things happen when they have to happen. In this second try, I was picked for the project that I always wanted to volunteer, so I couldn’t be more happy. 🎉
I am completely excited to work these 3 months together with my mentors Honza and Hubert and also to be able to contribute full time to Mozilla and make the internet better for all. 💚
My Core values
The words in bold throughout this text are my core values. I believe, challenges, determination and courage are what guides me in every area in my life. I like to feel challenged, this motivates me to learn new things. I have determination to try new things and not stop when it is hard. Courage is what drives me forward even when I am afraid.
This is only chapter 1 of this new adventure, I hope you can enjoy the next ones too.
Thanks for reading.