Last week I got the chance to fly all the way from India to speak at the FOSSASIA Summit 2019, Singapore. I had applied earlier in December as a speaker and was selected to speak about Outreachy. Unfortunately, my mid semester exams happened to be during the same week as the summit itself, but I ended up missing two of them to attend (hoping to get a make-up examination). My travel was being reimbursed by Outreachy and I was selected as a speaker, this was an opportunity I couldn’t miss!
I reached Changi Airport on 14th March in the afternoon. I was too exhausted to attend the community lunch at the summit and headed straight to my hostel and rest after an overnight flight. I met up with Finn and Jessy later in the evening, who connected with me over LinkedIn, I invited them to attend the summit since I had two complimentary partner tickets with my speaker pass! My talk was scheduled for the next day. We had an early morning tour to the Merlion Statue organized but unfortunately it was under scaffolding. I reached the venue, Lifelong Learning Institute, Paya Lebar, where I met with Divya, a fellow Outreachy Intern, who was staying in the same hostel as me, connected with some other people who had come to attend the summit from India and another student from my University.
We attended the IBM Workshop where we got some free giveaways! After attending a few talks — Powering SUSI.AI Web Clients with React + Redux, SUSI.AI Web Bot and SUSI.AI User-Role Permissions Model, it was my turn to speak next, and being my first ever talk, I was naturally nervous. However, seeing some familiar faces in the room helped a lot. I hope I was able to get the word out about Outreachy and the Wiki Education Foundation! I spoke with the moderator after my talk ended, she was switching careers and learning how to code, I was happy to share my contact and help in any way I could. I later met with Kurian Benoy, who wanted to know more about Outreachy and encourage women in his University to paticipate.
Before heading out to the social event in the evening, snacks at Chinatown and pub crawl at Clarke Quay with speakers and participants of FOSSASIA Summit, me and Divya headed out to the Telok Blangah Hill Park to enjoy the view from the Henderson Waves, which was absolutely breathtaking!
I am grateful to Outreachy and FOSSASIA for such an incredible experience, I was able to meet with so many amazing people from all over the world! I was able to have so many first time experiences from traveling solo to delivering a talk! It was all made possible due to Outreachy, where I interned with the Wiki Education Foundation last summer, for a $5500 USD stipend and a $500 USD travel stipend to attend conferences and events. If you are interested to know more about Outreachy, please visit their website. The program takes place twice every year. For any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to me!
