Week 3: Everyone Struggles

I definitely related to this week’s prompt. In my time in the world of computer science, I have often felt completely lost: surrounded by jargon, acronyms, and concepts that initially felt completely foreign to me. Coming to understand that everyone can feel lost in this world was profoundly insightful, allowing for me to keep my confidence up when trying to solve problems in the field.

One concept I definitely didn’t understand when getting started in the Wikimedia community was the Bot Approval process. When I first started writing automated scripts for Wikidata, I believed scripts that were automatically written could be used the same ways other edits could be. This is not the case: Bots need to be approved by the Wikidata community before being used, and have to undergo a testing period before finally being approved.

When I first found this out, I was pretty embarrassed: I had been running unapproved automated scripts! I found out that this was something I should not have been doing through e-mails with one of my mentors, Mike. From here, I looked up terms like “Bot approval process” and “Bots” on Wikidata, coming to understand the way they worked with time.

It can be difficult to find out information of this kind: info that you might not even know you’re looking for! In cases like this, if you realise you’ve made a mistake, just quickly correct it and stick to the process in the future. Don’t feel overly guilt-ridden or ashamed! Keep your head up high and learn from your mistakes for the future.

My mentors and co-intern have both been very receptive to my questions: people are generally excited to share their knowledge, so don’t be scared to reach out! Specifically in a program like Outreachy, questions are crucial for you to reach your potential, so ask away!!!

I would also recommend to keep in touch with fellow interns and members of your community: collaborative problem solving can lead to insights one may not have been able to reach individually.