When Uncomfortable... GROW (12/04/2020)
Now that my senior fall semester is coming to a close, I would like to share some of the growth I’ve had as an individual and how my experiences learning about and working with the OSS community has cultivated this growth.
At the start of this semester, my only real-world application of development was at my summer internships. The more I learned, the more it became abundantly clear the magnitude of tools, technologies, lingo, and strategies in the development world that I did not understand. It was daunting to say the least. Our coursework to this point was predominantly theoretical and when we were writing code, we always had the tool sets needed to figure out how to complete the assignments. However, in my experience working, this was never the case. I constantly had to rely on Google to help me learn and problem solve unfamiliar tasks. Feeling lost in a new position, though uncomfortable, is common and necessary for learning and growth.
This past semester, in my senior seminar capstone course, was the first time in the computer science major that I felt this level of unsureness and discomfort. Learning that we would work with a FOSS project overwhelmed me with the prospect of having to figure out the development environment and integrative tools required for that type of collaboration. What became increasingly apparent however, was that as we spent more time with the new materials, I became more confident in my ability to understand new concepts and handle unknown complications.
This course was structured around readings and discussions, hands-on activities, and work with our respective FOSS projects. The readings were profoundly helpful for me to get my bearings in the developer community. Previously we have learned to code and how to solve problems, but the readings in this class began to open our eyes to how you would actually use these skill sets to contribute to a team and what technological components you would have to interact with to create a final product. The hands-on activities were our first insights into applying the skillsets we read about and while I was not able to remember how to do many of the activities at the time, I have found that they were the first insight into methods that I have used continuously with my FOSS project. Simply having more practice using the terminal provided valuable insight to interacting files, directories, ports, and technologies in a way that I could not have understood prior to engaging and troubleshooting with them in the terminal.
I spent this semester working with OpenMRS, an HFOSS project that provides a medical records system to those in need, especially in the developing world. The OpenMRS community is extremely large and the development kit it requires is very version specific and nitpicky. At first this was very frustrating to me because I have always struggled with configuring development environments and handling unfamiliar software. But as I continued to troubleshoot the developer installation, I slowly began to understand how to debug error messages on my own and how to identify possible reasons they occur. Every error message is unique and unfamiliar, but having had to trouble shoot dozens this semester, they are not as daunting as they once were because I know that I have overcome similar errors in the past. Instead of immediately asking someone for help, I am now much more willing and confident to troubleshoot independently first and often can even find my own solutions. I also have a better idea of when it is necessary to outsource support.
The OpenMRS community has been pivotal to my growth with overcoming uncertainty. While the project itself is hard to understand in its full capacity, the community members have been extremely supportive. They have helped me to understand the interacting software components and the structure of the project itself. It is now clear to me that while unfamiliarity is necessary for individual growth, it is the community that is supporting you that plays a large role in determining whether you can overcome that discomfort.
A few months before the start of this semester, I made the decision to pursue a career as a doctor. I was unsure if development was something that I would try to take with me through that experience. While it can help me to perform research in the medical community, I was concerned that I did not know enough about systems to be effective. This course has given me the insight and background to more confidently learn new technologies and strategies that will enable me to effectively use development in the medical field to help individuals in the way that I dream to as a physician. Working with OpenMRS in particular has propelled my excitement to have the background of a developer because technology is what enables us to help millions of individuals worldwide to close the gaps of access and support. As I have spent more time with the OpenMRS community I have become increasingly engaged with their mission statement and efforts. While I wasn’t originally planning to continue development after I graduate, I am now increasingly excited to continue to work with this community because it supports an effort to help others, a goal that I believe in, and I want to continue paying the community back for the help and lessons they provided me when I was overcoming my discomfort around technological uncertainty.
