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CHAOSScast – Episode 90

In this episode of CHAOSScast, host Harmony Elendu welcomes guests Kingsley Mkpandiok and Victoria Ottah from CHAOSS Africa. They share their unique encounters with open source, from reading articles and attending events to making their first contributions. They discuss the importance of community engagement, the valuable skills they've developed, and the significance of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in their work. The episode highlights how volunteering and active participation in open source not only benefits the community but also enhances personal growth and networking opportunities. Press download now to hear more!

[00:00:34] Kingsley and Victoria introduce themselves and tell us about their backgrounds.

[00:02:48] Kingsley describes how he engaged with open source through a LinkedIn post by Ruth Ikegah, which led to his involvement with CHAOSS. Victoria tells us how she was initially hesitant as a non-code contributor, but she was inspired by a designer at the OSCA fest event, leading her to active contributions in design for open source.

[00:05:29] Harmony’s personal onboarding experience was being influenced by social media posts and personal onboarding by Ruth Ikegah in open source, while Adeyinka Oresanya started his first contribution through documentation in CHAOSS.

[00:06:34] There’s a discussion on how initial contributions to CHAOSS Africa was like as Kingsley explains his first project involved a flyer design for a Twitter space, and Victoria’s debut was on the DI badging UI along with other minor contributions.

[00:09:50] Harmony stresses the importance of attending meetings as part of contributing to the open source community and highlights the significance of onboarding parties hosted by CHAOSS, which are crucial for new contributors.

[00:12:07] The conversation switches to reflections on experiences within the open source community. Kingsley values the community aspect of open source most, sharing how it’s led to friendships and collaborative opportunities, and Victoria discusses how open source has been instrumental in teaching her patience and improving her interpersonal skills.

[00:16:28] Harmony ranks CHAOSS Africa as his top three communities due to its supportive and effective management and appreciates the efforts of community managers and facilitators.

Value Adds (Picks) of the week:

[00:17:27] Harmony’s pick is volunteering as being the best way to wait for your next opportunity while getting better at something.
[00:18:07] Kingsley’s pick is if you are going to spend time doing a piece of work, do it as well as possible.
[00:18:38] Victoria’s pick is incorporating diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEI) in everything.