Outreachy : Introduce yourself!

27 May 2021

Hello, world! :D
My name is Kulsoom Zahra, Iโ€™m from India. I recently attended Bachelors of Computer Science and Applications at Aligarh Muslim University. I like exploring different techs and learning new stuff. Talking some more about me I love to eat, travel, hang out. ๐Ÿ˜†

My core values are

Growth

I strive to be better by each passing day that's why I value growth. Being a better version of your own self is, I beleive quite important; can be in any aspect of your life. The quote "Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever" resonates with growth well. Slowly and steadly working towards your goals, building good habits and disciplines, learning from mistakes is what can contribute towards bringing out the best. Opensource is where people, as a whole community come together to evolve, learn, build and share ideas. It's like a treasure pool of knowledge.

Optimism

โ€œThe way we see the problem is the problem.โ€ ~Stephen Covey .

Optimism is something that helps me keep going. When things don't turn out the way you want, DONOT loose hope in the good, believe in yourself. Your failures and your journey is what makes you, and shapes you. Make sure you plant some good thoughts in your heads and don't forget to pluck out the weeds ;) they're unwanted. They'll kill your ambitions, which in turn may fuel your Impostor Syndrome! So hey, HANG ON! You can do it. Be happy; don't forget Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light. 😉

Compassion

โ€œIf we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.โ€ ~ Mother Teresa

Everyone fights their own battles, you never know what they're going through. The least you can do is be kind and welcoming. Sometimes the smallest acts of kindness leave life long impacts on people. Help others grow, encourage them. It costs nothing plus you feel so lively from within.

What is Outreachy and what motivated me to apply?

Outreachy is a remote internship program that promotes diversity in tech. It explicitly invites people subject to systematic bais and discrimination. It provides internships to work on open source. I was interested seeing the variety of FOSS communities that participate varing from Machine Learning to Data science, anomity and much more. Furthermore my interest into digital privacy and security pushed me to apply to outreachy and the Tor Project.