A New Chapter with Outreachy
Hi everyone, my name is Mercy Oyelakin. I’m a Computer Engineering graduate who enjoys building web applications. In this blog post, I'll take you through how I finally got into Outreachy as an intern with the Wikimedia Foundation!
I first heard about Outreachy through a friend and decided to give it a try. I appreciate Outreachy’s effort to support individuals from underrepresented and disadvantaged groups in tech. Seeing people from around the world, solving problems, and contributing to open source made me believe I could do it too.
INITIAL APPLICATION PHASE
Outreachy runs twice a year, from December to March and from May to July. I started looking out for the next cohort, which was the December to March round. When the initial application opened, I filled in everything, including the questions and my time commitments. About a month later, the results came out, and I was selected. This meant I could move to the next stage, which was the contribution phase. I was so excited!
CONTRIBUTION PHASE - MY PROJECT
I looked through the list of open source projects from various communities like Wikimedia, FireFox, and others. There were also projects in programming, technical writing, UI and UX, mobile development, web development, and more that these communities offered. I then found the one that felt right for me - the Micro-Task Generator for Organizers on Wikipedia, a project under the Wikimedia Foundation. It required skills in Python, REST APIs, and web development, which are what I am passionate about. The project helps Wikipedia organizers quickly generate tasks for editors to improve the quality of articles. I was redirected to the project details on Phabricator and began reading everything I needed to know. My mentors provided examples and helpful guidance that made it easy for me to understand what was required. It was both exciting and challenging. I worked every day, and when I was not coding, I was thinking about how to solve the next problem. I appreciated that my mentors, Silvia Gutiérrez, Isaac Johnson, and Stephane Bisson, valued independent thinking because it encouraged me to be creative and trust my ideas. I continued to share my progress with my mentors, and their feedback helped me get better at my task. I am grateful for the time and effort they put into guiding me. This project is meant to make the work of editors and organizers easier, and I’m glad to be part of something meaningful. It also aligns with one of my core values, which is helping others. The contribution phase took around a month, during which I recorded my contributions and submitted my final application.
THE INTERNSHIP ANNOUNCEMENT DAY!!
December 1st was the date set for the results to be released, and I waited patiently with anxiety and hope. When the results finally came in, I was so excited to see that I had been selected as a Wikimedia intern and was among the 21 interns for the December 2025 cohort. Today is the first day of my internship with the Wikimedia Foundation, and I am looking forward to learning more and bringing my application to life during the internship period while collaborating with my mentors and the open-source community. If you are looking for an opportunity to learn, grow your skills, collaborate with contributors, and solve problems, Outreachy is for you! You can check their website for upcoming cohorts.
Stay tuned for more updates, as I will be sharing my progress throughout the Outreachy period. :)
Thank you for reading!
