It doesn't feel like that long ago when we got rejected from participating in GSoC in the summer of 2022, which motivated us to pilot our in-house mentorship program that focuses on encouraging contributors to learn, grow, and contribute to exciting Open Source projects while receiving guidance from experienced mentors.
Yet, here we are again, wrapping up our third edition of the AsyncAPI Mentorship Program.
As the 2024 mentorship program concludes, it's a perfect time to reflect on what has been an incredibly rewarding journey for everyone involved. Beyond lines of code and completed tasks, this year's program truly focused on collective learning, personal growth, and building something significant as a community.
The 2024 mentorship program was filled with a blend of challenges, surprises, and successes. While it's natural to focus on the external events that shaped our experiences, this time of the year invites us as a community to turn inward and ask more profound questions about how we learned and grew.
Reflect: Honouring the Lessons of 2024
For us, reflection isn't just a simple look back; it's about extracting profound meaning and vital insights from our experiences. As a community, this process of "meaning-making" is absolutely crucial for our continuous growth and development. It's how we learn, adapt, and build a stronger future together.
Let's take a moment and highlight some of our reflections for the 2024 cohort, starting with what we're most proud of and building from there.
What We're Most Proud Of
What started as a community-wide GitHub Discussion transcended into a testament of incredible dedication and involvement from everyone.
In this cohort, we deliberately expanded our project horizons. We didn't just welcome code-related project ideas; we also opened our doors wide to crucial design and technical writing initiatives.
In rhythm and code, we speak many tongues—diverse in roots, united in purpose.
This strategic expansion is a source of immense pride, strengthening the very fabric of AsyncAPI for years to come. This commitment to broader opportunities yielded impressive results:
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Vibrant Community Involvement: The kickoff discussion garnered involvement from 39 community members, including maintainers, contributors, and mentors. This led to 13 proposed project ideas, encompassing two design and two technical writing concepts. As a result, eight distinct projects were selected, meeting all program requirements.
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Strong Success Rates: The 2024 cohort saw a 77.78% mentee success rate and 90% project completion. While one coding and one documentation mentee did not pass, the documentation project still achieved full completion thanks to the outstanding collaboration of the remaining mentees.
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Immediate Value in Action: At AsyncAPI, the impact of contributing is often felt right away, not just in code, but across all areas of the community. This cohort reflected that beautifully.
The Holopin Design Project brought this value to life by creating a community-wide badge to recognize contributors doing great work. It was also used to celebrate all mentees who completed their programs, including the mentee who designed the badge.
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Improved project diversity: This cohort not only showed us the impact of diversifying project ideas, but also helped us understand that non-code related projects can hold equal value in the community as their counterparts.
Where We Felt Challenged
It's often through challenges that we gain our most valuable insights. They serve as critical tests of our resilience, adaptability, and resourcefulness, teaching us how to apply these strengths effectively as we move forward.
The most prominent challenges were the lack of proper program documentation and the vagueness of the program's timeline.
Imagine a scenario where program organizers are the only source of truth. That's precisely what happened without comprehensive documentation. Mentors and mentees found themselves constantly waiting on organizers for basic information, especially when immediate answers weren't possible. This wasn't just inconvenient for them; it was a constant drain on the organizers' time, as they repeated the same details countless times.
It felt like a never-ending cycle
Adding to this, the initial decision to keep the program timeline somewhat open-ended inadvertently became a hurdle. Some mentees, interpreting this flexibility as an invitation to take their time, started their projects at a leisurely pace. This slow burn in the early phases meant mentors faced a significant challenge with consistently low output from these projects.
These experiences, though tough, have driven a crucial improvement. We've initiated the creation of comprehensive program documentation. This vital step will ensure effortless onboarding and a much smoother, more efficient experience for everyone involved in future mentorship cycles – from the contributors and mentors all the way to the organizing team.
What surprised us
Surprises don't just happen; they reveal crucial insights and untapped potential. This cohort, our biggest revelation was understanding that mentors require support and guidance, too.
Did that catch you off guard? It certainly did us.
The 2024 cohort brought to light that even our highly capable volunteer mentors, especially those new to the program, aren't always immediately proficient in every aspect of mentorship. We noted with surprise that some initially struggled with critical tasks like defining project goals, setting milestones, and establishing communication frequencies. Without these clear frameworks, evaluating both technical progress and behavioral growth became challenging for us.
Another unexpected development was the unfortunate reality of mentor withdrawals. While we typically anticipate and prepare for mentees dropping out due to personal reasons, a mentor's early departure was unprecedented for us.
This surprising event served as a powerful reminder: while mentoring is profoundly rewarding, it also presents its own unique challenges and underscores the need for proactive support systems for our mentors.
Refocus: Setting Our Future Intentions
As we look ahead, we firmly believe that the most significant progress often arises from incremental improvements. We are embracing the concept of marginal gains to continually enhance our program. A critical element of this forward movement involves challenging perspectives that no longer serve our evolving goals.
Our assumptions and beliefs profoundly shape our choices, and recognizing their potential limitations has prompted us to thoroughly examine our approach throughout the program's history. This introspection is designed to foster an even more welcoming and inclusive environment.
Some of the changes coming for the next cohort are as follows:
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A New Identity: The AsyncAPI Maintainership Program. Moving forward, the AsyncAPI Mentorship Program will be formally renamed to the AsyncAPI Maintainership Program. This strategic transition reflects a singular, clear objective: to explicitly guide mentees along the path to becoming active AsyncAPI maintainers. This shift will not only impact the depth and type of contributions but is also designed to significantly increase our pool of active maintainers and triagers within the initiative.
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Official Program Documentation. We've learned that relying solely on program organizers as the "single source of truth" for critical information is neither sufficient nor sustainable long-term. To address this, we are introducing comprehensive, official program documentation. This resource will empower all participants with readily accessible information, streamlining processes and reducing reliance on individual organizers.
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Introducing "Sequential Cohorts" instead of program years for Clarity. Over the years, we've observed that program durations often overlap into the following calendar year – a fact underscored by this very 2024 summary being published in 2025. To eliminate confusion for interested participants and better reflect the continuous nature of our work, future programs will be referred to as 'Cohorts' rather than by year. For example, the next iteration will be known as the AsyncAPI Maintainership Program - Cohort 4, not "AsyncAPI Maintainership Program - 2025."
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Introducing Volunteer Participation Roles. Excitingly, we will now offer dedicated volunteer roles within the program, extending opportunities beyond the formally accepted mentees. Yes, you read that right! Individuals who applied but were not formally accepted, yet still demonstrate a strong desire to be mentored and participate, will be considered for these volunteer positions. While these volunteer participants will not receive stipends like their accepted counterparts, they will gain equal access to mentoring opportunities and program engagement, fostering an even broader community of learners and contributors.
Recognition and Appreciation
The very pulse of AsyncAPI's mentorship initiatives beats because of our mentors. Their deep expertise, insightful guidance, and steadfast commitment form the crucial bedrock upon which these programs flourish. They are not merely technical experts; they are vibrant community members and visionary leaders who embody the purest spirit of open collaboration.
With profound gratitude, we raise a glass to the extraordinary mentors of this cohort! Your impact resonates deeply.
Souvik De
Lukasz Gornicki
Akshat Nema
Aishat Muibudeen
Antonio
Azeez Elegbede
V Thulisile Sibanda
Iván García Sainz-AjaAnd to our inspiring contributors: you journeyed through trials and triumphs, not only concluding the program with stellar results but also crafting truly amazing work. Your dedication lights the way forward.
To the future we innovate, together, one commit at a time! 💜
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/amazed-formal-male-looking-at-laptop-screen-3760809/ Photo from independent.co.uk : https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/tired-fatigue-symptoms-reason-help-tips-b2669575.html