Mentorship programs
Growing new team and
community leaders
Oleg Nenashev
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3
> whoami
Oleg Nenashev
“I am a beaver who
builds and maintains
the communities”
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> whoami
@oleg_nenashev
oleg-nenashev
Dr. Nenashev / Mr. Jenkins
Community builder
Developer Tools Hacker
Community & DevRel consultant
#RussiansAgainstPutin #StandWithUkraine
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My Open [and not so] Communities
Time
* Once a contributor, [almost] always a contributor
Neuchâtel
5
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Community > Code
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Maintainer
!=
Community Leader
(chuckles)
I am in danger
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Project Maintainer
is not [ALWAYS] a
Community Leader
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Community Leader
is not [ALWAYS] a
Project Maintainer
* but a community maintainer?
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Maintainers Don’t Scale *
… and don’t grow on Git trees
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User Comitter Maintainer Community
Leader
Stakeholder
or mentor
Leadership is not about code
Fast track to
leadership
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Mentorship programs are
great for the community
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Mentorship Programs. Why?
• Onboarding individual and company contributors
• Community bonding and retention
• Driving key initiatives
• Guerilla marketing
• Growing community leaders
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Mentorship Programs
● Learning experience for all parties
● Community bonding
● Nice2Have: Delivering Something
● Nice2Have: Driving the project’s roadmap
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Outreach Programs in Jenkins
jenkins.io/sigs/advocacy-and-outreach/outreach-programs
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Example: Jenkins in GSoC 2020
Custom Jenkins
distribution build
service
Machine Learning
Plugins for Data
Science
External Fingerprint
Storage
Git Plugin Performance
Improvements
GitHub Checks API for
Jenkins Plugins
Jenkins Windows
Services: YAML Config
Support
Jenkins X: Apps/Addons
consolidation
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Not just code!
Zainab Abubakar
@zaycodes
● Google Season of Docs 2020
○ jenkins.io/blog/2020/12/04/gsod-project-report
● Keynotes at CloudBees/CDF events
● Presented at the D&I Council at CB
● Multi-year SheCodeAfrica collaboration on
documentation/code hackathons
○ Event sponsorship
○ Co-promotion
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Community leader candidates are out there
Mentee
Co-mentor(s)
Users Comitters Maintainers Leaders
Lead
Mentor
Org admins
Organizers
Sponsors
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Being a Lead Mentor is hard
Difficult
Exhausting
Not always fun
… but rewarding
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archive.fosdem.org/2020/schedule/event/selfish_contributor
Being a Lead Mentor is hard… but rewarding
James Bottomley,
“The Selfish
Contributor
Explained”,
FOSDEM 2020
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Mentorship is great for YOU
● Side projects!!! Swag!!!
● Leadership practice
● Learning together with mentees
● Visibility in open source, network
● Influence in the community
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Exposure and visibility on the market
Ewelina Wilkosz – Most Valuable
Jenkins Contributor @ Jenkins World
Google Summer of Code Mentor
Summit – Select FOSS Event
[Community] Leadership == Path to the next roles
● People manager
● Product manager
● Project manager
● Community manager
● …
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archive.fosdem.org/2020/schedule/event/selfish_contributor
Being a Lead Mentor is hard… but rewarding
James Bottomley,
“The Selfish
Contributor
Explained”,
FOSDEM 2020
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“The Selfish Contributor
Organization Explained”
* In my backlog / Hall of Shame
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Mentorship is great for Your Company
● (?) Open-source ecosystem around products
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Ecosystem needs time and effort
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wiremock/ecosystem
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A lot of time and effort
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testcontainers.com/modules
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x.com/dastbe/status/1303858170155081728
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Open Source Standards and
collaborations is a great way to start
* Unix way
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Mentorship is great for Your Company
● (?) Open-source ecosystem around products
● (?) Features in our FOSS projects and products
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Do NOT do it alone
It is not enough to
have one champion of
the roadmap
“It’s me, hi, I’m the
problem, it’s me”.gif
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHZBMjnF6-4
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Mentorship is great for Your Company
● (?) Open-source ecosystem around products
● (?) Features in our FOSS projects and products
● Marketing content
● Visibility in open source
● Recruitment opportunities
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Mentorship is great for Your Company
● (?) Open-source ecosystem around products
● (?) Features in our FOSS projects and products
● Marketing content
● Visibility in open source
● Recruitment opportunities
● Leadership practice for engineers
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[Community] Leadership == Path to the next roles
● People manager
● Product manager
● Project manager
● Community manager
● …
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No content
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Takeaways
● Mentorship in open source is not just volunteering
● Mentorship is good for your career
● It’s a great way to practice leadership skills
● “Leadership practice” is Learning & Development,
can be justified at your company
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References
● My slides: speakerdeck.com/onenashev/
● Jenkins in GSoC: jenkins.io/projects/gsoc/
● Blog from the Dynatrace times:
engineering.dynatrace.com/blog/mentoring-
in-open-source-my-journey-so-far