Why I Went
Having contributed and worked in open source under mentorship programs such as Outreachy and LFX, I sometimes feel isolated. Attending conferences helps to break down cultural barriers and the difficulty in communicating between people in different regions. To be honest, I have spent almost two years focusing primarily on contributing and working in open source, with little to no socialization. It was a great relief to meet people from the tech community by the end of the year.
First Impressions
This is my first time traveling outside of Indonesia! Taking a fast train directly from the airport is a totally new experience for me—and since it's happening in Japan, I'm fully prepared for it to spoil every future travel experience!
After getting lost several times using trains in Japan, I decided to walk the 1.8 km from my accommodation to the venue. However, I ended up getting lost on foot as well. Google Maps indicated the walk would only take 30 minutes, but I spent a full hour arriving at the location. Once I finally reached the venue, I mistakenly entered the wrong building, which had the same name but was in a different tower. I wasted time going through five floors and then one floor before I met some very kind Japanese people who helped navigate me to the correct building.
Once I finally arrived at the correct venue, I was warmly welcomed by the staff who helped me find my badge. I also received a nice t-shirt, along with welcome coffee and snacks. When the main event started, I entered the hall and was immediately struck by the sight: seeing so many people passionate about or interested in open source was incredibly awesome. Coming from a place where it's often difficult to even explain what I do, being surrounded by this community was truly special.
The Talks That Stuck
The feeling of watching Linus Torvalds in real time is something else; although he mentioned he no longer does coding, the amount of time he allocates for code review at his age is incredible and it motivates the younger generation like me.
There were many great talks at OSSummit, but my favorite was by Andre Almeida. He talked about how to make file systems in the Linux Kernel "case-insensitive". I especially liked the part about Unicode, because that is a common problem many of us face.
Conversations Outside the Schedule
I made a new friend from the Philippines. Since we are both from Southeast Asia, we had a lot in common, and his city is actually quite close to mine.
I also had many interesting conversations with different people, including a local student, a tech lead, a student from Sweden, and a speaker from Cloudflare.
During the "Tux Track" session, the Swedish student and I had a long talk with the Cloudflare speaker. We discussed his experience working on Android security, AI, and many other tech topics. It was great to connect with so many people from different backgrounds!
What I Learned
Every conversation and talk was a learning experience for me. The event offered many opportunities to learn from other people’s experiences, and even the sponsor booths were genuinely helpful. During product demos, the teams took the time to explain their development process and share insights about the products they build and the open source projects they contribute to.
How This Changed My Perspective
Through many of these interactions, I was able to reflect on my own work and see it in the context of how vast the ecosystem really is. It also changed how I approach problems as a software developer, shaping the way I build things as I was exposed to better solutions during the talks. Those conversations were a strong reminder of how dynamic this industry is and how quickly it can evolve over time.
Final Thoughts
I am very grateful for this experience and sincerely thankful to the Linux Foundation for providing travel funding. It has further motivated me to continue contributing to open source, especially after being given so many opportunities so far. I would also like to express my appreciation to my mentors from the LFX Mentorship in the Meshery project, as well as my mentor from the Servo project under the Outreachy program.