Applying to Outreachy

Hi there :)

I’m Sam Li, a Chinese junior student studying computer science on my own. The first two years were especially difficult for me because I had to balance my course plan and school courses, and I had many failures to find the right way to study a CS course. However, along the way, I met several friends who share my interests and we have a lot of fun talking about it. That’s where I first learned about open source organizations, which eventually led me to GSOC and Outreachy.

It is a great honor for me to be chosen by QEMU for Outreachy 2022, and it is the happiest moment of my life thus far. Besides, I’ve had the best mentors in the world. At the start of the application process, I assumed that this journey would help me develop my characters. Several changes have occurred in my life during the first week of work. I start running again, and I run a little longer each day. Moreover, I have a more consistent schedule for working remotely. In comparison to the time when I was very shy in public speaking, I am now more open to communicating with others. It may not always be very productive. But, thanks to the mentors’ help, I believe I am on the right track.

There is more to my personality. I enjoy reading history and science fiction. It’s fascinating how history depicts the past while science fiction depicts the future, both of which reflect some reality for the present. Dead Poets Society is my favorite film. I’m always disappointed by the endings and Neil’s fate. Civilization VI is a game that I enjoy playing. It’s a turn-based board game in which you can shape the path of the civilization.

Authenticity, meaningful work, and adventure are three of my core values.

My values are built on the foundation of authenticity. Honesty, in my opinion, is the best way to treat people. It’s also how I handle things. I can’t stand untruths and would rather get to the bottom of it. The desire to discover what things really are prevents me from giving up when I face adversity. And here I am, in this project, to learn system programming.

Meaningful work is also very important to me. What’s the point of doing something if you’re not proud of it? There are various criteria that vary depending on the individual. For me, I’ve discovered an interest in storage systems, and I’ll try to figure out what specific goal I want to achieve in the internship before graduating from university.

I feel alive when I’m on an adventure. Most of the time, adventure entails risks. I am not interested in following the mainstream, where some people believe that a higher degree automatically solves some life problems, such as the high unemployment rate in these years. So I give up something in order to figure out what I really want to do with my life. It may sound naive, but I really want to see more of the world, either geographically or professionally. I’d like to thank Roosh, Zhi Guo, and all of my mentors Stefan, Damien, Hannes, and Dmitry for their support and guidance along the way, as well as Outreachy for this opportunity.