Hey there, my name is Pretty. I am a UX/UI designer and currently an Outreachy Intern (Yay!!!🎉🎉) working with the Oppia community. I am about to tell you what motivated me to apply to Outreachy but first, let me tell you a little bit about me.

You already know my name, it's Pretty (😊). I started my baby steps into tech a year ago, Nov. 2021 to be precise and I must say that this 1 year has been exciting. I will write about my transition journey in another blog post, but for now, let's take a look at some of my core values, shall we?

CORE VALUES

To be honest, I appreciate lots of core values but here I will like to focus on three - Truth, Determination and empathy. Stay with me let me tell you why these are important to me.

• Truth - I believe truth is at the core of our being. It is the bedrock of our personality, society, and the universe at large. Most of the time we choose a lifestyle based on our perception of truth however one pathway to growth is by knowing our truth and owning it. This simply means that we understand and accept our strengths and weaknesses, build on our strengths and work on our weaknesses. When one has clarity on this, the person can be determined to strategic growth. Yeah, that brings us to the second - Determination.
• Determination - From my personal experience trying to waggle my way into a career that has been on parallel lines, I can say without a doubt that you have to be determined in order to push through. Knowing what to do, when to do it, and not to give up, especially when it seems like you are swimming against the tide requires a certain level of self-discipline and determination. Well, we all need a measure of that to survive, don't we? Next - Empathy
• Empathy - I really don't know if I am an empath, most days I feel like one but I do know one thing - human relationships will fare better if we take some time to place our feet in others' shoes and try to feel what they really feel. This is a core value I have found extremely useful as a UX designer. The desire to fully comprehend a user's pain point is very vital to providing an effective solution. Pretty - 1, Pain point - 0.

Now let's get to the good part, shall we?

WHY I APPLIED FOR OUTREACHY.

Now you know the 'we'(by we I mean I 😉😉), but before the 'why', let me tell you the 'what', just in case you do not know. So, what is Outreachy, you may ask? Outreachy is a program that organizes three-month paid internships with free and open-source software (FOSS) projects for people who are typically underrepresented in those projects. Outreachy internship projects may include programming, user experience, documentation, illustration, and graphical design, or data science. Outreachy internships run twice a year. The internships run from May to August and December to March. Outreachy internships are completely remote and are open to applicants around the world. Interns work remotely with experienced mentors. Now, the 'why'. Well, there I was, a baby "tech sis" looking for internship opportunities when someone shared a Twitter post on a tech community I belonged to. The Twitter post contained a list of paid internships and encouraged those new in tech to check them out. I took some hours to check out each opportunity and I was amazed when I checked out Outreachy. What struck a cord in my heart was the fact that Outreachy focuses on people who are typically underrepresented or have experienced some kind of bias in the tech industry + there was a huge icing on the cake(it is a paid internship). It was a complete package for me, so much so that impostor syndrome flew right out the window. I longed to be part of that community that understands different struggles, that understands that an Intern does not have to have it all, and that an intern is on the path to growth hence there is going to be a lot of learning on the job. Like I said before, it's a complete package. This is just my first week as an Outreachy Intern and it has been an exciting experience. I am working on an amazing project with a great community - Oppia Foundation. I will write about Oppia and the amazing work we do in subsequent posts but before then check it out here. If you have any questions or would like to connect, let me know in the comments. Thank you for reading.