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oluwasolaakinteweHi, I'm Akintewe Oluwasola Jonathan, a computer science graduate from Abuja, Nigeria. I've been coding for about five years now, and Rust has been one of my favourite languages to work with. I've built personal projects with it and contributed to a few open source Rust projects on GitHub, so when I saw that Outreachy had a Rust project listed among its offerings this round, I knew I had to go for it.
Why Outreachy?
Honestly, I wanted to level up. I had been writing code on my own, contributing to small projects, doing school work, but I knew there was a ceiling to how much you grow when you're not working alongside experienced people on something big. Outreachy felt like the bridge I needed, real open source collaboration, real mentorship, and strong impact.
The thing is, I didn't get in on my first try. Or my second. Or my third. I applied to Outreachy five times before I was accepted. Five times of putting in the work during the contribution period and walking away with a rejection. Every time I thought about quitting, I reminded myself that this wasn't just another application. Open source is where I want to build my career, and Outreachy was a real shot at that. I wasn't willing to let that go. So I kept coming back.
The Contribution Period
When I finally got into this round's contribution period, I threw myself into the Rust project. I worked on bootstrap, Rust's internal build system, specifically on adding compiler coverage support. This meant understanding how the bootstrap pipeline works, how instrumentation flags flow through compilation stages, reading a lot of existing code before writing a single line of my own, and going back and forth with my mentor on the design. It was humbling and exciting at the same time.
My proudest contribution was implementing the CompilerCoverage step, a new bootstrap step that instruments the stage1 Rust compiler with coverage flags so we can measure how well the compiler's own test suite exercises the compiler itself. Getting that working, addressing review feedback, and seeing it come together was genuinely satisfying.
What I Expect
I'm coming into this internship expecting to grow, not just in technical skill but in how I think about large codebases, how I communicate with a team, and how I navigate a project I didn't start. I want to leave this internship having built something real that the Rust community actually uses. And I want to build lasting connections with my mentor, with the broader Rust community, and with other Outreachy interns who are on the same journey.
Five rejections would have been enough to make me quit. I'm glad the fifth try wasn't the last one.
Why Outreachy?
Honestly, I wanted to level up. I had been writing code on my own, contributing to small projects, doing school work, but I knew there was a ceiling to how much you grow when you're not working alongside experienced people on something big. Outreachy felt like the bridge I needed, real open source collaboration, real mentorship, and strong impact.
The thing is, I didn't get in on my first try. Or my second. Or my third. I applied to Outreachy five times before I was accepted. Five times of putting in the work during the contribution period and walking away with a rejection. Every time I thought about quitting, I reminded myself that this wasn't just another application. Open source is where I want to build my career, and Outreachy was a real shot at that. I wasn't willing to let that go. So I kept coming back.
The Contribution Period
When I finally got into this round's contribution period, I threw myself into the Rust project. I worked on bootstrap, Rust's internal build system, specifically on adding compiler coverage support. This meant understanding how the bootstrap pipeline works, how instrumentation flags flow through compilation stages, reading a lot of existing code before writing a single line of my own, and going back and forth with my mentor on the design. It was humbling and exciting at the same time.
My proudest contribution was implementing the CompilerCoverage step, a new bootstrap step that instruments the stage1 Rust compiler with coverage flags so we can measure how well the compiler's own test suite exercises the compiler itself. Getting that working, addressing review feedback, and seeing it come together was genuinely satisfying.
What I Expect
I'm coming into this internship expecting to grow, not just in technical skill but in how I think about large codebases, how I communicate with a team, and how I navigate a project I didn't start. I want to leave this internship having built something real that the Rust community actually uses. And I want to build lasting connections with my mentor, with the broader Rust community, and with other Outreachy interns who are on the same journey.
Five rejections would have been enough to make me quit. I'm glad the fifth try wasn't the last one.
