This post is the first introduction to the Fedora Summer Coding interns Class of Summer 2019. In this interview, we’ll meet Manas Mangaonkar and Marek Marusin, who are both working on projects that automate planning and execution of Fedora releases.

Manas Mangaonkar: Change Management Tool

Manas Mangaonkar (pac23) is working on the Change Management Tool, a tool for the Fedora Program Managers and contributors to propose, edit, and approve changes per Fedora’s change process. He was selected for Google Summer of Code 2019.

We asked Manas a few questions as he prepares for his next three months working with Ben Cotton, his mentor for the summer.

Tell us a bit about yourself!

I am pursuing a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Engineering.

How did you hear about GSoC / Outreachy?

I heard about GSoC from a guy who I used to consult back in high school regarding a career in computer science. He was a two-timer GSoC student. I learned about Outreachy from a meeting I attended.

What caught your attention about Fedora? How does it align with your personal interests?

Originally I had plans to apply to Fedora in GSoC 2018. That’s when I learned of the effort here but then I applied to some other org. Since April 2018, I have been a contributor here with development, kernel, and Neuro SIG, famously known for the clear Linux kernel for Fedora.

I love the community effort here at Fedora and how everyone is friendly while also being professional. It is wonderful to see what a community can achieve. Personal interests are mostly I want to get more involved with the core engineering stuff at Fedora rather than just packaging.

What are you looking forward to most during this GSoC round?

Getting to know more how core engineering works at Fedora. Also more about large scale product/program management which my mentor (Ben Cotton) happens to be.

Where do you see yourself after you complete this GSoC round?

Contributing more to Fedora and getting more involved with core operation teams.

Marek Marusin: Release-bot

Marek Marusin (marusinm/marekmarusin) is working on Release-bot. Release-bot helps upstream maintainers deliver their software to users, via automated releases at GitHub and PyPI. Marek’s project work plans to improve the workflow of the bot and get rid of some bothering configuration. In the current state, Release-bot works with GitHub releases but it needs to also work with Pagure. Marek was selected to work on this project for Google Summer of Code 2019.

We also asked Marek a few questions as he prepares for his next three months working with Tomáš Tomeček and Rado Pitoňák, his two mentors for the summer.

Tell us a bit about yourself!

Hi, I’m from Slovakia and studying computer science in Czech Republic at Brno University of Technology. I love mountains and I was working as a snowboarding instructor before I started with open source. I have also experience as freelancing.

How did you hear about GSoC?

School, friends, and Internet.

What caught your attention about Fedora? How does it align with your personal interests?

Fedora has offices also in Brno where I’m studying. I attended several Red Hat events and the company and the whole community are just amazing and cool. I’m happy to participate in such a community. On another hand, I know that the professionalism of Fedora mentors could give me great knowledge to the future.

What are you looking forward to most during this GSoC round?

I’m looking forward mainly for that feeling that I am part of the big community and can participate on something bigger. But I’m also looking forward to have a fun with coding and increase skills.

Where do you see yourself after you complete this GSoC round?

Well, I would love to continue studying. But my CV will be already ready for Red Hat or Google job applications after I’ll finish. 🙂 I’m quite an ambitious person I would like to build great projects with the power of coding.

Who is your favorite Marvel superhero / superheroine?

I don’t have a Marvel superhero but I am a big fun of Game of Thrones. And, yeah the Simpsons! 😀

Anything you want to add?

My favorite number is 42.

Thanks and good luck to Manas and Marek as they begin their project work starting next week!