[BLOG] Add three-months-and-having-fun (#529)

Co-authored-by: Noa Tamir <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Matti Picus <[email protected]>

Author: 3 people

apps/labs/posts/three-months-and-having-fun.md

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+---
+title: 'Quansight Labs: what I learned in my first 3 months'
+published: July 21, 2020
+author: matti-picus
+description: 'I joined Quansight at the beginning of April, splitting my time between
+PyTorch (as part of a larger Quansight team) and contributing to Quansight Labs
+supported community-driven projects in the Python scientific and data science
+software stack, primarily to NumPy.  I have found my next home; the people, the
+projects, and the atmosphere are an all around win-win for me and (I hope) for
+the projects to which I contribute.'
+category: [PyData ecosystem]
+featuredImage:
+  src: /posts/three-months-and-having-fun/blog_feature_org.svg
+  alt: 'An illustration of a brown and a dark brown hand coming towards each other to pass a business card with the logo of Quansight Labs.'
+hero:
+  imageSrc: /posts/three-months-and-having-fun/blog_hero_var1.svg
+  imageAlt: 'An illustration of a brown hand holding up a microphone, with some graphical elements highlighting the top of the microphone.'
+---
+
+I joined Quansight at the beginning of April, splitting my time between
+PyTorch (as part of a larger Quansight team) and contributing to Quansight Labs
+supported community-driven projects in the Python scientific and data science
+software stack, primarily to NumPy.  I have found my next home; the people, the
+projects, and the atmosphere are an all around win-win for me and (I hope) for
+the projects to which I contribute.
+
+I am not a newcomer to Open Source. I originally became involved in
+[PyPy](https://www.pypy.org) as an after-hours hobby to hone my developer
+skills, and quickly became enamoured with the people and the mission. Over the
+years my efforts in the open source world moved more mainstream, and in 2018 I
+took on a full-time position working on NumPy, funded through a grant to
+[BIDS](https://bids.berkeley.edu). Since April 2020, I have moved to Quansight
+Labs as a full-time developer. 
+
+[Quansight Labs](https://www.quansight.com/labs) is a subsidiary of Quansight
+LLC, and Labs' mission is "Sustaining the future of open source". It does this
+by gathering together an amazing group of software developers and letting them
+loose on a variety of open source projects: Numpy, Spyder, Jupyter, conda-forge,
+Numba and [more](https://labs.quansight.org/blog). Of course, the
+developers do not only volunteer their time. Quansight Labs is sponsored via
+
+- generous support from Quansight LLC,
+- grants like the one from [CZI for NumPy and
+  OpenBLAS](http://labs.quansight.org/blog/2019/11/numpy-openblas-CZI-grant),
+- and via [community work
+  orders](http://labs.quansight.org/blog/2019/05/community-driven-opensource-funded-development/)
+  from companies like D. E. Shaw who sponsor [work on
+  Dask](http://labs.quansight.org/blog/2019/08/labs-dask-update).
+
+I personally split my sponsored time between PyTorch and NumPy, and in my free
+time contribute to other projects like PyPy, helping with Python packaging, and
+more.
+
+In the past three months I have met a whole new group of developers. We all
+work remotely, and meet up on Slack and video calls. In the past, the entire
+team would meet once a year or so, until face-to-face gatherings were put on hold. But that does
+not stop the interactions. The organization, with over 20 developers, has
+little hierarchy. Interactions are direct and it is customary to meet up
+for virtual coffee or just to chat. Since we all come from different places
+and backgrounds, there are specialists with deep knowlege in many fields:
+mathematics, C++ and GPU programming, Javascript and web technologies, UX,
+testing, and more that I have not yet explored. The synergy makes it a win-win
+for all involved. When I get stuck, a world-class expert is available and we
+can all help each other move forward.
+
+Lucky me, you say, but why am I bothering to share my good fortune and make
+you all jealous? Here is one take-away for the experienced developers out
+there, keep posted for more as my journey progresses.
+
+I was very hesitant to make the leap into a new career. I am no spring chicken,
+and I was worried that I would not be able to find a suitable position. I only
+began my software developer career late in life after I tired of
+electrical design and contracting. But I am here to tell you that even an old
+dog can learn new tricks. I began my open source chapter as a volunteer,
+which improved my programming powers and led to meeting people outside
+my usual circle. This led to the NumPy grant that led to Quansight Labs. So if
+I could do it, others can too.
+
+Joining Quansight Labs was definitely the right step for me. I hope you also
+find your paths enjoyable and rewarding.