diff --git a/content/blog/summarizing-ying-zhu-lfx-mentorship/index.md b/content/blog/summarizing-ying-zhu-lfx-mentorship/index.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..a63137d27 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/blog/summarizing-ying-zhu-lfx-mentorship/index.md @@ -0,0 +1,77 @@ +--- +title: "Beyond the Patch: Continuing our LFX Mentorship" +date: 2025-08-14 +draft: false +image: + url: patch.png + attribution: +author: fdrees +tags: + - mentorship + - lfx + - cncf + - PostgreSQL + - Kubernetes +summary: "This summer marked our first time joining the CNCF’s LFX mentorship program—and +it was such a great experience that we couldn’t wait to share it with you." +--- + +This Summer we participated in the Cloud Native Computing Foundation's mentorship +platform LFX [for the first time](https://cloudnative-pg.io/blog/lfx-cncf-mentorship/). We thought it was a great experience, +which is why [we're participating again in the cohort that is starting in September](https://cloudnative-pg.io/blog/2025-term3-lfx-cncf-mentorship/). + +Curious about our work with [Ying](https://cloudnative-pg.io/blog/contributor-highlight-ying-zhu/)? Read on! + +## Summer 2025: Declarative Management of Foreign Data Wrappers + +Ying Zhu ([EdwinaZhu](https://github.com/EdwinaZhu) on GitHub), a student at Carnegie Mellon University, was +immediately drawn to CloudNativePG when she was looking for CNCF (Cloud Native +Computing Foundation) projects to contribute to, since she’s already involved in +the PostgreSQL _and_ Kubernetes communities. + +Ying worked on implementing [“Declarative Management of PostgreSQL Foreign Data +Wrappers”](https://github.com/cloudnative-pg/cloudnative-pg/issues/8063). The project aimed to extend the CloudNativePG operator to support +declarative configuration of foreign data wrappers through its Database custom +resource. + +## On mentoring + +Four CloudNativePG maintainers, Gabriele Bartolini, Leonardo Cecchi, Marco +Nenciarini, and Armando Ruocco, supported Ying in her journey. + +Gabriele shares how Ying worked hard, studied diligently, sought feedback, +and grew visibly throughout the program. "Her curiosity, passion, and initiative +stood out, and I hope that the psychologically safe environment we tried to +create played a key role in her progress." Gabriele is confident Ying will +continue to make valuable contributions to the project and the wider community. + +Reflecting on the collaboration, Leonardo said: + +> "She is not only a skilled engineer who writes beautiful code, but she also +brought many new, innovative ideas—and even sparked a few in us. Working with +new people is always an enriching experience for everyone!" + +Leonardo knows the value of mentorship from both perspectives. Professionally, +he has helped colleagues transition into new roles. Personally, he experienced +the impact of early guidance when his father taught him programming as a child +and continued to support him throughout his career. + +Looking back, there’s one piece of advice Leonardo wishes he had received early +on—well, two, actually. First: the true purpose of software is to help people. +Second: always weigh the value of the code you write—how much it helps—against +the effort it takes for you and your team, both now and in the long-term +maintenance of that code. A topic of much discussion in the CloudNativePG Slack. + +## What's next? + +Ying has done an outstanding job with her initial mentorship commitment, and +[the patch](https://github.com/cloudnative-pg/cloudnative-pg/pull/7942) she +has provided is almost ready to be merged—after the release of version 1.27.0 +the pull request will be incorporated into v1.28. + +We're so happy to work with Ying that we've decided to extend the mentorship +project (which ends on Aug 29) to its next phase, focusing on foreign servers +with issue [[Feature]: Declarative support for foreign servers #8063](https://github.com/cloudnative-pg/cloudnative-pg/issues/8063), +which will presumably enter 1.28 too. + +More to come! diff --git a/content/blog/summarizing-ying-zhu-lfx-mentorship/patch.png b/content/blog/summarizing-ying-zhu-lfx-mentorship/patch.png new file mode 100644 index 000000000..a1414af3a Binary files /dev/null and b/content/blog/summarizing-ying-zhu-lfx-mentorship/patch.png differ