Speaker
Description
From LFX Mentee to Mentor: Lessons from Building Production Open Source
Open source isn't just about getting your first pull request merged—it's about continuously learning, contributing, and eventually helping others grow.
In this talk, I'll share my journey from being selected as an LFX Mentee, becoming a Linux Foundation Mentor, and contributing to projects like Google Summer of Code (CERN HSF) and Code for GovTech (C4GT). Along the way, I'll discuss the technical and collaborative skills required to work on production-grade open-source software.
We'll cover:
Getting started with Linux Foundation Mentorship
Understanding large production codebases
Writing production-quality backend code
Code reviews, testing, and release engineering
Fixing race conditions and improving system reliability
Becoming a maintainer and eventually mentoring new contributors
What mentors actually look for in pull requests
Lessons from collaborating with global open-source communities
How open source can accelerate your engineering career
Rather than focusing only on acceptance into mentorship programs, this talk highlights the journey of taking ownership, contributing consistently, and giving back to the community by mentoring others.
Any other info we should know?
Attendees will learn how to build a sustainable open-source career beyond their first contribution.
The session will cover practical engineering lessons from production Linux Foundation projects, effective code review practices, maintaining large codebases, and the transition from contributor to mentor.
Students interested in Linux Foundation Mentorship, Google Summer of Code, or long-term open-source involvement will leave with a clear roadmap for growing from a new contributor into someone who can guide and mentor others.
The audience will understand:
How large open-source organizations such as CERN and the Linux Foundation operate.
Best practices for contributing production-quality code.
Real-world backend engineering workflows including reviews, testing, benchmarking, and release management.
A roadmap for progressing from beginner contributor to project maintainer.
The presentation is technical but beginner-friendly and includes practical examples from real production projects.
Session author's bio
Akarsh Sahlot is a Software Engineer and open-source contributor working on backend systems, distributed infrastructure, and AI tooling.
He is a Google Summer of Code 2026 Contributor with CERN HSF, where he contributes to scientific AI infrastructure for neural data compression. He also serves as a Maintainer for the Hyphae project under Linux Foundation Energy and previously contributed through the Linux Foundation Mentorship program.
Akarsh has also been a contributor to Code for GovTech (C4GT), Summer of Bitcoin, OpenML, and AI-on-Demand, contributing to production open-source software across AI, cloud, and blockchain ecosystems.
He enjoys building distributed systems, backend infrastructure, and developer tools, and actively mentors students interested in open source and software engineering.
Special accommodations
HDMI-compatible projector with audio support, internet connection for live demonstrations, and a wireless presentation clicker if available.
| In Person Attendance | In-person |
|---|---|
| Level of Difficulty | Intermediate |
| Social Media | https://x.com/AkarshSahlot, LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/akarshsahlot |
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| Please confirm that there are included headshots of all speakers in their profiles | Yes |