Developing with Fedora, first flock, and not the last!

Flock 2026 was my first Fedora conference, and it won’t be my last. I came home with new ideas, new friendships, and even a new project to work on for next year.

Appreciation

I want to start by appreciating the Flock organizers and volunteers. Putting together an event like this takes a lot of quiet, unglamorous work, and it showed in how smoothly everything ran. Thanks for that!

I’d also like to thank the event sponsors. Their support makes it possible for contributors from all over the world to come together, learn from one another, and strengthen the Fedora community.

I also want to appreciate my mentor, Jona, for pushing and supporting me until I finally made it. And a big thank you to Fedora for the sponsorship that got me there.

This year I also got to be part of the Mentor Summit organizing team myself and helped put together the very sessions I used to just attend as a newcomer. Full circle moment here 🙂

It has always felt rewarding to contribute to something I love, and Fedora has always been one of my favorite communities. Along the way, I’ve made great friends and met many wonderful people.

Finally, I’d like to thank the Nairobi GNU/Linux Users Group for supporting Fedora’s Recognition Program this year by sponsoring the trophies and keychains. It was great to see our local community play a part in recognizing Fedora contributors, and I hope it’s the beginning of a lasting tradition.

Our winners this time were; Fabio Valentini, Justin Forbes and Ankur Sinha in that order. Congratulations to you, and keep going🎉 You might want to hear from them in our podcast Fedora Contributor Recognition Program 056.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

I love how Fedora is so supportive of people from under-represented groups. Being at Flock felt like a reward for the work I’ve been doing with the community too – I had been organizing and mentoring from home. Being there in person and seeing that my work was appreciated meant a lot.

This is what I love about Fedora: it’s welcoming, and it lives by the Four Foundations every day.

I also believe the in-person inclusive checklist I worked on last year helped make this year’s event a success. I loved the venue – I guess that’s why we went back to the same place as last year. 

Honestly, I’d say everything was perfect. So hey, Flock organizers – the venue was perfect. 🙂

The talks

There was so much to take in: design, the mentor summit, docs and the docs initiative, lessons from FOSDEM and SCaLE, and so much more.

There was also the fbrnch workshop, Fedora data and analytics, and honestly too many good sessions to list them all here.

If there’s one thing I keep learning about this community, it’s that nothing happens unless you ask. People, or I would say, I personally don’t wait to be picked here, I just find ways to engage, go deep, and just ask, ask, ask. I wanted to help with speaker logistics this year for Fedora Linux 44 release party, so while I was checking open tickets, I found it and asked if I could manage it. And I did it. I know some people might hesitate to just raise their hand like that, but Fedora is always welcoming, and honestly, we can always use the support. Get involved, it feels good to contribute to something you love.

Funny enough, a friend paid me a compliment (I think?) that I know how to navigate open-source communities and always find something to do. I’m still not sure if that’s just a “community person” thing, or if it’s because I genuinely like understanding people and learning new things. Maybe both.

Candy Swap

The candy swap – I totally loved this! Super awesome idea. Sorry to disappoint that I couldn’t find time to bring anything, but I promise I will next time.

Mentor Summit

This was the 5th edition of the Fedora Mentor Summit, and it packed a lot into a few days. Lunch & Learn sessions ran across all three days, the informal, team-themed gatherings where you could step out of your usual circle and sit with people from Docs, Infra, Marketing, Packaging, Design, wherever you wanted to learn something new. No pressure, just conversation over food.

There was also a sticker-matching icebreaker, and everyone got a Fedora mascot sticker at registration, and the game was to go find your match and have a chat with them about anything open source.

Being on the organizing side of this for the first time gave me a whole new appreciation for how much quiet coordination goes into making something feel effortless for the people attending. Read more about how Mentor Summit came together here.

The hallway track

This is where the real magic happens. Daniel gave a brief, informal talk about eBPF, and honestly, that conversation ended up being one of the best parts of the whole trip.

I got to connect and meet team members, make new friends, and it was exciting just to sit and learn from them in a way a formal talk doesn’t always allow.

And out of that hallway conversation, I actually found another thing to do within Fedora. I have a project I’m hoping to finish and present at the next Flock – mentored by Daniel on eBPF. (Putting this here for accountability, so you can hold me to it. 😅)

I keep meeting super kind, good Fedora friends who are willing to mentor and give their time. It says a lot about how welcoming this community really is.

Everyone I met was kind, and always down to talk about their experiences and their love for open source – and how they hope more people get to know it, try free software, and enjoy it wherever they are, in their own languages. That last part is thanks to the i18n and translation teams across open source communities, doing work that often goes unnoticed.

Being early in my career, of course I had to ask people how they got in. I won’t turn this into a rant, but if I had to summarize the advice: be a problem solver, and contribute to what you believe in – something you enjoy or find genuinely interesting.

*Thanks for reading this far. What’s below isn’t a big deal – just the city.*

The city

I extended my stay by 3 days to explore Prague. I took so many pictures my phone storage nearly gave up on me – I found almost everything lovely and fantastic. I’ll link one of my best shots of the museum and the city below.

Thanks to my friend MatH for being my tour guide! 🙂

I totally loved it. It says something that the organizers knew just how magnificent this city is, and believed we’d love it again – and they were right.

I wish I could include every beautiful photo I took, but for now, these few will have to tell the story.

Take away

Every day with Fedora, I get to know more about open source, and I get to give back to my community back home.

I am Fedora❤️

If any of this made you curious, here’s where to start: come join us in Fedora Join SIG, or if you’re just getting started, the Beginner’s Guide is the friendliest place to land.

Your Friend in Open Source, and Open-Source Freedom Fighter.