added blog post for yash sharma

src/collections/blog/2024/11-01-meet-the-maintainer-yash-sharma/post.mdx

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+---
+title: "Meet the Maintainer: Yash Sharma"
+subtitle: "An interview series with open source maintainers"
+date: 2024-11-01 10:30:05 -0530
+author: Hargun Kaur
+thumbnail: ./yash-sharma-meshery-maintainer.png
+darkthumbnail: ./yash-sharma-meshery-maintainer.png
+description: Meet the Maintainer series with open source maintainer, Yash Sharma
+type: Blog
+category: Open Source
+tags:
+  - Open Source
+featured: false
+published: true
+---
+
+import { BlogWrapper } from "../../Blog.style.js";
+import img from "./yash-sharma-meshery-maintainer.png";
+import { MeetTheMaintainer } from "../../MeetTheMaintainer.style.js";
+import { Link } from "gatsby";
+import ForkLift from "../../../../assets/images/app/hero/forklift.svg";
+
+<BlogWrapper>
+<MeetTheMaintainer>
+
+<div class="intro">
+  <p>
+    Continuing in our Meet the Maintainer series, we have{" "}
+    <Link to="/community/members/yash-sharma">Yash Sharma</Link>. Yash is a
+    maintainer of <Link to="/cloud-native-management/meshery">Meshery UI</Link>.
+    In this interview, we get to know Yash a little better and learn about his
+    journey as an open source project maintainer and with Layer5 community.
+  </p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="interviewer">
+  <span>Hargun:</span>
+  <p>
+    Yash, thank you for joining me today. Many people inside and outside of the
+    Layer5 Community have seen the effects of your contributions, but may not
+    know the backstory as to who Yash is and how you arrived at your maintainer
+    role. Indulge us. How did you discover the Layer5 community? What made you
+    stay?
+  </p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="interviewee">
+  <span>Yash:</span>
+  <p>
+    Thanks for having me, Hargun, I got into open source about two years ago,
+    not really expecting to get so wrapped up in it. I found Layer5 and the
+    community through a Twitter post and thought, "Why not?" So, I jumped in.
+    The more I got involved, the more I saw how pumped the team and maintainers
+    were about Meshery and helping others, and it just got me hooked. I started
+    with some smaller, more routine issues but quickly moved on to bigger
+    challenges and started getting recognized. One time, during a meeting, Lee
+    said something that stuck with me, it’s become one of my go-to quotes. He
+    was like, "You don't start working like a maintainer after becoming one, you
+    act like a maintainer and do the work before you're promoted." That really
+    clicked for me. So I started thinking like a maintainer, doing the stuff
+    that isn’t always glamorous but really matters. Eventually, I took on more
+    responsibilities, and before I knew it, I became a maintainer.
+  </p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="interviewer">
+  <span>Hargun:</span>
+  <p>
+    You’re a <Link to="/projects/meshery">Meshery</Link> maintainer and have been for some long time now. What does being a Meshery maintainer mean to you?
+  </p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="interviewee">
+  <span>Yash:</span>
+  <p>
+    Honestly, being a maintainer is about taking responsibility for a big part
+    of the project with taking care of small things too at the same time, and I
+    really enjoy that. One of my favourite things about it is that it lets me
+    think more broadly about what we’re doing. As a contributor, you often focus
+    on the details, but as a maintainer, you get to step back and see the bigger
+    picture, which is super rewarding.
+  </p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="interviewer">
+  <span>Hargun:</span>
+  <p>
+    Have you worked with any other open source project? How does Layer5 compare?
+  </p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="interviewee">
+  <span>Yash:</span>
+  <p>
+    I’ve contributed to other open source projects, but I didn’t really get a
+    chance to get involved deeply. I think it’s mostly because a lot of those
+    projects don’t have an active community, which makes it tough to get
+    involved. However, when I joined Layer5, everything changed. I quickly
+    figured out how to start contributing, and the community managers were super
+    helpful and always around to give a hand. You just don’t see that kind of
+    support in a lot of other open source projects.
+  </p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="interviewer">
+  <span>Hargun:</span>
+  <p>
+    <Link to="/projects">Layer5 projects</Link> has a number of active, open
+    source projects. You’ve been consistently contributing to a few of them.
+    Which one(s) are you currently focusing on?
+  </p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="interviewee">
+  <span>Yash:</span>
+  <p>
+    Absolutely, Layer5 has a number of active open source projects, and I’ve
+    contributed to quite a few of them. But my main focus has been on Meshkit,
+    Sistent, Meshery Extensions, and, of course, Meshery itself.
+  </p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="interviewer">
+  <span>Hargun:</span>
+  <p>What’s the coolest Meshery demo you have done/seen?</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="interviewee">
+  <span>Yash:</span>
+  <p>
+    Haha good one, this year I got a chance to represent Meshery at KubeCon
+    which was really an amazing experience for me. I gave a demo of Kavas and
+    during representation and during that I was collaborating with another user
+    which really showed Meshery’s capability.
+  </p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="interviewer">
+  <span>Hargun:</span>
+  <p>What is your favorite feature in Meshery UI?</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="interviewee">
+  <span>Yash:</span>
+  <p>
+    Meshery is an extensible platform and I like this feature of it, it gives
+    Meshery a whole new powerful capability to interact with various
+    technologies in the ecosystem and use it as an extension. My favourite one
+    is Kavas, though.
+  </p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="interviewer">
+  <span>Hargun:</span>
+  <p>What is your hot tip for working with Meshery that others may not know?</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="interviewee">
+  <span>Yash:</span>
+  <p>
+    I definitely encourage you to join the meetings. They’re a great way to
+    connect with the maintainers in real time. Text chats just don’t do it
+    justice when it comes to letting them really get to know you. Video calls
+    are way better for that and give you a chance to show yourself to the
+    project leaders and maintainers.
+  </p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="interviewer">
+  <span>Hargun:</span>
+  <p>
+    Where do you see opportunities for contributors to get involved within
+    Meshery and Layer5 community?
+  </p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="interviewee">
+  <span>Yash:</span>
+  <p>
+    Meshery is growing very fast, it is the 9th fastest growing project under
+    CNCF. There are many opportunities are open for you to contribute. Start
+    with joining community and introducing yourself and sharing your skill. This
+    will help community managers to put you in right direction based on your
+    skills. All areas are consistently in need of help, including best at this
+    time to contribute like Meshery's CLI client, Meshery Server and digital
+    marketing.
+  </p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="interviewer">
+  <span>Hargun:</span>
+  <p>
+    Your most often used emoji? Your preference: movie or book? Morning person
+    or night owl? What have you worked on in the past six months that you’re
+    particularly proud of?
+  </p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="interviewee">
+  <span>Yash:</span>
+  <p>
+    I’d definitely recommend reading 'Six Easy Pieces' by Richard Feynman. It’s
+    a fantastic book, especially if you’re a science lover like me, haha.
+  </p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="interviewer">
+  <span>Hargun:</span>
+  <p>
+    Do you have any advice for individuals hopeful to become Layer5 contributors
+    or potentially maintainers?
+  </p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="interviewee">
+  <span>Yash:</span>
+  <p>
+    Good question, I’d say think about the long-term. People are more likely to
+    invest in you if they see you’re committed for the long term. If you seem
+    like you’re just looking for a quick win, it sends a message to the
+    maintainers that they might not want to put too much into you. And of course
+    try to make high-quality contributions; it doesn't matter if it’s small or
+    big.
+  </p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="interviewer">
+  <span>Hargun:</span>
+  <p>
+    In other words, whether your contribution is big or small, it sounds like
+    aiming for high-quality contributions that add value to the projects is key.
+  </p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="interviewee">
+  <span>Yash:</span>
+  <p>You summarized it perfectly, yes I agree with you Hargun.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="note">
+  <img src={ForkLift} height="100px" />
+  <p>
+    The Meshery project moves at an impressive pace thanks to maintainers like
+    Yash. Be like Yash. Join the{" "}
+    <a href="https://slack.layer5.io">Layer5 Slack</a> and say “hi".
+  </p>
+</div>
+
+</MeetTheMaintainer>
+</BlogWrapper>