WEB: Add benchmarks grant write up as a blog post

web/pandas/community/blog/asv-pandas-grant.md

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+Title: What we learned on the Pandas Grant
+Date: 2022-03-23
+
+# What we learned on the Pandas Grant
+*By Dorothy Kabarozi B. and Lucy Jiménez*
+
+We want to share our experience working on **Improvements to the**
+**ASV benchmarking framework and diversity efforts** sponsored by
+[NumFOCUS](https://numfocus.org/) to the [Pandas](https://pandas.pydata.org/)
+project.
+
+This grant focused on two aspects: the first one is to improve the
+[asv library](https://asv.readthedocs.io/en/stable/), a tool used by
+benchmarking Python packages and used by Pandas; this project was
+unmaintained, and the codebase was quite old; additionally, it didn't
+adhere to modern standards, had Python 2 compatibility code that could
+be removed, and also the CI could be improved. The second aspect is
+encouraging more underrepresented groups to contribute to Open Source
+projects. This grant was held over 10 weeks, working around 20 hours a
+week. It was developed by Dorothy Kabarozi B. from Uganda and Lucy
+Jiménez from Colombia, under the mentoring of Marc Garcia.
+
+### Why were we part of the grant?
+Even when we come from different backgrounds, Dorothy from systems
+engineering and Lucy from computational chemistry, we have always been
+interested in participating and contributing to open-source software
+projects. For that reason, we have been running the PyLadies meetups in
+our communities (PyLadies Kampala, PyLadies Colombia) and have always
+been on the lookout for any opportunities that led us to be mentored
+contribute.
+
+It all happened through Marc Garcia; he had put out a call on Twitter
+to mentor ladies from diverse backgrounds. Dorothy got to be part of the
+Pandas mentorship group. At the same time, Lucy was co-organizer of the
+SciPy Latam conference, and it is from here she met Marc, who was the
+speaker at that conference, and through this mutual connection, we were
+able to learn about this benchmarks grant.
+
+In brief, by attending conferences, meetups, and social media, you can
+make connections and links that will lead you to these opportunities.
+
+### Learning from the source code
+At the beginning of the grant, we started from the basics. We noticed that
+we could improve our skills in managing Git and GitHub. For example, we had
+some troubles with the git workflow, so we had to read and practice more
+about it. One of the valuable resources was the explanation from Marc about
+[how to make an open-source contribution](https://tubedu.org/w/kjnHEg72j76StmSFmjzbnE),
+which we invite you to take a look at it.
+
+We learned a lot from the source code and gained immense knowledge about
+best practices and code quality through this grant. We have been working
+on: updating the code to improve the style to follow the PEP-8 guidelines,
+removing Python2 compatibility code and six dependencies, and finding unused
+code and removing it. We also learned about GitHub actions, and we started
+building the CI on GitHub actions for the asv package; for that we have been
+working on add linting with Flake8, testing with pytest, building docs, and
+running CI on different python versions.
+
+Additionally, we were able to identify bugs in the source code, review
+pull-request from other contributors, and create new issues, something we
+thought only maintainers could do but not contributors. Finally, not only
+is reviewing the code itself a learning experience, but also the structure
+and folder hierarchy in the project started to be more transparent.
+
+### Our experience
+For this grant, we had a fantastic Mentor, Marc Garcia. He was always
+willing to share his knowledge, explain unclear concepts and share helpful
+feedback. Whenever we would implement that feedback, it felt easier to work
+on more issues faster. We felt the growth from the time we started on this
+project, and we will carry it along as we contribute to more Open Source
+projects; this all goes back to Marc for his fantastic mentorship. It is
+also important to note that we received feedback from other contributors,
+stakeholders, and core devs during this process, which gave us a broader
+look at the work in Open Source projects.
+
+We also built a strong teamwork partnership. We helped each other a lot as
+we had numerous one-on-one calls to understand the tasks better. We always
+looked for ways to support each other from the technical side and encouraged
+each other when needed. For us, it was professional and human growth.
+
+### Running an Open Source Software Sprint
+The knowledge and experience acquired in this process allowed us to
+organize two virtual sprints. The events were carried out in the company
+of local PyLadies communities; the first one was on February 26th with
+[PyLadies Kampala](https://twitter.com/pyladieskla?s=11) and on March 21
+with [PyLadies Colombia](https://bit.ly/sprint-asv).
+
+While organizing these events, we learned how to organize and conduct a
+virtual Sprint. Some participants in the sprint ultimately had no idea
+about open source, and it was great explaining open source concepts and
+taking them through the Git workflow. Finally, they were able to make their
+first contribution. We learned how to follow up on contributors, helping
+them along the way until their PRs were merged and by reviewing their
+contributions on Github.
+
+The most outstanding achievement was mentoring new contributors and
+sharing the knowledge acquired from this grant with others participants
+in our respective communities. Most new contributors after the experience
+have gone ahead to apply for outreach and the upcoming google summer of
+code to apply the skills they learned from these sprints.
+
+### Conclusion
+In conclusion, we learned a lot from this experience from the code part,
+the workflow on the open-source projects, how to be resilient in difficult
+moments, and encouraging more women and people from our local communities
+to contribute to Open Source projects.
+
+Finally, if you want to be part of an open-source project, we invite you
+to check out GitHub repos for different projects you are interested in and
+search for the easy issues to work on and get started. Also, you can contact
+the maintainers of the projects with specific questions, search for the
+open-source communities in your country or contact us for more help.
+
+### Acknowledgments
+Many thanks to [NumFOCUS](https://numfocus.org/) for giving us this support
+through small grants and Marc for the excellent mentoring he generously
+gave us throughout these weeks.
+
+We are looking forward to contributing more and impacting our communities
+and the open-source community!
+
+___
+If you liked this post, you can connect with us through these channels:
+
+*Dorothy Kabarozi*
+* [GitHub](https://github.com/dorothykiz1)
+* [Twitter](https://twitter.com/kizdorothy)
+* [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dorothy-kabarozi/)
+
+*Lucy Jiménez*
+* [GitHub](https://github.com/LucyJimenez)
+* [Twitter](https://twitter.com/JimenezLucyJ)
+* [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-j/)