What My Dream Job Looks Like

As I reach the halfway point of my Outreachy internship, I’ve found myself reflecting not just on what I’ve done so far but on the kind of work I want to keep doing long after the internship ends. My project revolves around improving the Cat-a-lot JavaScript gadget on Wikimedia Commons, a community-driven tool used for batch categorization of images. At first glance, it sounded like a straightforward front-end task. In reality, it turned into a crash course in dealing with legacy code, complex global infrastructure, and the importance of designing for real-world contributors, not just ideal users.

So far, I’ve:

• Modernized and debugged client-side tools that were never built with today’s JavaScript in mind.
• Extended support to new content models, like JSON for the Data namespace, which required rethinking how UI and logic interact.
• Improved localization so the tool can support users in non-Latin scripts.
• Automated development setup on Beta Commons using Pywikibot, creating a smoother workflow for future developers.
• Explored UI modernization by evaluating the feasibility of migrating to Codex, a Vue-based UI framework, across various skins and mobile platforms.

Each task was more than just a feature request. It involved understanding community expectations, navigating technical debt, and designing solutions that were both forward-compatible and respectful of the Wikimedia ecosystem. And I loved it.

So what does my dream job look like?

It looks like this:

• Working on tools with real users and real-world complexity. I enjoy the nitty-gritty, dealing with messy edge cases, adapting to unexpected workflows, and making legacy systems behave more like modern ones.
• Modernization with purpose. Migrating from outdated architectures to newer frameworks isn’t just trendy, it’s an opportunity to clean up decades of duct tape while maintaining functionality and reliability.
• Developer experience advocacy. Whether it’s building automation scripts, improving onboarding, or writing internal tools, I want to make life easier for the next person who inherits the code.
• Open collaboration. I value transparency, documentation, and collective ownership. My dream job includes contributing to open source or working in open ecosystems where knowledge-sharing is built into the workflow.
• Continuous learning. I’ve learned more in these few weeks than I had in months on my own. I want to keep that momentum going by exploring new stacks, new domains, and new ways to solve problems.

Outreachy helped me realize that I’m not intimidated by large codebases anymore. I don’t want to write code in a vacuum rather I want to improve systems, shape user-facing tools, and help teams ship better software by bridging the gap between the past and the future of tech.

That’s what my dream job looks like.

Until next time,

Adiba 😊