How the Indic Wikimedia Hackathon Kochi Made Me a Better Mentor

When I look back at the last few years of my journey in the Wikimedia technical ecosystem, there are a few moments that feel like quiet turning points. The Indic Wikimedia Hackathon Kochi 2025 (24–27 July 2025) became one of them.

The story began when I received a message from Krishna Chaitanya Velaga asking if I would be interested in mentoring students at the event. I still remember reading it twice. Despite contributing actively, I didn’t expect to be entrusted again with a role like this – especially so soon after my first mentoring experience at HackByte 3.0. It felt like one of those moments when the community quietly taps you on the shoulder and says, “We see you.”

I said yes instantly.

About the Hackathon

The hackathon aimed to create a beginner-friendly, hands-on space for students in and around Kochi – including members of the amFOSS community – to explore Wikimedia’s technical world. While participants were expected to have some prior open-source experience, this event served as a guided runway to get started with:

• MediaWiki core and extensions
• Web-based tools
• User scripts and gadgets
• Bots and templates
• Other technical workflows that support Wikimedia contributors

Beyond onboarding, the hackathon served as a collaborative hub. Developers, technical writers, designers, and long-time Wikimedia contributors came together to solve real technical challenges, clear outstanding bugs, and support each other’s learning. It was a space where expertise met curiosity, and where contributors at different stages of their journey exchanged skills and stories.

A Community Coming Together

When I arrived at the venue, the atmosphere had its own rhythm: students setting up their systems, mentors discussing tasks around tables, volunteers arranging cables like lifelines, and posters of free knowledge pinned proudly across the walls.

The hackathon was designed as a gentle entry point into Wikimedia tech for students from Kochi and members of amFOSS, many of whom had prior open-source experience but had never stepped into the world of MediaWiki. The organizers wanted participants to not just learn, but build – to get their hands into the code that powers some of the world’s largest public knowledge platforms.

It was the kind of space where someone with a half-written patch and someone with years of MediaWiki experience could sit side-by-side without hesitation.

The Work, the Learning, and the Moments That Stayed

The curated task list gave everyone a clear direction, but the magic was in the small moments that weren’t on the spreadsheet.

One of those moments was a long conversation with Ranjith Siji, Co-Founder of the Wikimedians of Kerala User Group. We started talking about our ongoing projects, then drifted into deeper reflections – how local communities shape global contributions, how newcomers see the movement differently, and how the future of Wikimedia tech needs both simplicity and resilience. It felt like talking to someone who’s seen the movement evolve, and is still deeply invested in nurturing its next wave.

Another moment came from a completely different direction: I finally understood Transclusion – properly. Not just how it works from a user perspective, but the mechanisms behind the scenes. Ironically, it was connected to a task I was helping participants with, so their questions pushed me to explore more deeply. It was a reminder that mentoring is never a one-way street; you grow alongside the people you guide.

And then there were the participant interactions – someone struggling with Gerrit setup, another debugging a persistent API error, a group excited after their first successful patch. Every win felt like a collective cheer.

Where I Grew as a Mentor

Mentoring here taught me things I didn’t expect:

• Patience in the face of wildly different learning curves: At one table, I’d be explaining how to claim a Phabricator task; at another, helping debug an edge-case failure in a tool.
• Asking better questions instead of giving quick solutions: Helping participants discover answers made them more confident than simply pointing them to one.
• Balancing teaching with listening: Sometimes the real challenge wasn’t technical – it was helping someone overcome the hesitation of contributing to a large open-source project.

Across the three days, something shifted in me. I arrived as a mentor, but I left with a stronger sense of responsibility – to make Wikimedia tech less intimidating, more welcoming, and more accessible to anyone who wants to contribute.

Gratitude

Events like this do not happen by accident. They’re the result of countless quiet efforts. A huge thank you to KCVelaga, Nivas, Harigovind CB, the organizing team IMWDUG, and the volunteers who were everywhere at once – troubleshooting, guiding, coordinating, and making the hackathon feel seamless. Their work created a space where learning became joyful, and where newcomers felt truly welcomed into the movement.

Closing Reflection

Walking out of the venue on the final day, I realized something simple but powerful: every hackathon is more than code, tasks, and patches. It’s a reminder that Wikimedia grows because people choose to show up for one another – whether it’s by mentoring, documenting, fixing bugs, or just asking good questions.

Kochi gave me more than a mentoring opportunity. It reminded me why I’m part of this movement in the first place: to help others find their way into a world where knowledge is shared freely, openly, and without barriers.

And if even one newcomer from this hackathon continues contributing, continues learning, and continues shaping the future of Wikimedia—then every moment spent mentoring was worth it.