Hey everyone! 
My name is Preetham, and I’m currently in my 3rd year of BTech in Computer Science from India. I’ve been following this community for a while now, absorbing everything I can and I finally feel ready to introduce myself properly.
I’m aiming for GSoC 2027 with Jenkins, and I figured the earlier I start, the better. I recently made my first contribution to the Jenkins ecosystem a fix merged into the AuditFlow Plugin (PR #10) and honestly, that experience completely changed how I look at open source. It stopped feeling intimidating and started feeling like something I genuinely belong in.
On the technical side, I’m comfortable with Java and OOP , I’ve worked with Python, SQL, and have been building things on the frontend with React and JavaScript. More recently, I’ve been spending a lot of time understanding how backend node.js , express.js servers work building my own APIs and learning how to consume existing ones.
For Jenkins specifically, I’ve started digging into Maven, plugin internals, and the broader Jenkins architecture. I want to understand the system deeply not just contribute patches, but actually grasp how it all fits together.
I know I have a lot to learn, and that’s exactly why I’m here early. If any of you have suggestions on where a new contributor should focus whether it’s specific plugins, areas of the codebase, or just habits that helped you I’d genuinely love to hear them.
Looking forward to learning from everyone here.
Thanks for having me 