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From User to PMC Member: Contributing to Open Source with Passion at Apache HertzBeat

· 3 min read
liutianyou

From Contributor to PMC​

About a year ago, I discovered Apache HertzBeat - an agentless monitoring system with out-of-the-box features that immediately caught my interest through its pure web-based operations. After starting to use it, I made my first code contribution. When that initial PR got merged, my confidence in open source contribution skyrocketed. Since then, I've continuously looked for opportunities to contribute through documentation improvements, feature testing, code refactoring, and more in the community issue list.

As my contributions grew, I gradually evolved from an "occasional code submitter" to a "deep project participant". Fixing bugs, optimizing documentation, designing new features... This journey not only enhanced my technical skills but more importantly taught me how to collaborate effectively within a community.

After becoming a Committer, my responsibilities expanded beyond coding to include community discussions, PR reviews, and helping new members onboard. This experience gave me a profound realization: Open source isn't just about code - it's fundamentally about human collaboration.

This year, I was honored to be nominated as a PMC member. Just like when I first received the Committer invitation, I felt the same excitement. I understand this recognition carries not just acknowledgment of past contributions but also the community's trust and expectations. As PMC, my responsibilities now include ensuring project health through strategic planning, community event organization, and requirement coordination. This role enables deeper involvement in core decision-making, from technical direction to ecosystem development, driving HertzBeat's continuous evolution.

Personal Growth​

My deep involvement in open source over this past year has brought significant growth:

  • Learning Best Practices: Exposure to standardized code, excellent designs, and community best practices for tools like Git, CI/CD, and e2e testing
  • Collaboration & Communication: Learning to write clear issue descriptions, participate in technical discussions, and resolve differences in distributed teams
  • Product Thinking Development: Understanding user needs of open source projects and transitioning from developer to maintainer perspective

Looking Ahead​

For the future, I plan to focus on:

  • User Support: Helping resolve user issues
  • Technology Promotion: Making Apache HertzBeat a top choice in monitoring through wider adoption
  • Contributor Ecosystem: Nurturing and developing more contributors for Apache HertzBeat

What is Apache HertzBeat?​

Apache HertzBeat is an open source real-time monitoring system emphasizing ease-of-use and lightweight design. It supports monitoring and alerting for servers, databases, middleware, and application services, providing a simple yet powerful solution for IT infrastructure monitoring.

How to Contribute?​

We welcome contributions of code, documentation, and ideas. My open source journey taught me that the hardest parts are starting and persisting. If interested, visit our contribution guide:
https://hertzbeat.apache.org/zh-cn/docs/community/contribution Feel free to email me at liutianyou@apache.org - I'm happy to help you take your first open source steps!

Acknowledgments​

Special thanks to Tom, Qingran Zhao, TJxiaobao, Jast for guidance, and all Apache HertzBeat community members for support.