https://prajwal-banakar.github.io/tags/apache/Recent content in Apache on Prajwal's BlogHugoenWed, 13 May 2026 05:30:51 +0000https://prajwal-banakar.github.io/posts/my-gsoc-journey/Fri, 01 May 2026 10:00:00 +0530https://prajwal-banakar.github.io/posts/my-gsoc-journey/<h3 id="introduction">Introduction</h3> <p>I&rsquo;m Prajwal, and this is the story of my journey from a small village in Karnataka to being a Google Summer of Code contributor with the Apache Software Foundation. This is not a tale of overnight success, but one of struggle, perseverance, and the transformative power of open source. I hope my story can guide and inspire students who are on a similar path.</p> <h3 id="humble-beginnings-and-a-spark-of-interest">Humble Beginnings and a Spark of Interest</h3> <p>I come from a small village called Kuppinakeri in Karnataka. My parents are farmers, and I grew up in a humble environment. After scoring 86% in my 10th grade in 2020, I got into Morarji Desai PU college, a government institution that provided free education. This was my first time living in a hostel. My elder brother, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/gurubanakara">Guru Prasanna</a>, who works at Morgan Stanley, has been my guiding light. On his advice, I chose PCMCs (Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Computer Science) over PCMB. It was here that my love for computer science, particularly C++, began to blossom, thanks to my supportive lecturer, Sanjay sir.</p>