(sprint_testimonial)= # Participating in the PyMC-Data Umbrella sprint: Interview with Sandra Meneses :::{post} Apr 7, 2022 :tags: community, sprint, contributing :category: testimonial :author: Sandra Meneses, Data Umbrella :image: 0 :exclude: Read about the recent PyMC-Data Umbrella sprint in this interview with Sandra Meneses, one of the participants who submitted a PR ::: ![Image with a picture of Sandra Meneses, the PyMC and Data Umbrella logos and the text "Open source contribution to PyMC"](https://blog.dataumbrella.org/images/blogs/sandra_pymc.png) 1. **Tell us a little bit about yourself.** I am originally from Colombia and I have been living in Berlin for the past 6 years. I moved here because I wanted to be a data scientist. I had experience working with databases and a sound knowledge about Statistics, as my major was in Industrial Engineering, therefore, I saw this as the natural path for me. I finished my masters in Data Science in 2018 and I have been working in Machine Learning since then. Initially, I worked with NLP, my last project (reciprocal recommenders) involved Graph Neural Networks, so now I am into graphs. I love what I do, it makes me happy knowing people are using what I help to build. 1. **How did you first become involved in open source? In what ways? What has been your experience contributing to open source prior to the Data Umbrella PyMC Sprint?** I have been trying to contribute to different projects, but it’s not always easy. Your questions or comments are not answered and you feel frustrated. I have got some small PRs merged in some projects which gave me a lot of satisfaction. It feels good to know that a piece of your code will be used by thousands, if not millions. 1. **How did you learn of the Data Umbrella PyMC sprint and what inspired you to attend?** I joined the sprint because I have heard recently about Data Umbrella and I really liked the concept, I checked their website and I found the PyMC sprint. I haven’t used PyMC much before the sprint. I only tried it once a year ago while I was reading the Statistical Rethinking book, but I have never used the library for a real project. That’s the value the Data Umbrella sprints bring, you don’t need to know the code base of a project to participate and they carefully planned different webinars to bring you up to speed. Apart from that, the social component is very appealing; when I tried to contribute before, I was alone in the process. In a Data Umbrella sprint, there are not only volunteers to help you, but also other people like you wanting to contribute and experiencing similar doubts. Read the full article here: [Interview with Sandra Meneses: Contributing to PyMC](https://blog.dataumbrella.org/sandra-sprints), April 2022