Committer Profile: Elsa Zacharia

At a Glance:

• Involved in open source since: 2023

• Works for: IBM India

• Eclipse Foundation contributor since: 2023

• Involved in: Eclipse Platform

• Committer to: Eclipse Platform

• Eclipse Foundation committer since: 2024

1. What’s your background as a developer? 

I graduated with a Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science from A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technological University in 2022. Shortly afterwards, I joined IBM as a software developer. I initially spent a few months with the WebSphere team working in Java. Following that, I moved to the Runtimes team, which is responsible for developing and supporting language runtimes and frameworks such as Java and Eclipse.

2. How did you get involved in open source?

The Eclipse Platform was actually my first open source project. I had some idea of it and the concept of open source through my time at university, such as for coursework and academic projects. But I truly got into Eclipse after starting at IBM. 

When I began my career, the IBM team was already contributing to Eclipse Foundation projects. So open source wasn’t just something I picked up on the side, it was integrated into my daily work from the very beginning. I began to understand how open source works, how the community collaborates, and how development and maintenance are managed. Over time, I progressed from making small contributions to becoming more actively involved in the community.

Overall, I enjoyed this transition from being a user to being an active contributor. It feels great to work on developing and maintaining the very tools that I once used, and to be a part of the Eclipse Platform project and its community.

3. How did you then become a committer at the Eclipse Foundation?

My journey started with SWT, a graphical widget toolkit for Java, part of the Eclipse Platform I began by contributing to smaller issues in the SWT repository, which helped me become familiar with the community processes and the development standards followed within the community. After some time, I moved to the Platform UI repository, which opened up more learning opportunities. From there, my contributions gradually grew from smaller bug fixes to resolving more issues and adding features. That’s when I became a committer to the Eclipse Platform project.

4. What are the biggest challenges as a committer?

I’m still early in my career and have been working in open source from the very beginning. Stepping into the role of a committer while still learning has been rewarding, but at the same time, it remains challenging.

One of the biggest shifts was realising that you begin to represent a stronger voice in the community. It’s no longer just about writing code – you’re also involved in discussions, reviewing contributions, and making decisions that impact others. At first, I found it difficult to speak up or make technical calls, especially when other contributors had far more experience. So it took me some time to build confidence. But I’ve learned to ask questions openly, even as a committer. Just because you hold that role doesn’t mean you’re expected to know everything. It’s perfectly acceptable to ask for a second opinion, raise doubts, and learn through discussion. Open source is a collaborative space, and that openness to feedback is one of its greatest strengths.

At the same time, I’m learning to become more independent within the community, trying to build confidence in my decisions while staying open to learning from others as I grow. The Eclipse Platform is a very large codebase, and navigating and understanding it can be a bit overwhelming. Gaining a grasp of how the different components are structured and how they interact requires time and persistence. Working on SWT, in particular, brings its own technical challenges. As a platform-specific component, changes in one area can easily affect behaviour across all the supported platforms. This makes even small changes potentially risky, and we need a deep understanding of how each platform works.

Another challenge has been approaching code reviews with the right level of detail. It’s not just about checking whether the code works, but also thinking long term: will this be easy to maintain, and does it align well with the rest of the project? Are we overlooking any edge cases? These decisions demand focus, a lot of learning, and deep understanding. They also require constantly balancing code quality with contributor experience. On one hand, we want to maintain high standards and consistency. On the other hand, we don’t want to discourage new contributors by being overly strict.

Another ongoing challenge is driving innovation while also preserving backward compatibility. On one hand, we are constantly striving to innovate and move the Eclipse  Platform forward by bringing in new features. On the other hand, we don't want to make it hard for the existing user base to migrate.

5. What have been the highlights of being a committer thus far for you?

One of my main highlights has been collaborating with the community. As a committer, I get to work closely with contributors, review patches, and take part in important technical discussions. It has been a great learning experience so far. I’ve had the chance to listen to different perspectives, understand the reasoning behind decisions, and gradually build the confidence to contribute to those conversations. I was able to develop an understanding of the Eclipse Platform UI, how it works with the workbench, and how it interacts with the rest of the components. I’ve also had the opportunity to collaborate with excellent contributors and fellow committers, and to learn how to develop quality software while gaining insight into best practices in open source development.

I also enjoy contributing to Eclipse Platform releases, particularly by helping to create project plans for each release. In addition, I’ve been involved in gathering input from the community for the Eclipse IDE landing page, as well as working on tasks such as publishing to Maven Central for a release.

Another personal highlight was that I was fortunate to have my papers accepted at several national, international, and local conferences. I delivered a talk at Voxxed Days Luxembourg on "Monoliths to Modular: Navigating the Transition," on the Java application modernisation theme, based on OSGi modularity. I also delivered this talk at local meetups. We had our team's proposal accepted for EclipseCon, now Open Community Experience, and another one of my talks, “From Contributor to Committer: Accelerating Your Open Source Journey,” was accepted for Open Source Summit Japan.  Although I wasn't able to attend those events, having the papers accepted felt like a strong encouragement and a recognition of the work we do. All these were possible because of my engagement in the open source community at the Eclipse Foundation.

Being a committer has helped me see the bigger picture. Not just the technical aspects, but how we work together as a community, how we support one another, and how we take responsibility. I’m still learning every day, and I’m truly grateful for the opportunity to grow through this role.

6. Any advice for someone new to open source?

Open source can feel like a vast and overwhelming space when you’re just starting out. It’s completely normal to feel hesitant at first. When I first stepped into the open source world, I found myself sitting quietly with a lot of doubts in my mind. Over time, I realised that staying silent was holding me back. It was only when I started asking questions, no matter how basic they seemed, that things really began to change. Not everyone may be available to respond immediately, but more often than not, people are willing to help. So don’t hesitate to ask lots of questions. After all, open source is all about collaboration, and learning together in this space is a big part of the journey.

It’s also important to remember that contributing to open source isn’t just about fixing bugs or building new features. Contributions come in many forms: reviewing code, reporting issues, improving documentation, sharing feedback, or even simply expressing your opinions in discussions. Every bit counts. So don’t wait for a big opportunity or the perfect task. Start small with tiny improvements and gradually build up your confidence and involvement.

Try to follow other discussions happening in the community as well. Don’t focus only on your own pull requests. Take time to see what’s going on around you. Take part in community events whenever possible. And aim to be consistent with your contributions. Over time, smaller steps lead to meaningful contributions.