OpenMRS Google Code-In Student Nji Collins Wins Grand Prize

OpenMRS GCI student Collin Grimm is the first student from Africa to win Google Code-In’s Grand Prize.

What role did OpenMRS and its community play in your GCI experience?

The OpenMRS community was very helpful during my participation in GCI. I met a lot of Inspiring people and other participants who were always there to help out, if in need. Daniel Kayiwa, Ivange Larry, Shreyans Sheth, Tenzin Zomkyi and a lot more are some of the people who made GCI really fun and exciting! The community is very friendly and ready at all times to guide you in what ever issues you are facing.

What projects have you been working on for OpenMRS and what is the impact you see for each project?

During GCI I made a few contributions to the OpenMRS Core module, Reference Application module and also on the documentation (Wiki and Developer Manual). I feel that every contribution I made will have an impact one way or another when combined with every other person’s contribution in the OpenMRS community.

I created a few videos for OpenMRS on different topics which can be viewed on my YouTube Channel. Also, one task I did that I really enjoyed was transferring the OpenMRS Developer Manual to GitBook, which is now being used as an official documentation!

Also, I made a few PRs on the OpenMRS source code (had to squash a lot of commit though), and a PR on the reference application to allow login using only the keyboard! That was the most tricky task I did.

I completed some tasks, giving each one my best effort. Also, whenever I had the chance (given my busy schedule) I tried as much as I could to help community members who raised questions on the communication channels. My first task was to earn OpenMRS Talk badges, and it was a really fun one! Afterword, I gave myself the challenge to earn more amazing badges! (Especially the /dev/{n} badges)

The favorite part of my work with OpenMRS was being part of the very friendly community. Helping out people with issues everyday was really fun and educative. I got to know a lot more about the OpenMRS Platform just by helping others out. And getting to work with the awesome mentors and other students… It was just perfect.

You mentioned a desire to work in Silicon Valley, why is that? What specifically do you want to achieve and why?

Right now, my main goal is to complete my high school studies and enroll in a good university. I want to continue studying computer science in college. I have an interest in AI and Machine Learning and will like to study more in that field. Also, I’ll like to work at Silicon Valley one day because it is a place of inspiration to me.

About Collin Grimm

OpenMRS GCI student Collin Grimm is the first student from Africa to win Google Code-In’s Grand Prize.

My name is Nji Collins, but popularly known as Collin Grimm on the web! (And that’s how my friends call me). I’m a highschool student from Cameroon and currently in my final year.

When I am not busy doing school work, I love contributing to Open Source projects and learning new stuff related to technology. I have contributed to the OpenMRS organisation and a few other open source software orgs before. Also, I have participated in the Google Code-In twice which was very awesome.

Now apart from awesomeness and open source coding, I like Fine Arts and Painting. I have been doing arts since I was about 7 years old and have perfected the talent over time. I like painting as it gets my mind into a whole new universe of thoughts!

In a nutshell, I am a teenager (at the time of writing lol) who is passionate about software development and Open Source.

Fun fact: I can sing, and I believe I’m good at it! But I can’t dance at all. I can barely move my body when it comes to dancing