Kotlin
A concise multiplatform language developed by JetBrains
Join the Kotlin Ecosystem Mentorship Program
TL;DR:
The Kotlin Foundation is launching a mentorship program that pairs experienced open-source maintainers with new Kotlin contributors to help them make their first meaningful contributions, with branded swag and a chance to win a trip to KotlinConf.
I still remember my first contribution to an open-source library. It was Typhoon, a widely popular dependency injection framework for iOS apps. The easiest part was the actual change. Much harder, but still manageable, was everything that came with it – from onboarding to learning the project structure to figuring out how things were tested.
What required the most effort in terms of emotional energy was something different – deciding that I was worthy of contributing at all. Typhoon was one of the most popular iOS libraries at the time. Most of the apps I knew depended on it. Folks from my community used it daily and considered it a very clever and complex project. I had to convince myself that I was good enough and that I wouldn’t make things worse.
Ironically, I actually did make things worse by introducing a pretty nasty bug. But the world didn’t end. I learned a lot and fixed it later myself!
The same thing still happens today to many people who want to make their first open-source contribution. In some ways, it has become even harder, as AI has made the picture worse. It’s now much easier to implement a change without deeply understanding the project and the problem being solved, which has led to a wave of low-quality PRs. As a result, many maintainers have become skeptical about reviewing contributions from outsiders.
That’s why we’re launching a new pilot program at the Kotlin Foundation – Kotlin Ecosystem Mentorship. We help experienced project maintainers team up with enthusiasts who want to make their first meaningful contribution, whether that’s code, documentation, or something else. Project maintainers act as mentors. They guide mentees through the full contribution journey – helping to set up the project and understand how the work is organized, reviewing changes, and giving feedback until a contribution is successfully merged. Mentees are expected to work on a real project, ask questions, respond to feedback, and gradually learn how to contribute independently.
By the end of the program, each mentor-mentee pair should have at least one meaningful contribution merged into a real project. Ideally, the project also gains a new regular contributor who continues picking up tasks in the future.
We’re starting with a small-scale pilot for roughly 10 pairs. It will run from mid-February, when mentor-mentee pairs will be formed, to the beginning of April. We expect it to be relatively lightweight, with mentors spending around 30–60 minutes per week, and mentees around 2–4 hours per week, depending on the task.
There’s no formal evaluation at the end. Instead, we’ll collect feedback from both sides. Every pair with a successfully merged meaningful contribution will receive a Kotlin-branded merchandise pack, and one randomly selected pair will win a trip to KotlinConf 2026, with all expenses covered.
We know that work on open-source projects is very demanding. The most important asset is people who are motivated to spend some of their time giving back to the ecosystem they rely on. We believe this program can help maintainers pass on not just knowledge but also confidence to a new generation of Kotlin open-source contributors!
How to apply
- If you want to participate as a mentor, please complete this survey. You should be a maintainer of a Kotlin open-source project and be ready to spend some time working with a mentee.
- If you want to participate as a mentee, please complete this survey.
FAQ
Q: What are the requirements for mentees?
We don’t impose any hard requirements beyond your willingness to contribute to a project. That said, the program is limited in size, so we unfortunately won’t be able to accept everyone this time.
Q: Is this limited to code contributions?
We accept what we call meaningful contributions – anything that a project maintainer (acting as a mentor) considers valuable for their project. This can include documentation, tooling, examples, or other forms of contribution.
Q: When will the pairs be formed?
We’ll get in touch with participants by February 16, 2026.
Q: Where can I get more details?
Feel free to contact us at hello@kotlinfoundation.org or join the #kotlin-foundation channel in the public Kotlin Slack.
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