Cluster API 1.4 just got released and I consider myself very lucky to be able to help with the release as the CI Signal Shadow and get to work with the fantastic folks in the community! If this sounds interesting to you, but you’ve no clue how to get started, then keep reading, and I’ll try to answer most questions people have when getting started with the release team.
What Is the Cluster API Release Team?
For each new release of Cluster API, there is a team of community members who are responsible for day-to-day release work, for example, Watching CI in the test-grid, Writing, and publishing release notes, highlighting release blocking issues to the maintainer, etc.
The release team is divided into a few subgroups with a Release Lead and a few shadows and also a lead and shadows in each subgroup as well. The subgroups are –
- Communication Team.
- CI Signal/Bug Triage/Automation Team.
My Personal Experience With the Release Team
I started with Cluster API 1.4 Release Team as a CI Signal Shadow. The CI Signal Team is responsible for monitoring the CI throughout the release and ensuring any test failures report weekly to the team and get fixed before the release. The team was very helpful in onboarding me as a complete beginner in the release team and clarifying every doubt I had regarding the release. I am still new in terms of fixing failures and that’s my improvement goal in the future.
Now I am continuing to work in the 1.5 release team in CI Signal.
Thanks to the entire release team for having me and helping me whenever I had any doubts.
Why Should you Consider Applying?
Joining as a shadow allows you to directly get mentored by the role lead and the broader release team. Not only do you end up learning about the release process, but you also get to learn a lot about how the open-source K8s project is structured.
How do I apply?
The Cluster API release team doesn’t have any official shadow selection process like upstream Kubernetes has. Anybody who is an active member of the community and has the enthusiasm to learn new things can come and help the team. One potential idea is to contribute to Cluster API and join release meetings every week and get involved in the next release cycle.
Aniruddha Basak 