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‎src/collections/blog/2025/05-28-meet-the-maintainer-ian-whitney/ian-whitney-meshery-maintainer.png‎

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---
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title: "Meet the Maintainer: Ian Whitney"
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subtitle: "An interview series with open source maintainers"
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date: 2025-05-29 10:30:05 -0530
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author: Vivek Vishal
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thumbnail: ./ian-whitney-meshery-maintainer.png
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darkthumbnail: ./ian-whitney-meshery-maintainer.png
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description: Meet the Maintainer series with open source maintainer, Ian Whitney
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type: Blog
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category: Open Source
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tags:
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- Open Source
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featured: false
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published: true
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---
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import { BlogWrapper } from "../../Blog.style.js";
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import img from "./ian-whitney-meshery-maintainer.png";
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import { MeetTheMaintainer } from "../../MeetTheMaintainer.style.js";
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import { Link } from "gatsby";
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import ForkLift from "../../../../assets/images/app/hero/forklift.svg";
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<BlogWrapper>
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<MeetTheMaintainer>
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<div class="intro">
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<p>
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Continuing in our Meet the Maintainer series, we have{" "}
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<Link to="/community/members/ian-whitney">Ian Whitney</Link>. Ian is a
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maintainer of <Link to="/cloud-native-management/meshery">Meshery UI</Link>.
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In this interview, we get to know Ian a little better and learn about his
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journey as an open source project maintainer and with Layer5 community.
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="interviewer">
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<span>Vivek:</span>
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<p>
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Ian, thank you for joining me today. Many people inside and outside of the
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Layer5 Community have seen the effects of your contributions, but may not
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know the backstory as to who Ian is and how you arrived at your maintainer
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role. Indulge us. How did you discover the Layer5 community? What inspired you
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to stay?
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="interviewee">
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<span>Ian:</span>
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<p>
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My journey into Layer5 began with a desire to contribute to an open source project during Hacktoberfest 2024. I was looking for a welcoming community that was working on meaningful problems - somewhere I could operate at the intersection of what I already knew and where I wanted to grow. That's when I found Meshery and Layer5. After joining a newcomers meeting, I immediately felt it was the right fit as a place I could explore deeper cloud native topics, a new programming language like golang and contribute to the UI. What inspired me to stay was the emphasis on collaboration and developer growth. Before I knew it, I was actively contributing to Meshery and eventually invited to become a maintainer.
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="interviewer">
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<span>Vivek:</span>
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<p>
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You’re a <Link to="/cloud-native-management/meshery">Meshery UI</Link> maintainer. What does being a Meshery maintainer mean to you?
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="interviewee">
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<span>Ian:</span>
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<p>
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After being a contributor for some time, I looked to the maintainers as leaders that were champions of culture to guide and lift others up to contribute and grow their technical skills and leadership. I hope to be able to continue with this emphasis of helping others grow and develop.
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="interviewer">
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<span>Vivek:</span>
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<p>
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Have you worked with any other open source project? How does Layer5 compare?
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="interviewee">
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<span>Ian:</span>
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<p>
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I have not contributed to any other open source projects. Meshery was my first open source experience!
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="interviewer">
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<span>Vivek:</span>
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<p>
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<Link to="/projects">Layer5 projects</Link> have a number of active, open
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source projects. You’ve been consistently contributing to a few of them.
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Which one(s) are you currently focusing on?
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="interviewee">
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<span>Ian:</span>
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<p>
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I am currently focused on Meshery UI client and the supporting backend and ecosystems.
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="interviewer">
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<span>Vivek:</span>
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<p>What’s the coolest Meshery demo you have done/seen?</p>
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</div>
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<div class="interviewee">
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<span>Ian:</span>
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<p>
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The coolest demos I have seen always pertain to Meshery Kanvas. The interactive and intuitive UI are really cool to watch.
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="interviewer">
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<span>Vivek:</span>
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<p>What is your favorite feature or aspect of UI in this project, and why?</p>
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</div>
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<div class="interviewee">
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<span>Ian:</span>
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<p>
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The best feature of the project is the community and being able to explore technical areas with guidance of seasoned contributors.
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="interviewer">
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<span>Vivek:</span>
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<p>What is your hot tip for working with Meshery that others may not know?</p>
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</div>
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<div class="interviewee">
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<span>Ian:</span>
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<p>
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My hot tip is to just start and develop a habit to keep showing up.
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="interviewer">
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<span>Vivek:</span>
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<p>
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Where do you see opportunities for contributors to get involved within
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Meshery and Layer5 community?
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="interviewee">
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<span>Ian:</span>
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<p>
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There are alot of good first issues in the UI repo. We are currently trying to mature our testing efforts around Meshery UI client with playwright. This space is a great space to learn the product and improve the user flows while increasing test coverage.
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="interviewer">
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<span>Vivek:</span>
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<p>
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Let's get to know you a bit better with some quick questions: What's the emoji you use most often? Do you prefer movies or books? Would you consider yourself a morning person or a night owl? Over the past year, what's a project or accomplishment you're particularly proud of?
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="interviewee">
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<span>Ian:</span>😀
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<p>
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My favorite emoji is 😀. I prefer books - the more technical the better 😀. I'm a morning person with a cup of coffee.
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Over the past year, I feel most accomplished by trying to give back as much as I've gained. This includes efforts through code contributions, mentoring, or sharing what I've learned along the way. Being part of this community has shown me the value of collaboration, and I've made it a point to support new contributors, answer questions, and help others contribute. It's incredibly rewarding to see someone you helped gain confidence and start making meaningful contributions of their own.
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="interviewer">
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<span>Vivek:</span>
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<p>
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Do you have any advice for individuals hopeful to become Layer5 contributors
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or potentially maintainers?
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="interviewee">
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<span>Ian:</span>
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<p>
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Try to build a habit of learning, contributing and helping others.
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="note">
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<img src={ForkLift} />
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<p>
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The Meshery project moves at an impressive pace thanks to maintainers like
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Ian. Be like Ian. Join the{" "}
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<a href="https://slack.layer5.io">Layer5 Slack</a> and say “hi".
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</p>
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</div>
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</MeetTheMaintainer>
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</BlogWrapper>

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