Leading 100+ Engineers Through High-Stress Sprints: My Wild Hacktoberfest & HNG Story

Two weeks ago, the idea of leading a team of 50 to 100 engineers through a critical open-source sprint would have seemed impossible. My expertise lies in AI product management and data science, not web development. When the HNG Internship began, assigning participants across web, mobile, design, and marketing created chaos, as they had to adapt to new domains.

I took on the roles of Team Lead, Product Manager, and Technical Lead, confronting imposter syndrome. Managing such a large, diverse team with varying schedules and connectivity posed constant challenges. Despite the pressure, I stepped up, embracing full responsibility and organization to keep the workflow smooth. My decision to lead was not altruistic; it was a survival strategy, a way to stay committed despite frequent fluctuations in team availability.

The sprint demanded high velocity, shipping a functional web app with over 50 real users testing it live. I delivered over 100 GitHub contributions, including direct commits, issue creation, and pull request reviews. Automating workflows with GitHub Workflows streamlined the process. Reviewing peers' first-time pull requests became a learning experience, teaching me about best practices, software architecture, and code quality.

Tying our sprint deliverables to Hacktoberfest added a celebratory element. We achieved 150+ contributions in just 14 days. Leadership lessons include overcoming imposter syndrome, focusing on constraints to drive action, ensuring asynchronous clarity, and continuously improving the codebase. AI tools are lowering barriers to entry, but problem-solving and team orchestration remain crucial.

In future posts, I will delve into the technical architecture of Zedu and my personal projects. If you're navigating high-stress sprints, managing distributed teams, or contributing to open source, let's connect and build together.