Contributing to Apache Pinot not only honed my technical skills but also provided me with invaluable opportunities to work on a large-scale, real-world project in the workplace. In this talk, I’ll share my journey - from the initial steps of contributing to Apache Pinot to the challenges and triumphs that came along the way. I’ll discuss how open-source work accelerated my growth as a developer, taught me best practices for collaboration, and opened doors for unique career opportunities. If you're considering getting involved in open-source, I’ll offer practical advice on how to get started and the immense benefits it brings to your career.

DateTime objects are a staple in almost every codebase, but they often come with hidden complexities that lead to frustrating bugs and confusing decisions. In this talk, I’ll take you through the journey of working on an Apache Pinot PR, where DateTime handling was one of the key challenges. What started as an attempt to build a robust, feature-rich solution quickly turned into a lesson in the power of simplicity. I'll share how we simplified the approach to DateTime handling, why that decision was critical, and what it taught me about the importance of simplicity in software development.