Make Allison a Backend Maintainer of GitLab

Overview

I have worked at GitLab as a Backend Engineer (recently Senior) since September 2019 working first on the devopsmonitor stage and then as part of the devopsverify grouppipeline execution group. I've authored 197 MRs that were merged into gitlab-org repos and I've approved 221 merged MRs to gitlab-org/gitlab.

I care about the maintainability of the gitlab codebase and I often test code from a user perspective and have caught Issues and bugs in code that way. I ask questions or bring in domain expertise where my expertise isn't as strong and ensure that the behavior of the merge request matches the issue description and that any follow ups are well documented. I've noticed that I've had numerous MRs merged with very little major feedback or misses lately.

Trainee maintainer issue: gitlab-org/gitlab#360962 (closed)

Examples of reviews

• Add Time to Restore Service DORA metric gitlab-org/gitlab!82510 (merged) +223 -83
  • Trainee Maintainer Issue Note
  • groupoptimize
• Add vulnerabilitiesCountByDay with vulnerability statistics gitlab-org/gitlab!38197 (merged) +117 -61
• Refactor navbar_shared_examples to fix the jh job failed gitlab-org/gitlab!84090 (merged) +15 -7
  • Trainee Maintainer Issue Note
  • JiHu contribution
• Throttle pipelines creation rate gitlab-org/gitlab!83969 (merged) +365 -1
  • Trainee Maintainer Issue Note
  • grouppipeline execution
• Track ci minutes on a monthly basis gitlab-org/gitlab!52915 (merged) +391 -16
  • Trainee Maintainer Issue Note
  • grouppipeline execution
• Product Analytics collector gitlab-org/gitlab!36443 (merged) +313 -0
  • Trainee Maintainer Issue Note

Examples of Review Notes

Issues I've caught

• Behavior did not match the Issue description UX
  • gitlab-org/gitlab!53479 (comment 507335804)
• Specified types did not match the documentation for the integration (snowplow) bug
  • gitlab-org/gitlab!36443 (comment 379310139)
  • gitlab-org/gitlab!36443 (comment 379310141)
• No need for arbitrary 5 minute delay between workers technical debt \
  • gitlab-org/gitlab!82510 (comment 875424607)
• JiHu contribution where the GitLab code coverage would decrease
  • gitlab-org/gitlab!84090 (comment 900108724)
• We should log current behavior before enforcing pipeline limits Application Limits
  • gitlab-org/gitlab!83969 (comment 896347779)
• Shared runner duration displayed with mismatched units
  • gitlab-org/gitlab!86983 (comment 943586884)

Notes that enhanced maintainability/readability

• Requested that the author derive dates within a spec
  • gitlab-org/gitlab!38197 (comment 389226260)
• Requested a follow-up to separate out display logic from the minutes code
  • gitlab-org/gitlab!67024 (comment 644321264)
• Requested a Regex be extracted into a variable with a name that describes it's purpose Community contribution
  • gitlab-org/gitlab!42231 (comment 414590016)
• Suggested additional code coverage using parameterized tables
  • gitlab-org/gitlab!36225 (comment 376713366)

Notes about Confirming Behavior Locally

• Confirmed that the auto dark mode code for merge requests was functioning properly
  • gitlab-org/gitlab!83696 (comment 896511066)
• Confirmed command line linter still behaved as expected
  • gitlab-org/gitlab!86547 (comment 935232711)

Things to improve

• Learn about more areas of the codebase.
• Bring in second opinions for reviewers and maintainers as much as possible, whether it's due to lack of knowlage of a certain area or to ask for opinions when an author pushes back.

@gitlab-org/maintainers/rails-backend please chime in below with your thoughts, and approve this MR if you agree.

Developer checklist

• Before this MR is merged
  • Mention @gitlab-org/maintainers/rails-backend, if not done (this issue template should do this automatically)
  • Assign this issue to your manager
• After this MR is merged
  • Request a maintainer from the #backend_maintainers Slack channel to add you as an Owner to gitlab-org/maintainers/rails-backend
  • Consider adding 'backend maintainer' to your Slack notification keywords

Manager checklist

• Before this MR is merged
  • The MR has been open for 5 working days
  • More than half of the existing maintainers approve the MR (see the maintainer list)
  • There are no blocking concerns raised (if there are, please follow https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/workflow/code-review/#how-to-become-a-project-maintainer)
• After this MR is merged
  • Announce the good news in the relevant channels listed in https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/#keeping-yourself-informed