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Welcome Apache Fesod's New Committer

Zhongqiang Gong
Zhongqiang Gong

Apache Fesod New Committer

Hello everyone! It's a great honor to be invited by the Apache Fesod community to become a Committer. I'm thrilled to share my open source journey and how I got here.

Self-Introduction​

My name is Zhongqiang Gong (GitHub: GOODBOY008). I'm a software engineer passionate about open source and the Java ecosystem, and also an Apache Flink Committer and Apache StreamPark Committer.

First Encounter with Apache Fesod​

I first came across Fesod in September 2025, shortly after it entered the Apache Incubation stage. As a widely adopted Java spreadsheet processing library, it already had a solid user base — but under Apache governance, the project was brimming with room to grow. That combination of real-world impact and untapped potential drew me in, and I knew I wanted to be part of shaping its future in the open.

My Contributions​

Since joining the community, my contributions have spanned six key areas:

  • Branding — Drove the systematic FastExcel → FesodSheet transition across the entire codebase, from core classes and test suites to examples and user-facing error messages.
  • Code Quality — Eliminated duplicate utility classes, streamlined Lombok usage, and refined test assertion patterns to improve maintainability.
  • CI/CD — Introduced concurrency control, path-based filtering, and fork protection to GitHub Actions, making the pipeline faster and more cost-efficient.
  • Documentation — Authored a bilingual migration guide (English & Chinese) and enhanced the documentation site's navigation structure.
  • Testing & Performance — Established a shared testkit infrastructure that significantly reduced test duplication, and introduced JMH-based benchmarking for performance validation.
  • Architecture — Proposed and led discussions on examples module restructuring, modern testing patterns, and a long-term performance testing framework.

What I Learned​

Contributing to Apache projects taught me three things: community over code — consensus and transparency matter more than any single PR; start small, think big — my first small CI fix (#664) led to deep infrastructure improvements; and quality compounds — every small cleanup adds up to a healthier codebase over time.

Advice for New Contributors​

  1. Just start. Find a "good first issue" and take the first step — that's the hardest part.
  2. Read before you write. Understand the project's architecture and conventions first.
  3. Communicate openly. Clear issues and PRs earn trust faster than code alone.
  4. Think long-term. Proposals, docs, and infrastructure improvements are contributions too.
  5. Be patient. Consistency matters more than speed.

Looking Forward​

Becoming a Committer is a new beginning. I'm committed to improving Fesod's code quality, mentoring new contributors, driving the benchmarking framework forward, and supporting Fesod's journey toward Apache graduation.