By: Chia-Ping Tsai (ALC Taipei Lead)
At OpenSource4You (ALC Taipei), an Apache Local Community chapter based in Taiwan, mentorship is our core. We recently watched an incredible story unfold: a single student’s work on Apache Mahout inspired peers across Taiwan to join forces. What started as one person’s first patch has grown into a powerful team effort, resulting in academic papers and upcoming tech conference talks!
OpenSource4You (ALC Taipei)’s next generation of Apache Mahout contributors.
A Warm Welcome from the Community
“We are gratified that so many new people have found a home to be productive in the quantum space at Apache Mahout. The drive and initiative everyone is bringing are inspiring, and we are happy Wesley recently agreed to join our project management committee after bringing so many great team members in. We have made significant progress toward a full-featured quantum framework with the addition of the Quantum Data Plane (QDP) effort, which bridges traditional compute on GPUs to quantum compute for real-world workflows.”
— Andrew K. Musselman, Apache Mahout PMC Member
Contributor Spotlights
Ryan Huang
Apache Mahout Committer, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University
“Participating in open source isn’t about being a passerby; it’s about bringing your talent to the table and leaving your mark in the commit history.
When I encountered Apache Mahout’s QDP framework, I knew it was special—sitting at the intersection of quantum computing and GPU acceleration. Unlike theoretical school projects, contributing here meant letting the data speak. Optimizing quantum circuit encoding and outperforming frameworks like PennyLane gave me a sense of achievement classrooms never could.
More importantly, ‘The Apache Way’ taught me the true meaning of “community over code:” technical decisions must survive global debate, not just pass CI. Now, I’m excited to give back as a GSoC 2026 Mentor, passing this open source spirit to the next generation.”
Kuan-Hao (Rich) Huang
Apache Mahout Committer, National Taichung University of Education
“Keep pursuing what fascinates you, and you’ll find the real fascination is the pursuit itself.
Leaping from contributor to committer, my proudest move was bringing QDP to Mahout. Pushing GPU speed for QML and watching my local code reach the world fueled my passion.
I built my mindset on “community over code.” Apache’s meritocracy proved that on this global stage, age doesn’t matter—only strong code and pure passion earn trust.
This journey gave my future a powerful shot, locking in my goal to chase a Ph.D. I’m taking this Apache vibe forward to explore AI, LLMs, and quantum tech, ready to build my Tribe!”
Jie-Kai Chang
Apache Mahout Committer, Yuan Ze University
“For me, the greatest value of open source isn’t leaving your own name behind; it’s taking a path no one has walked before and slowly paving it into a road for everyone to travel.
Open source showed me that my work can have a real, global impact. Unlike school projects, contributing to an Apache project means collaborating with brilliant engineers worldwide.
What struck me most about “The Apache Way” is meritocracy. The Mahout community values your actual contributions over your age or title. I realized that in the open source world, no one dismisses you just because you’re a college student. If you’re willing to commit, your code speaks for itself.
A project goes far not just because of great technology, but because of a community that nurtures its people. To pass on the guidance I received, I am now preparing to serve as a Google Summer of Code (GSoC) 2026 Mentor, ready to help the next generation step into the open source world!”
Guan-Ming Chiu
Apache Mahout PMC Member, National Taiwan University
“‘Community over code!’ Technology is one thing, but people staying to contribute is the real key to a project’s survival.
Driven by my interest in quantum computing, I shifted from Apache Airflow to Mahout. Mentored by Chia-Ping, Guan-Hao and I drafted the first QDP proposal, learning Rust and CUDA from scratch. Since Mahout lacked active maintainers, we leveraged Taiwan’s OpenSource4You (ALC Taipei) community to build a dedicated student team.
Our efforts to revive the project even caught the attention of an ASF Board member! This journey proved to me the true power of “community over code:” great tech matters, but a passionate community keeps a project alive.”
Guan-Hua Wen
Apache Mahout Contributor, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology
“Leaving value behind is more important than leaving a title.
I joined Mahout relatively late. When Jie-Kai invited me, I knew little about CUDA or quantum computing, but I believed in learning by doing.
Thanks to our weekly OpenSource4You (ALC Taipei) meetings, I didn’t contribute because I was ready; I became ready by contributing. Growing from struggling with code to reviewing PRs was a profound mindset shift.
Mahout taught me that true open source spirit is about taking responsibility for the community. Titles are temporary. What truly lasts is the value you create and the people you fought alongside. In the open source world, it’s not about who you are, but what you leave behind.”
From Local Mentorship to Global Impact
The quantum computing transformation these young engineers brought to Apache Mahout is just the beginning. Acting as a bridge, OpenSource4You (ALC Taipei) is actively connecting participants with industry partners to provide the resources needed to help Mahout grow.
To further root the open source spirit in the next generation, we are partnering with SITCON (Taiwan’s largest student computing conference) to share this journey with university students nationwide. Ultimately, we hope to bring these achievements to this year’s Community Over Code Asia event in Beijing (August 7-9, 2026), showcasing Mahout’s new direction and this limitless next generation of open source developers to the world!
Acknowledgments
A special thank-you goes out to AMD Taiwan and Mr. Jeffrey Huang for their crucial support in providing our team with high-performance computing resources. Having access to the powerful AMD MI300x has been instrumental in allowing our contributors to fully realize and enrich the quantum computing capabilities within Apache Mahout. We deeply appreciate your commitment to empowering the open source community.
