Finding My Path: From FreeBSD Contributor to Foundation Co-op

The Waterloo Paradox

The University of Waterloo’s co-op program is both its greatest strength and its students’ most daunting challenge. As a Stream 4 Computer Engineering student, I barely had time to settle into my 1A term before the job hunt began. September rolled around, and suddenly everyone was polishing résumés and practicing for interviews. The university requires five co-op credits to graduate—a requirement that feels overwhelming when companies barely glance at first-year applications.

My WaterlooWorks experience was typical: three interview offers, all for web development roles. A California startup reached out directly through my résumé, only to ghost me after I replied. The other two—a company in Oakville and a startup in North York—interviewed me, but my heart wasn’t in it. I’d done enough web development to know it wasn’t my calling.

That’s when I remembered where I truly belonged: the world of operating systems.

A Five-Year Journey to My First Co-op

My journey with kernels and CPU architectures began long before university. At thirteen, I submitted my first patch to the FreeBSD Project. That first commit on May 5th, 2021, marked the beginning of a consistent contribution habit that carried me through high school. I spent my free time diving into man pages, updating C17 implementations in the base system, and helping import jemalloc 5.3.0—unconventional hobbies for a teenager, but they were what fascinated me.

I never expected rewards—seeing my name in git logs was reward enough. But those five years of contributions (always balanced with schoolwork as my priority) became my unconventional path to my dream co-op.

Operating systems are typically third-year material at university. Most students don’t touch kernel code until they’ve built a solid foundation in computer science fundamentals. Yet here I was, a first-year student with half a decade of practical experience in the field. After realizing this unique position, I reached out to a developer at the FreeBSD Foundation—someone I’d met during my two BSDCan attendances, sponsored by the foundation.

Against all odds, they offered me my first co-op position.

An Ambitious Roadmap

My plans for these four months at the FreeBSD Foundation are ambitious, perhaps overly so. The review process is strict, and time is limited, but I’m determined to contribute as much as possible:

• Infrastructure modernization: Migrating our code forge to Forgejo
• Documentation enhancement: Creating comprehensive kernel documentation (Doxygen + Sphinx + Breathe + Exhale) inspired by the Linux Kernel documentation
• Performance optimization: Adopting AVX/AVX2/AVX10 SIMD instructions in libc based on simd(7)
• Standards compliance: Implementing C23 and Single Unix Specification requirements
• Compatibility improvements: Matching Linuxulator and Linux KPI functionalities to the latest kernel
• Scheduler optimization: Enhancing sched_ule(4) for hybrid processors (Intel P/E-core, ARM big.LITTLE)
• Continuous bug fixes: Contributing to overall system stability

This first co-op is about mastering operating system fundamentals. Looking ahead, I’m already mapping out my trajectory: exploring CHERI and RISC-V ports for my second and third terms, with companies like Capabilities Limited and Codasip on my radar. Eventually, I want to delve into processor design with HDL and compiler development.

Swimming Against the Current

While my peers chase positions in web development or applied AI—fields increasingly dominated by LLM coding assistants—I’m deliberately choosing a different path. Too many startups treat co-op students as cheap labor, burning them out with repetitive tasks that teach little of value. Big tech companies, despite their prestige, often mean following a manager’s roadmap rather than exploring the technology that fascinates you.

I’m not chasing the highest salary or the most recognizable company name. I’m chasing knowledge in the field that has captivated me since I was thirteen. The FreeBSD Foundation saw something in me—perhaps the same passion for operating systems and CPU architectures that has driven me all these years.

The Value of Hard-Won Experience

Waterloo’s six co-op terms might seem grueling to some, but I see them differently: 24 months of deep, hands-on experience in a field that typically requires years of study to enter. While balancing operating systems work with undergraduate studies is challenging, these co-op terms offer something invaluable—the opportunity to learn by doing, to contribute to systems that power the internet’s infrastructure, and to work alongside developers who’ve shaped the technology we rely on daily.

The FreeBSD Foundation took a chance on a first-year student with an unconventional background. Now it’s my turn to prove that passion, combined with years of consistent contribution, can be just as valuable as a traditional academic path.

This is the first in a series about my co-op experiences at the University of Waterloo, focusing on operating systems, open source contribution, and choosing the path less traveled in tech.