Becoming an Apache Hadoop Committer: The Journey of iQIYI’s Zhu Qi and Open‑Source Insights

Recently, the Apache Software Foundation announced a new batch of Hadoop Committers, and Zhu Qi from iQIYI’s big‑data team was invited to join as a Hadoop Committer – the first from iQIYI.

Zhu Qi has been contributing to the Apache community since 2018 and has had more than ten thousand lines of code merged, making him the inaugural iQIYI Hadoop Committer.

The article explains what a Hadoop Committer is, how they are selected, and the responsibilities they carry. Committers are nominated by the Project Management Committee (PMC) and must demonstrate deep understanding of the project’s codebase and architecture. They are expected to be primary contributors to at least one major feature, with a concrete amount of merged code as evidence.

Becoming a Committer also requires a strong grasp of distributed‑computing concepts, high code quality, and the ability to solve real community problems. Currently, there are over 230 Hadoop Committers worldwide, with more than ten from China.

Zhu Qi’s background is notable: he majored in chemical materials for his undergraduate studies, switched to computer‑related fields in graduate school, and developed a strong interest in big data and Hadoop. At iQIYI, he works in the intelligent platform department, where he frequently examines Hadoop’s core source code, building his code‑reading skills.

He emphasizes that contributing to open source starts with small inputs—fixing typos, improving documentation, or addressing minor bugs—and gradually progresses to deeper code contributions. Over time, contributors can influence major features, design documents, and even lead sub‑tasks.

iQIYI has cultivated an open‑source culture by establishing an Open‑Source Working Group, defining standardized contribution processes, and encouraging both internal and external open‑source projects. The company regularly feeds back its own improvements to the Hadoop community, such as enhancements to the scheduler, GPU resource management, elastic scaling, and federation support.

The article concludes with a three‑stage guide for newcomers to open‑source contribution:

Entry: Familiarize yourself with a project’s “how to contribute” guide and start with small issues like documentation fixes.

Intermediate: Tackle production‑level bugs or performance optimizations that affect real users.

Ultimate: Contribute to major feature designs, write design documents, and lead development of substantial modules.

Zhu Qi stresses that sustained effort and continuous learning are essential for long‑term success in open‑source communities.