Hello Meshery Community! 
First and foremost, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to all the maintainers, contributors, and MeshMates who have built such an incredible project and continue to foster a welcoming and collaborative environment. 
As someone eager to make meaningful contributions to Meshery, I wanted to start a discussion that could serve as a living guide for all new contributors—both now and in the future. If you were starting today as a beginner, what approach would you take?
More specifically, I’d love to hear from all MeshMates about:
What steps did you take to gain a strong foundational understanding of Meshery’s architecture?
What areas of the project would you suggest new contributors focus on to make the most impact?
What cloud-native concepts (e.g., Kubernetes, service meshes, observability) do you think are essential to grasp early on?
What were the biggest challenges you faced when you first started contributing, and how did you overcome them?
Do you have any favorite learning resources (docs, videos, courses, blogs) that helped you along the way?
How did open-source contributions shape your understanding of cloud-native technologies, and what has been your most fulfilling moment as a contributor?
Additionally, I’d love to know more about your expertise and contributions:
Which technologies do you specialize in (e.g., Golang, Kubernetes, GraphQL, frontend, DevOps, etc.)?
What key contributions have you made to Meshery that helped improve the project or community?
You may also drop links to your MeshMate profile, blogs you’ve written on this topic, past guidance you’ve shared, or even a quick talk with the Meshery community that could help new contributors! 
As Meshery evolves, new contributors will join, and the project will grow in different directions. The goal of this discussion is to create a long-term knowledge hub where newer MeshMates can benefit from the guidance and experiences of previous ones. 
This isn’t just for me—it’s for all current and future contributors looking to make an impact in Meshery and the broader cloud-native ecosystem. Your shared experiences, insights, and wisdom will undoubtedly help someone on their journey.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! Thanks in advance for your time, guidance, and for being part of this amazing community. 
