Worked on the open-telemetry/opentelemetry-java repository, focusing on backend development and memory management using Java. Addressed a critical memory leak in the SdkSpan component by ensuring the spanEndingThread reference was released after a span ended, which allowed for proper garbage collection and reduced memory retention during long-running tracing workloads. Collaborated with another contributor to implement a regression test that verified the reference was correctly released, thereby improving test coverage and runtime stability. This work enhanced the reliability of tracing in high-throughput environments and reduced garbage collection overhead, demonstrating attention to detail in unit testing and collaborative problem-solving.