Contributing to Open-Source

Open-source in 1998

Halloween documents

Open Source Initiative

Open-source today

Governments are embracing open-source

Code.gov

github.com/governmentbg

Organizations with the most open source contributors

Microsoft 16, 419
Facebook 15, 682
Docker 14, 059
Angular 12, 841
Google 12, 140
Atom 9, 698

Source: GitHub Octoverse 2016

We have a different problem now

Open-source is taken for granted

Maintainers ≤ Contributors < Users

We need more contributors!

But why to contribute?

Giving back to the community?

For the greater good?

contribute because it helps
YOU

Who am I?

Haralan Dobrev

@hkdobrev

CTO @ Clippings.com

clippings.github.io

My name is Haralan Dobrev. You can call me Harry. I am hkdobrev everywhere on the web. I am currently CTO at this small and cool startup Clippings.com.

I am not very experienced and I don't have any big popular open-source repositories of my own. However, when I see something I don't like, I fix it. I scratch my own itch.

I maintain a few packages we've open-sourced at Clippings and I'm added as a collaborator to a couple of other repositories.

Contributor, not a maintainer

So I am mostly a contributor, not a maintainer. But I've learned a lot over the last few years from participating in open-source.

I learned a lot about best practices. I improved my communication skills significantly. When I was starting to use a new interesting library at work, I then later explored it, found out what I was missing and started contributing. And vice-versa, when I was contributing to an interesting project and if later I introduce it in my day-to-day work I already knew a lot about it and what it would or wouldn't do.

Benefits from contributing

Learn from the best

Communication

Tools and best practices

Workflows and processes

Problem-solving

Personal image

You will improve your own personal image before your peers and employers. You will get more visibility and be able to present some of your good work to the public.

Many employers look for open-source contributions when considering whether to hire you. This may not be always fair, but it is common. However, the skills you will acquire and the things you will learn during your open-source contributions would actually make you a better candidate as well, not only the number of pull requests, stars or followers.

Remote work

Save the world

How to contribute?

Start now

Start now. As I said before, scratch your own itch. So start with something you use. Whether it is your favourite PHP framework, Ruby gem, or JavaScript package. Chances are, you already use an open-source library which you are quite familiar with than most people. There could be a small feature you are missing or a nasty bug that's bothering you. The important is to start now. Communicate with the maintainers the bug, the feature, the documentation fix and get involved now!

Report an issue

Familiarise yourself with the project

Improve the documentation

Add a test

Pick an issue and take action

What is stopping you?

Things you don't know

Licensing

Forking

English

Impostor syndrome

The impostor syndrome is quite common. It describes the state of mind when you have an unrealistic low self-esteem and feel fear of being exposed. Many people feel it at work and it is also common in open-source. People stop themselves from contributing, because they think they are not worthy and don't have anything meaningful to contribute.

In the IT industry this is especially common as there are always people smarter than you and they are quite visible. However, you need to believe in yourself.

There is always something you can contribute. From translations, to issues, to ground work.

Contributing to Open-Source

Open-source in 1998

Halloween documents

Open Source Initiative

Open-source today

Governments are embracing open-source

Organizations with the most open source contributors

We have a different problem now

Open-source is taken for granted

Maintainers ≤ Contributors < Users

We need more contributors!

But why to contribute?

Giving back to the community?

For the greater good?

Who am I?

Haralan Dobrev

Contributor, not a maintainer

Benefits from contributing

Learn from the best

Communication

Tools and best practices

Workflows and processes

Problem-solving

Personal image

Remote work

Save the world

How to contribute?

Start now

Report an issue

Familiarise yourself with the project

Improve the documentation

Add a test

Pick an issue and take action

What is stopping you?

Things you don't know

Licensing

Forking

English

Impostor syndrome

Your company doesn't allow open-source

You don't know how to code

You don't know Git

You don't know where to start

Open-source at work

Myth: Only big companies do it

Myth: We don't have the money

Myth: Agencies cannot do open‑source

Talk about it, act now

Mental health

Open-source mental illness

Depression

Diversity

Conclusions

You need to find your own drive

Take action

Start digging

Pass it on