Contributing to open source can be one of the best ways to start or advance your career. But there are often barriers to getting started in Open Source. What are some of the reasons that prevented you from getting started in OSS?
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I don't know where to start from. with the little knowledge I have, I sometimes think it's not going to be enough for contributions.
I have a life outside of work that keeps me busy and no time during work hours. Contributing to open source has never been a priority for me and I don't believe every developer needs to contribute.
Totally on board with you!
I'm new to Software dev and open source. I'm having a hard time finding a Mentor.
I'm in the process of seeking out my first one to start with. It's on the to-do list for Friday.
There are several reasons why people may not be contributing to open source:
Lack of awareness: Some people may not know about the benefits of contributing to open source or may not be aware of how to get involved.
Time constraints: Many people lead busy lives and may not have enough time to dedicate to contributing to open source projects.
Lack of skills or experience: Some people may feel that they do not have the necessary skills or experience to contribute to open source projects.
Fear of rejection or criticism: Some people may be hesitant to contribute to open source projects due to a fear of rejection or criticism.
Lack of incentives: While contributing to open source can be rewarding, some people may feel that there are not enough incentives to make it worth their while.
Competition from paid work: Some developers may prioritize paid work over open source contributions due to financial reasons.
Overall, it is important to recognize that contributing to open source is not the right fit for everyone, and there are many different factors that can influence whether or not someone decides to get involved.
Thanks for sharing!
I have occasionally contributed smaller things to projects, but for the most part, I just prefer to write my own stuff from scratch. It may not be as useful to other people unless any of my little projects miraculously takes off (which I doubt, given how they're often purpose-built for my way of doing things), but it's just way more enjoyable than spending time experimenting with, implementing and polishing a feature only to be told that's not really the direction the project is being taken.
And on top of that so many open source projects are just so needlessly over-engineered that any meaningful change requires a lot of up-front work in getting to know the system.
Finding time to contribute among all other daily life activities; I'd say that's the biggest obstacle.
One of the biggest barriers for me was imposter syndrome. I was worried about the quality of what I could produce, and I was concerned that I would look stupid if I didn't know what I was doing. I think a lot of newer devs share this mindset.
Also, open source projects were either too small or niche to interest me, or so huge and advanced that I didn't even know where to begin. It was extremely difficult to find the middle ground I was looking for, in a project that was also tolerant of newer devs.
What I really wanted was a community that had projects going that I could grasp, had a team that wanted to lead newer devs in getting comfortable working in a group, felt safe for inexperienced people to make mistakes and learn, and focused on the people involved as a priority over the final product. Kind of a bridge between tutorial hell and being ready to venture into the greater dev world.
I never did find that community. So I'm building it ;)
That sounds awesome! At Virtual Coffee, we do a big open source month in October where we pair with contributors and support maintainers. I’d love to know more about your community.
It's in a planning stage and I've been making some decisions on how best to proceed and reaching out to a few people for insight. There's a good chance it will be an extension of another rather well know community based on some discussions I've had, which I wasn't expecting but is possibly a huge leg up. I can start putting the time into infrastructure starting about May 1, and so far I have a handful of people interested in the leadership / mentorship side as well. Once things start building I'll start making some noise around the internet to get people involved.
I've never really gotten into open source. If I'm really honest, it's probably because I enjoy starting new things more than working on existing things, and I like to show off random things that I 'invented'. Also, since I never got started, there is probably some factor of momentum involved that would kick in if I just gave it a try.
I'd like to say that the real reasons are that I only have so much time, family comes first, and there are better things to do with my time. While these are certainly factors, they are probably not the primary reasons.
I also have certain opinions about open source, mostly already articulated. The fact that open source lets people see what the software is actually doing (and not other stuff), and opens the opportunity to provide feedback is great. But there clearly is an issue with funding and the expectation that good products must be made by a community of unpaid developers on their own time.
That being said, after talking to Nick Taylor and others, a large percentage of successful developers working at top companies got there because they stood out as open source contributors. Maybe this shouldn't be the case (as brought up by Chris Krycho in his New Rustacean Podcast Bonus Episode 5), but it is the reality we live in, especially in the current job market. Recently, I have been looking for ways to make myself stand out as a candidate, and that probably will involve diving into open source contributions.
Open Source contributions is one of the most public ways you can demonstrate your communication skills, coding abilities, and ability to navigate a large codebase.
That said, would you ever flip it: you create and maintain a project, and work with contributors? I’ve really enjoyed that experience.
Perhaps! I do have a few projects I created that are open source, but they aren't huge. I just need to find something that I really enjoy and dive in.