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Ask HN: Do you contribute to open source projects?

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Re: Ask HN: Do you contribute to open source projects?

#61

Post by lnsru »

DyslexicAtheist wrote: post #38
lnsru wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Big corp I work for will not allow me to write single line of code for open source projects. I might leak something confidential this way. The reality is not black and white like you try to paint it. Heck I had problems with leaking confidential information when supplied electrical diagram with mechanical drawing for one of the suppliers.

how much does your employer benefit from FOSS? if they do use it but prevent their own people from giving back it sounds like they're terrible people but also pretty dumb because they're losing out on building knowhow about those systems among their own workforce (I'm obviously not shocked if that is the case).

That’s exactly the case. We are allowed to do open source request, legal team writes a list what can we do (don’t share, don’t distribute, don’t release, internal use only, etc) and this goes on like this. Since legal team takes weeks, we write our own half baked solutions and use open source extremely seldom.

Re: Ask HN: Do you contribute to open source projects?

#62

Post by giomasce »

kevinmgranger wrote: post #7

I'm lucky enough to work for an employer that defaults to open. The project I'm working on right now is open source.

Me too, though not entirely by luck: when I was looking for a job I specifically went for smallish, open source friendly, remote friendly companies. Then I started contributing to the projects they worked on in my free time, met the people at FOSDEM and chatted with them. This made the hiring process much smoother.

So, maybe I was lucky the plan worked, but it was not just a coincidence.

BTW, that company is still in full hiring attitude, in case you like working on free software.

Re: Ask HN: Do you contribute to open source projects?

#64

Post by geminicoolaf »

There are many other ways to contribute to open source projects other than coding!

Depends on what your skillset is, you can help add and/or improve docs, design a logo/swag/icon, author a blog post about your experience with the project, etc.

Sharing a tweet for inspiration: https://twitter.com/DynamicWebPaige/status/10968202457155051...

Re: Ask HN: Do you contribute to open source projects?

#65

Post by JoeMayoBot »

For me, the primary motivation is giving to the community. I believe that doing this makes the world just a little better in one way or another. For every person who does this, the effect multiplies. Think about how someone else's open source made your life better. You could do that for other people too.

Re: Ask HN: Do you contribute to open source projects?

#66

Post by 123456789abcde »

I started contributing to a project named Vorta ( https://vorta.borgbase.com/ ) because:

1- I use the app and wanted to give back something.

2- I use many open source software and wanted to help a small open source tool.

3- Practice my coding skills on a open source project.

It does require some commitment from your part but you can help with small things that don't require a lot of your time, like writing documentation, translating, testing. You can commit maybe 1hr a day/week to write/translate documentation, or test a bug someone fixed.

I started doing translations because it was simple enough for me to begin understanding the projects processes and the code.

Also, it feels good that you are helping the project continue and be used by other people like you even if they don't contribute.

Re: Ask HN: Do you contribute to open source projects?

#67

Post by whateveracct »

I've been helped countless times by people filing issues with their problems & workarounds. So when I run into stuff, I try to do a good, thorough job documenting wherever I got to debugging a problem.

nixpkgs' issue tracker has helped (and taught!) me a lot of things :)

All the better if the issue leads to a PR by me or someone else :D

Re: Ask HN: Do you contribute to open source projects?

#68

Post by fluoridation »

nperez wrote: post #21

I would really like to, but I've only had time when it's necessary for my full-time work. ..sort of. I'm sure I could make time if I were determined enough, but it's hard to feel good about spending 8+ hours working in front of a screen, then spending more hours working in front of a screen for free. It's probably more of a mental + physical health concern than anything else.

Mind if I ask why you would really like to do it? It sounds like you view programming as just a job. A lot of the people who work on this stuff in their free time just view it as a hobby that they do for fun, not as a second job (although there are people like that, too). Why would you "like" to do something you apparently don't enjoy, and apparently would only do if you got paid to do it? I'm not being snarky, I'm honestly asking.

Re: Ask HN: Do you contribute to open source projects?

#69

Post by nperez »

fluoridation wrote: post #68
nperez wrote: post #21

I would really like to, but I've only had time when it's necessary for my full-time work. ..sort of. I'm sure I could make time if I were determined enough, but it's hard to feel good about spending 8+ hours working in front of a screen, then spending more hours working in front of a screen for free. It's probably more of a mental + physical health concern than anything else.

Mind if I ask why you would really like to do it? It sounds like you view programming as just a job. A lot of the people who work on this stuff in their free time just view it as a hobby that they do for fun, not as a second job (although there are people like that, too). Why would you "like" to do something you apparently don't enjoy, and apparently would only do if you got paid to do it? I'm not being snarky, I'm h…

I don't view it as just a job. It started as a childhood hobby and will always be a part of who I am, but as I've gotten older I've found it more important to balance it out with physical/outdoor/social activities. I'd just spend way too long not moving.

Re: Ask HN: Do you contribute to open source projects?

#70

Post by fluoridation »

nperez wrote: post #69
fluoridation wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mind if I ask why you would really like to do it? It sounds like you view programming as just a job. A lot of the people who work on this stuff in their free time just view it as a hobby that they do for fun, not as a second job (although there are people like that, too). Why would you "like" to do something you apparently don't enjoy, and apparently would only do if you got paid to do it? I'm not being snarky, I'm h…

I don't view it as just a job. It started as a childhood hobby and will always be a part of who I am, but as I've gotten older I've found it more important to balance it out with physical/outdoor/social activities. I'd just spend way too long not moving.

If it's a matter of balance, then there are two possibilities: either you are currently approximately in balance with the amount of programming you do at work and would not do any more unless paid to do so (maybe not even then?), or the amount of programming you do at work is slightly below the balance point and you could do allow yourself to do a little bit more at home; say, 30-60 minutes a day.

If it's the former, then regardless of what what place it used to have in your life, programming right now is just your job. There's no more room for it in other parts of your life because they're being occupied by the things you balance it out with. So my question stands: why would you like to do it?

If it's the latter, then why aren't you doing it already?

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