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We think that a lot of developers want to contribute to open source, but don't do it for various reasons. We want to gather more insights about it and try to improve it.
We made a small survey with questions about open source. Would mean a lot to us if you take part. It should take only a couple of minutes.
Link: https://fdier.co/mm23y7
Seldom (Why?
- When I discover issues in an otherwise active library or starter, I fix them and submit a PR
- When I need a minor feature in a library and the codebase is readable
- When I study online courses, I submit PRs with notes and solutions to help others (and myself with motivation)
Why not?
- Because it's a thankless job (not getting paid for contributions)
- Because of lack of expertise
Yes, I do.
I have been contributing to the open-source community for ±10 years.
Many of my personal projects pass years unnoticed, but once in a while I receive an email from a stranger on the Internet saying “Thank you” for building a tool they found useful one way or another. Some times students, some times people without programming skills, some times IT professionals.
To answer your second question: “Why?” I make contributions to the open-source community as a way to pay back the solutions they have provided in the past. Nowadays I spend much less time building my own tools and more time searching online for open-source solutions, and fortunately I often find good ones, then I say “thank you” by reporting issues, giving feedback, implementing features, fixing bugs, etc.
Reasons for me:
* I like building things
* I feel like we are relying on OSS a lot, this only works if we contribute back, too
* It's a great way to improve (workflow, coding, communication)
* So far it was mostly a nice experience - I've got the pleasure to get to know some awesome folks
I rarely program outside of work. And if I do, I just want toy with some ideas, not to actually build something. Most of my learning is done on work time.
It certainly feels nice to take regular breaks from screens, bugs, things not working because the stars aren't aligned just the right way and solving abstract problems. Enjoying the simple tings.
The main reason is that it's important for me to contribute to the common good regardless of monetary reasons, if I can afford to do so. This is true both at a moral/political level, and at a personal level (feeling useful).
It's also a way to give back to projects I use, as I can't donate money to all of them as much as they are worth.
I also like to program just for fun (ie. not useful stuff), and today it's as easy to make my useless stuff open source rather than keeping it private; so I might as well make it open source, because sometimes other people actually find it useful.