How the Coronavirus could help Open Source
The consequences of the pandemic caused by the Coronavirus will most probably have profoundly negative effects on the world. However, I always like to try to look at the bright side and see how to make the most of any situation. And as most of us are forced to stay home to avoid spreading the disease, it might be a good opportunity to use our time to contribute to open source.
As a software engineer, I have the luxury to be able to work remotely. So as soon as the pandemic started to escalate, I didn’t think twice. However, everything cannot be done remotely, and I ended up with a good 40% of extra time. And not having to commute also helps. So I started wondering:
“Can I turn this crisis into an opportunity?”
The first thing I did was increasing the amount of time I spend on online learning platforms such as Coursera or Udemy. It’s the perfect opportunity to be able to stay home and acquire new expertise at the same time. So now, instead of spending 2 hours commuting, I’m working on new specializations.
That’s great, but there is a limit to what my brain can digest in a day. So naturally, I looked for a way to practice my new skills. As someone who uses a lot of open-source software, I have always been interested in contributing to this amazing ecosystem. However, there is always something more urgent to do: a deadline, a bug, a client to meet… just name it. But this might be the perfect opportunity.
Working on open source has many benefits:
- It’s a great way to exchange and learn from the community
- If you’re happy to use open source, others are too!
- Your professional profile will thank you later
On my side, I have been working on a project for years. I developed several prototypes, and I recently came to a stable version. I decided to jump on the occasion to start writing the documentation and to open source the code.
Open source has helped many developers and companies build great software. According to a Red Hat report¹:
“86% of IT leaders say the most innovative companies are using enterprise open source”
The more people are involved, the better it will be. So if you haven’t had the time to get involved so far, and you are stuck home, now might be the time.
References
(1) Red Hat (2020). The State of Enterprise Open Source — A Red Hat Report https://www.redhat.com/en/enterprise-open-source-report/2020
