FSOSS 2018 Recap
Reflecting on my first FSOSS experience
A few weeks ago, I was issued a new kind of challenge. I was asked do something that I’ve been wanting to for awhile now, but didn’t have the guts to pursue. No, it was not to ask someone out on a date but to give a talk at FSOSS (the Free Software and Open Source Symposium).
FSOSS is a yearly conference where individuals from different professions come together to present, discuss, and explore communities within the realm of open source. Keynote speakers this year discussed open source for scientific discovery, security awareness, and even how it impacted sports!
And so I registered alongside Ray Gervais, Margaryta Chepiga, and Mera Gangapersaud to participate in a 40 minute panel labelled “Open Source: Four Students Stories”.
A Spectrum of Sorts
As our talk was essentially for students by students, we wanted to share each of our stories and what open source meant to us. What I appreciated the most from our group was the spectrum of experience that we all brought to the table. Some had many months while others had a few weeks, allowing the audience to relate on many different levels.
To facilitate discussion, Mike Hoye, Engineering Community Manager at Mozilla, whom we met earlier this year, gladly stepped up to the plate.
Diving into everyones stories would span multiple blog posts — instead, I’ll let their work speak for itself:
In Retrospect
Summarizing our talk is a challenge in and of itself, but here are some points of interest:
- Don’t be afraid: Everyone starts somewhere 👶🏽. Taking that first leap is always the hardest but there are individuals who are very willing to help you along the way. Developers are usually available on contact channels like mailing lists, Slack, Twitter or IRC!
- Embracing a new mindset: Most of us are used to thinking that this is my code 👤. In the open source world everyone is working together, meaning it’s not my, but us, our, and we 👥👥
- Connect with meaningful projects: Interested in aviation, gaming, mental health, or art? Definitely invest in projects that align with personal interests!
- Be patient — it might take long: Patience is something that you’ll need to develop. Think a fix will be easy? It might take 2 hours or 2 weeks, depending on much yak shaving is required alongside the solution.
- Start small: I don’t know about you but I had to use training wheels the first few times I rode a bike. I also fell down and scraped myself more times than I’d like to admit. Your open source journey may very well be just the same — starting with small bugs to learn the process is a fundamental step that should not be skipped.
- Losing any egos: Chances are that you’ll be working with developers who are experienced in what they do. At the exact same time, there will be willing contributors who might be new to all of this. Be humble, helpful and keep an open mind whenever possible.
Final Thoughts
Hacktoberfest is a time where we come together as a community and build for a greater cause. As much as it’s about code, pull requests and how many t-shirts and stickers you rack up, I think many individuals, including myself, overlook a lesser known side of Hacktoberfest — helping new comers who haven’t even contributed develop an interest in open source.
In the moments when I listened to Marg, Mera and Ray speak, I glanced at the audience and realized that these individuals were where I was one year ago. They were interested in stories about projects that resonated with them, like mental health with If Me, or entranced by the charisma of the Top Women in Tech writer. And so for me, the best part of FSOSS was not giving our talk, but the amount of giggles, smiles, and nods we received from these future contributors. Oh, and the few who knew what Reader Rabbit was 🙌🏽
Cheers,
Sean 👨🏽💻
