51 lines
2.1 KiB
Markdown
51 lines
2.1 KiB
Markdown
---
|
|
title: "Getting into Open Source"
|
|
date: 2010-12-01T00:00:00+00:00
|
|
draft: false
|
|
canonical_url: https://www.viget.com/articles/getting-into-open-source/
|
|
---
|
|
|
|
When evaluating a potential developer hire, one of the first things we
|
|
look for is a profile on [GitHub](https://github.com), and I'm always
|
|
surprised when someone doesn't have one. When asked, the most frequent
|
|
response is that people don't know where to begin contributing to open
|
|
source. This response might've had some validity in the
|
|
[SourceForge](http://sourceforge.net) days, but with the rise of GitHub,
|
|
it's become a lot easier to get involved. Here are four easy ways to
|
|
get started.
|
|
|
|
## 1. Documentation
|
|
|
|
There's a lot of great open source code out there that goes unused
|
|
simply because people can't figure out how to use it. A great way to get
|
|
your foot in the door is to improve documentation, whether by updating
|
|
the primary README, including examples in the source code, or simply
|
|
fixing typos and grammatical errors.
|
|
|
|
## 2. Something You Use
|
|
|
|
The vast majority of the plugins and gems that you use every day are
|
|
one-person operations. It is a bit intimidating to attempt to improve
|
|
code that someone else has spent so much time on, but if you see
|
|
something wrong, fork the project and fix it. You'll be amazed how easy
|
|
it is and how grateful the original authors will be.
|
|
|
|
## 3. Your Blog
|
|
|
|
I don't necessarily recommend reinventing the wheel when it comes to
|
|
blogging platforms, but if you're looking for something small to code up
|
|
using your web framework of choice, writing the software that powers
|
|
your personal website is a good option. [The
|
|
Setup](http://usesthis.com/), one of my favorite sites, includes a link
|
|
to the project source in its footer.
|
|
|
|
## 4. Any Dumb Crap
|
|
|
|
One of my favorite talks from RailsConf a few years back was Nathaniel
|
|
Talbott's [23
|
|
Hacks](http://en.oreilly.com/rails2008/public/schedule/detail/1980),
|
|
which encouraged developers to "enjoy tinkering, puttering, and
|
|
generally hacking around." Don't worry that your code isn't perfect and
|
|
might never light the world on fire; put it out there and keep improving
|
|
it. Simply put, there's almost no code worse than *no code*.
|