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