Have you ever wondered why there are so many rock star developers working on open source projects? Wondered why it is usually not a single developer but multiple great engineers working on a project together? Is it maybe that they have more time on their hands than others? Or is it maybe, just maybe, that those people became better engineers because they started contributing to open source? In this talk, I’ll share some lessons learned from contributing to open source, the people I’ve met, worked with and most importantly, learned from. We’ll gain some insight into the work of some of my fellow engineers that I met along the way and how open source had a significant impact on their careers. We’ll also put ourselves into the position of an open source maintainer to learn about contributions which, though they may not be obvious, play a vital role in the trajectory of an open-source project.
Together we’ll figure out how open source can help you grow as a software engineer - one contribution at a time.
