Open Source

I was inspired today by this Medium article. I know inspiration will fade quickly, but I am hoping I can hold onto at least one thing from this article - it is never to late to start contributing to open source.

One of the reasons I am a web developer is because I care a lot about the internet - I want it to be fast, accessible, to connect people and to improve our lives. Contributing to open source technology might seem sinful to some people, particularly in other professions. Giving up my time and expertise, for free? Volunteering, but not for those in need, for other developers?

Well, in my infinite ignorance, I think it's a noble cause. To have the opportunity to contribute to a large, growing, evolving codebase would feel amazing, and I am hoping I will have that opportunity soon. Imagine when I get my first patch in a big project... It's going to feel like a huge achievement.

The article linked above says it's never to early to start contributing, and I suspect this is true, especially given I don't actually have to contribute code, nor do I have to contribute to a major library. There are some pretty massive projects out there with terrible documentation - Drupal, I am looking at you - so something like that seems like a natural place to start. Obviously I am not going to try to write documentation for Drupal though, because that would require understanding it, and honestly Drupal is nuts to me. My weekend homework (once this site is finished) is going to be researching the best way to start my open source journey - hopefully it is a long one.