Why I still don’t contribute to open source
I am such a hypocrite. A few months ago, I posted about overcoming my fear of contributing to open source software.
Since then, I still haven’t really participated. On Twitter, I commented that OSS looks like a shark tank to newbies, and I need to back that up.
The fact is, I actively contribute in some fashion or other in several open source projects. But I still feel very much like an outsider, as my contributions aren’t typically code-related.
So why am I (and I assume, many others) still an OSS wallflower?
At the profound risk of projecting my feelings onto other people, I would like to share some objections that I feel may cause new(ish) devs to shy away from contributing to open source software.
There’s no certification, ceremony, or merit badge that says, “you’re ready to contribute to OSS”. (Though there is one for afterwards.)
It’s not obvious where to start. From what I hear, a lot of OSS contribution comes because a person needs functionality in a piece of software that isn’t there, or finds a bug. They can submit a failing test case or even a patch. In my daily use, I don’t run into many of these situations. There aren’t many devs sticking their hands out asking specifically for help on a project, and fewer still who would be willing to take a newer developer under his or her wing.
Guidelines often make a maintainer’s life easier, and mine harder. Yes, maintaining an open-source project is an arduous, thankless task. But I’ve looked at contribution rules/guidelines that turn a simple idea for a fix into a bureaucratic brick wall worthy of Microsoft. A notable contradiction to this would be Wayne Seguin’s welcoming contribution page, complete with tutorial video.
Open source is for people who are better at this than me. I realize this is probably a copout for not shipping, but I am just not comfortable that I’m at a place where I could release software that’s good enough for actual developers to use.
Trying to contribute and failing makes me feel stupid. I’ve submitted several pull requests now and had 0 accepted with no comments as to why. It’s like the universe is confirming that yes, I am an idiot, and my “help” is not helpful. What a profoundly embarrassing waste of time!
There’s no time. I have a kid, a new gig, and a mounting set of responsibilities. It takes me 3-10 times the amount of time to write code as a more experienced developer. Now, my non-code-related contributions are now eating up my former “coding time”. Yes, it’s the universal excuse, and one that I think melts away when the other excuses are removed, but it bears mentioning.
It’s pretty lonely. I think most people figure this stuff out on their own, and so maybe expecting a hand to hold is too much. But is this really some spirit walk, where no one is allowed to accompany you, lest you learn nothing?
So yes, OSS can feel daunting, even like a shark tank. I don’t have all the answers to these issues, but I’d like to see more maintainers seeking contributions with some specificity, and then actively responding to pull requests. A call for additional test cases. Bug fixes. And yes, documentation.
For all the openness of Github, there’s no Quora/StackExchange-type system to let you know which projects are in need that you might be a match for. Seems like that’d be a good feature.
