How to choose an open source project

5-minute lightning talkJune 25, 2013

Susan Tan @ArcTanSusan

About Me

Beginner contributor in ● Django Documentation● OpenMRS

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More About Me● Software Engineer at

Flixster● Hackbright Academy

graduate

Flixster is hiring!

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Women in Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS)

● In the US today, women represent 25% of all software developers and 18% of students with CS degrees.

● Women are estimated to represent 3% of FOSS contributors.

6/25/2013 Source: Zhurakhinskaya

Why does it matter?

Source: Black Duck6/25/2013

Personal Motivations

● Access to different code bases: modules, APIs, front-end, database schema

● Freedom to explore new technologies

● The best developers are working in FOSS

● Give back to community

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How to pick an interesting project?

How large and how active is the developer community around potential project?

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Community

How familiar are you with the tools that the potential project relies on?

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Technology Stack

How extensive is the documentation both for users and for developers?

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Documentation

What are the resources available for new contributors?

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Resources

● GNOME/FOSS remote internships and Google Summer of Code● Code Montage● Open Hatch● Camille Acey's blog post - "Get Involved in Open Source TODAY!"● A checklist on how to contribute to an open-source project: http:

//labs.openhatch.org/foss-contrib-guide/● "Finding an open-source project" by Vanessa Hurst: http://www.

slideshare.net/CodeMontage/write-speakcode-finding-an-open-source-project

● Personalized Git Repo recommender: http://gitrec.mortardata.com/● An online book: http://open-advice.org/

Resources for New Contributors

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Cited Works"2013 Future of Open Source." Lecture. Web. Black Duck.Zhurakhinskaya, Marina. "Opening Open Source to Women." Women2.0. Women2.0, 15 May 2013. Web. 23

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Questions? Comments? Feedback?

Talk to me or tweet at me @ArcTanSusan