Contribute to opensource – The Right Way

Contributor Mode

I call “Contributor Mode” that moment I use to code patches, localize or organize events (no specific key combo here – I grew with videogames).

In other words, when I am highly focused in these activities, doing something I like (oftentimes) and I strive to do it the right way. Usually I enter Contributor Mode to have a break between 2 different job activities, to relax a bit.

This makes distinguishing among work and contribution periods easier. Often these two activities may be on the same level of importance, but I prefer shifting my attitude in performing them, for later I may use the outcome of contribution for a job project.

Being able to split way of thinking it’s very important in understanding the differences, the quality of what you are doing, why you are doing it and also it helps appreciating more what you do.

The contributor, basically, never forgets why he is doing something: A contributor needs a goal to point to as a North Star to be motivated to do things, not just for the sake of them, but because of the desired outcome.

To make the goal – that for a contributor is not earning his lunch – more enticing and motivating, there are different practices to improve the quality of the time spent. Don’t forget a contributor is using one of the most valuable currencies (not speaking about blockchains here) time.

This currency needs to be spent wisely, the boring parts of the workflow, or the ones prone to express more issues, need optimizations, it’s better to prevent issues where more attention is needed and also an understanding of how to delegate or ask for help is needed.

Question is how you can move in the Open Source world in a comfortable way, starting by doing something that not only helps the project, but is also enjoyable, interesting and thrilling without abandoning the floor?

Simple! You have to learn to live inside it.

How can you live in an open project without any previous experience in contributing to one? Consider that today open source is not anymore just for hobbyist/hobbits but for professionals, check job offers in the IT if you don’t believe me!

Anyway it is a good question, if the answer was simple you probably would be doing something else now, instead of reading this book. Also don’t forget that the smaller the project is the easier it is to contribute to but you should not be afraid to discover how big project works. Take a moment, relax, get ready to discover a new approach to community projects that may help you in your work as well as your daily life.

Donating money is not enough

Money is never enough, but in open source this is not a real rule. It is quite common (and rumor) that many projects have so much money that they have no idea on how to use it or projects that doesn’t need them because there is a huge community moving on, and they need to cover only hosting expenses.

Open Source doesn’t need only money and promotion, but contribution to itself. Usually the enthusiasts contribute with these because it is more simple, but how you can feel part of something without doing more?

Anyway there are cases and cases so if you want to contribute with money in FOSS there are various ways:

• Hire committers: As company you hire or pay someone to dedicate hours or all their time to work in a project, not so much different on “normal” working
• Bug Bounty: They works rarely to require a different approach like you are an employee with receipts but also reports that will take a lot of time for someone that works on his free time (an old GIMP story)
• Donation: Just to be sure that is the official way as often it is possible to donate to specific contributors on their Patreon/etc instead to the whole project, so just think what is the best move, like I need an invoice, or I need that change
• Certifications/Books: sometimes it is possible to get official certifications for employee or books by the project’s authors
• Pay for changes: similar to the donation but it is possible to take a consultancy company that will work on the project and to the patch, with moving on the integration itself
• Associate: often behind a project there is a foundation or an association that manage the money and the future, you can associate and be part of their decisions

A fact very common it is company contribution improve the brand of the company itself and also that today the employee are more picky in the job opportunities. They are like to get the best job that let them to do what they like as example 20% of their time to contribute or work in their projects. There are many projects started as private or side project inside a company or during the company hours that became famous and provided a way to find new hires or the company status in that sector. Or looking for free labor in their own projects, but without reviews is useless. Let’s see an example of OSS project that forced the entire ecosystem with Chromium: