You Might Be a Go Contributor Already and Not Know It

Contributing to Go is more than just writing code for the compiler and standard library. Between other official Go projects, third-party projects, articles, workshops, and conference talks, you can even be a contributor to Go without ever even signing up for a Gerrit account.

1. You Might Be A Go Contributor Already And Not Know It Aditya Mukerjee Observability Engineer at Stripe @chimeracoder
2. It’s not about becoming a contributor to Go @chimeracoder It’s about making contributions to Go
3. Why do people not contribute to Go? •Not sure where to start •Don’t feel qualified •Lack of time @chimeracoder
4. @chimeracoder
5. @chimeracoder The Go programming language is an open source project to make programmers more productive.
6. Contributing to Go means contributing to the success of the Go programming language and mission @chimeracoder
7. @chimeracoder
8. …but Go hasn’t won yet @chimeracoder
9. “How could programmers be more productive?” @chimeracoder Any answer that involves Go is a contribution to Go
10. What are the biggest obstacles to Go’s success? @chimeracoder
11. We’ve passed an inflection point – what skills will we need now? @chimeracoder
12. @chimeracoder Knowledge of how Go is used in companies of different sizes Logistics and event planning Isolating reproducible failures Presentation and public speaking Writing, editing, and publishing technical content Teaching and mentorship Graphical design Marketing Community management Knowledge of compiler design and architecture
13. Contributing to Go is an investment in your own personal development @chimeracoder
14. How do I leverage these skills to contribute to Go? @chimeracoder How can I improve my skills as a developer by contributing to Go?
15. Leveraging your skills to contribute to Go •Helping other Go programmers solve problems •Sharing your experience, knowledge, or perspectives on Go •Connecting Go programmers together •Writing Go code @chimeracoder
16. Contributing to Go by helping other Go programmers solve problems @chimeracoder
17. Slack, IRC, Stack Overflow, mailing list, help forums •Answering questions on Stack Overflow helps others •But asking questions on Stack Overflow helps others too! @chimeracoder
18. @chimeracoder
19. Mailing list and Github issues •If you’re wondering, “is this an actual bug or not”, it’s worth asking •If the replies are terse, it’s not personal! @chimeracoder
20. Contributing to Go by sharing experience, knowledge, or perspectives on Go @chimeracoder
21. If you’ve ever felt frustrated by something in Go, you have an experience. So report it! @chimeracoder Experience reports describe problems that people have experienced
22. Writing an experience report 1. Describe what you wanted to do 2. Say what you actually did 3. Explain why that wasn’t great, using concrete examples from production @chimeracoder
23. If you’ve ever… •… debugged a tough bug in Go •… encountered a funny problem in a Go program •… helped a friend solve an issue in Go •… debated Go code patterns and style with a coworker @chimeracoder …why not write about it?
24. Writing is not about being right @chimeracoder Writing is about engaging in the process of exploration
25. Writing about Go helps us know what makes Go code good @chimeracoder
26. Contributing to Go by connecting Go programmers together @chimeracoder
27. Organize a local Meetup •Contact GoBridge, GopherCon, and other nearby organizers •Co-host events with other local developer meetups •Host a GoBridge event, or help out with one @chimeracoder
28. @chimeracoder
29. Contributing to Go by writing code @chimeracoder
30. Over the next 5-10 years, most of the code that advances the mission of Go will be written outside the standard library. @chimeracoder
31. Make a commitment today: open-source the next utility library you write @chimeracoder
32. But someone has to write code for the compiler and standard library …right? @chimeracoder
33. But someone has to write code for the compiler and standard library …right? @chimeracoder Go Project
34. The Go Project is not a monolith build - continuous build and release infrastructure crypto - additional cryptography libraries exp - experimental code image - additional imaging packages mobile - libraries for Go on iOS and Android sys - low-level interactions with the operating system net - additional networking packages tools - tooling such as godoc, goimports, vet, cover, etc. … and much more @chimeracoder
35. There are over six hundred packages in the Go Project that are not part of the standard library or compiler @chimeracoder
36. Getting started •Use go-contrib-init to sign the CLA, set up codereview, and git aliases •The contribution guide provides a comprehensive overview •The contribution workshops this afternoon will guide you through it @chimeracoder
37. Ideas for Contributing to the Go Project Repositories • Submit examples • Augment documentation (if you’ve ever been confused, that’s a problem!) • Look at open issues •…or even https://dev.golang.org/imfeelinglucky • Try running on obscure architectures and OSes @chimeracoder
38. •Helping other Go programmers solve problems •Sharing your experience, knowledge, or perspectives on Go •Connecting Go programmers together •Writing Go code @chimeracoder Four Pillars of Contributing to Go
39. It’s not about becoming a contributor to Go @chimeracoder It’s about making contributions to Go
40. We contribute to Go when we lead by example @chimeracoder
41. Thank you! Aditya Mukerjee @chimeracoder