Overcoming imposter syndrome: promoting yourself and your open source

Bites & Bytes meetup in Lisbon
Developers mostly don’t like promotion. It’s not just about devs’ busy schedules and everlasting antagonism between accurate tech content and “promotional b.s.”—they do have reasons. But there are formats that can bring benefits to engineers—like recognition and commercialization of your open source and other real-life values.

Transcript

1. Overcoming 
 imposter syndrome: promoting yourself and your open source Olga Rusakova Bites & Bytes
2. OKLCH: blog posts
3. OKLCH: OSS projects
4. OKLCH: events
5. OKLCH: events
7. Open source promotion: steps Step 1: Organize your docs Step 2: Use small iterations to maintain consistency Step 3: Help your users fi nd you online Step 4: Help your users fi nd you of fl ine
8. Step 1: Organize your docs
9. README.md structure Clear description Why it’s useful Why it’s important The difference from other products
10. How people read online Nielsen Norman group research: 
 https://www.nngroup.com/articles/how-people- read-online/
11. PostCSS
12. The most annoying buzzwords in tech?
13. - Lighting-fast - Unprecedented - «Smart» everything - Ninja/wizard/rockstar - Innovative The most annoying buzzwords in tech? - Ecosystem - Optimize - Thought Leader - Agile - Pivot
14. Annoying buzzwords: continued
15. «Lightning-fast»
16. «Innovative»
17. Proofs, please!
18. Proofs, please!
19. Pictures, please!
20. Pictures, please!
21. Martian Mono Download on GitHub evilmartians/mono Download on Google Fonts fonts.google.com/specimen/Martian+Mono
22. Lists and bold type, please!
23. Lists and bold type, please!
24. OSS project Thread in Twitter twitter.com/anti fl asher/status/1699024652213854233 Your guide can become a thread
25. Step 1: Organize your docs
26. Step 2: Use small iterations to maintain consistency
27. Do it via small iterations Each iteration contains: - Action (feature, tweet, article, etc) - Getting feedback - Fixing the project according to feedback
28. Establish a routine
29. Hey, I’m not dead!
30. Hey, I’m not dead!
31. Step 3: Help your users fi nd you online
32. Help your users fi nd you online: continued
33. Help your users fi nd you online: continued
34. Help your users fi nd you online - Search engines are your friends - Leave online imprints - Don’t forget to mention people and companies
35. Tagging is useful
36. Step 4: Help your users fi nd you of fl ine
38. Help your users fi nd you of fl ine - Get to know people of fl ine - If you use someone’s OSS and meet them: approach to say thanks (or complain)
39. Open source promotion: steps Step 1: Organize your docs Step 2: Use small iterations to maintain consistency Step 3: Help your users fi nd you online Step 4: Help your users fi nd you of fl ine
40. Problems
41. People can hate my OSS - Fail fast - Work with negative feedback
42. Is Hacker News toxic?
43. Fail fast
44. Rules to work with negative comments - No need to rush to respond. - Don’t respond to purely insulting comments. But don’t delete them. - If you are told about something as a fact, and this fact is wrong, you cannot leave this statement without an answer. - If it’s sane, reasonable critics, start asking questions. People just need to talk.
45. I cannot write, 
 I’m bad at writing!! - Conduct an interview with yourself - Get your friends to help you - F-words - Start writing from any part, not from the title or the very beginning
46. Scienti fi c research about swearing - Swearing arouses the emotions (and this can be measured!) - Swearing might activate parts of the “limbic system” that takes part in aspects of memory and emotion processing (that’s why people who have suffered brain damage and struggle to speak as a result, still can swear). - Cognitive effects because swear words command more attention and are better remembered. - Produces pain relief: vocalising a swear word leads to higher pain tolerance. Source: https://theconversation.com/the-power-of-swearing-how-obscene-words-in fl uence-your-mind-body-and- relationships-192104
48. Summary: How to promote your OSS Step 1: Organize your docs — Rethink your READme — Create a really good description — Use more pics, lists, bolds and guides — Avoid «marketing b.s.» Step 2: Use small iterations to maintain consistency — Make your iterations bigger every time — Plan several pieces of content — Establish your routine — Show that your project is not dead Step 3: Help your users fi nd you online — Create more keywords combinations in different types of content — Always leave your imprints online — Mention people and companies Step 4: Help your users fi nd you of fl ine — Get to know your audience personally — Help other OSS creators
49. Summary: Any problems? Haters? — Fail fast: make your audience bigger every time — Work with negative comments Doubts in your writing style? — Try different approaches (interview, recording and transcribing, start from any part, describe it with F-words) — Add emotions!!! Imposter syndrome? — Welcome to the Evil Martians’ world!
50. Evil Martians
51. Thank you! holymay@evilmartians.com evilmartians evilmartians.com