Collaborating on Open Source - SeleniumConf Tokyo

​There are several reasons you might want to contribute to open source software. For me, it was that I wanted to learn in a more useful way than doing programming challenges. So I looked into how I could contribute to open source projects that I use myself. After contributing for almost two years, I notice that I have learned a lot from my contributions (which has been useful at work), as well as have made friends and have become part of a community. In this talk I will share my experience with contributing to Cucumber, including an early mistake (merging something that wasn’t ready yet) and fixing it with the support of core contributors, and still feeling welcome! You’ll learn how how to find your project and contributions to start with, how to connect with the community to make sure your contributions are useful and the many types of contributions you can make. Contributing to open source is a way of paying back to the community. In addition, it is a way for you to learn, collaborate and become part of a community. Getting (constructive) feedback on a pull request and collaborating to make things even better is a great feeling!

Transcript

1. @MaritvanDijk77
   github.com/mlvandijk
   medium.com/@mlvandijk
   Collaborating on
   Open Source Software
   

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2. About me
   •Technical Test Engineer at bol.com (NL)
   •Core contributor to Cucumber
   @MaritvanDijk77
   

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3. Open source software
   •Who uses open source?
   •Who contributes?
   •Who doesn’t contribute (yet)?
   @MaritvanDijk77
   

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4. Goal of this talk
   Get one (or more!) of you to do their first
   open source Pull Request (PR)
   @MaritvanDijk77
   

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5. How I got started
   •Work on a “real” project
   (vs coding challenges):
   •Learn new things
   •Do something useful
   @MaritvanDijk77
   

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6. Reasons to contribute
   •Learning
   •Give back / Feel useful
   •“Scratch an itch” (fix something you need)
   •Build CV / Portfolio
   •Network
   •Other?
   @MaritvanDijk77
   

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7. Why Cucumber?
   •Started: I liked using it
   •Stayed: The community
   @MaritvanDijk77
   

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8. What to contribute: Code
   •Fix bugs
   •Add new features
   @MaritvanDijk77
   

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9. What to contribute: Code
   •Fix bugs
   •Add new features // TODO
   @MaritvanDijk77
   

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10. What to contribute: Code
    •Fix bugs
    •Add new features
    •Refactor
    @MaritvanDijk77
    

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11. What to contribute: Code
    •Fix bugs
    •Add new features
    •Refactor
    •Add unit tests
    @MaritvanDijk77
    

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12. What to contribute: Code
    •Fix bugs
    •Add new features
    •Refactor
    •Add unit tests
    •Upgrade dependencies
    (Protip: Use tools to scan - https://snyk.io/)
    @MaritvanDijk77
    

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13. What to contribute: Code
    •Fix bugs
    •Add new features
    •Refactor
    •Add unit tests
    •Upgrade dependencies
    •Review PR’s
    @MaritvanDijk77
    

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14. What to contribute: Not code
    @MaritvanDijk77
    

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15. What to contribute: Not code
    •Help the community
    •Documentation
    •Issues
    •Testing
    •Other: Design, Product owner, etc.
    •Ask!
    @MaritvanDijk77
    

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16. Help the community
    •Answer questions
    •Slack
    •Gitter
    •Mailing list
    •IRC
    •Protip: Consider adding that info to the
    documentation!
    @MaritvanDijk77
    

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17. Documentation
    •Fix typos
    •Fix dead links
    •Provide feedback
    •Edit for clarity
    •Add missing info
    •Review PR’s
    @MaritvanDijk77
    

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18. Documentation
    •Fix typos
    •Fix dead links
    •Provide feedback
    •Edit for clarity
    •Add missing info
    •Review PR’s
    @MaritvanDijk77
    

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19. Documentation
    •Fix typos
    •Fix dead links
    •Provide feedback
    •Edit for clarity
    •Add missing info
    •Review PR’s
    @MaritvanDijk77
    

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20. Documentation
    •Fix typos
    •Fix dead links
    •Provide feedback
    •Edit for clarity
    •Add missing info
    •Review PR’s
    @MaritvanDijk77
    

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21. Documentation
    •Fix typos
    •Fix dead links
    •Provide feedback
    •Edit for clarity
    •Add missing info
    •Review PR’s
    @MaritvanDijk77
    

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22. Documentation
    •Fix typos
    •Fix dead links
    •Provide feedback
    •Edit for clarity
    •Add missing info
    •Review PR’s
    @MaritvanDijk77
    

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23. Issues
    •Report issues
    • Ask if not sure
    • Check for duplicates
    • Provide relevant information: use template (or add one!)
    • Create an MCVE (https://stackoverflow.com/help/mcve)
    •Reproduce and add info (or tests!)
    •Triage & label issues
    @MaritvanDijk77
    

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24. Testing
    •Test a bugfix
    •Test a new feature
    •Test a new release
    •”Test” documentation / tutorials
    @MaritvanDijk77
    

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25. What to contribute: Not time
    @MaritvanDijk77
    

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26. What to contribute: Not time
    @MaritvanDijk77
    

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27. What to contribute: Not time
    •Most projects run on volunteers
    •You (or your employer) can donate money
    •https://opencollective.com/
    •https://sfconservancy.org/
    •https://www.patreon.com/
    •https://tidelift.com/
    •Etc.
    @MaritvanDijk77
    

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28. Reasons not to contribute
    •It’s scary!
    •Feelings of inadequacy
    •Poor feedback / communication
    •Bad actors
    •Limitations: legal, time, etc.
    @MaritvanDijk77
    

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29. How to get started
    •Find a project
    •Check how to contribute to that project
    •Pick a task
    •Set up your environment (if needed)
    •Collaborate!
    @MaritvanDijk77
    

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30. Get started: Find a project
    •A project you use:
    •You care
    •You’re already familiar!
    @MaritvanDijk77
    

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31. Get started: Find a project
    •Websites:
    •https://github.com/collections/choosing-projects
    •https://hacktoberfest.digitalocean.com/ (oktober)
    •https://www.codetriage.com/
    •https://up-for-grabs.net/#/
    •https://www.firsttimersonly.com/
    •https://opensource.guide/
    •http://yourfirstpr.github.io/
    @MaritvanDijk77
    

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32. Get started: Find a project
    •Focus on welcoming communities
    •Observe interactions (support,
    feedback, onboarding)
    @MaritvanDijk77
    

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33. Get started: How
    •README
    •CONTRIBUTING (a.k.a. HACKING)
    •LICENCE (a.k.a. COPYING)
    •Code of Conduct
    •Styleguides
    •Ask!
    @MaritvanDijk77
    

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34. Get started: What
    •Solve your own problem J
    •Check for “Good first issue” or similar
    •Ask!
    @MaritvanDijk77
    

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35. Get started: Environment
    •Setup your environment
    •Git / version control
    •Programming environment (JDK, …)
    •Package manager (Maven, npm, …)
    •Fork & clone the project
    •See if you can build the project
    •If not: ask (protip: and add that info to docs!)
    @MaritvanDijk77
    

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36. Get started: Your first PR
    •Work on your contribution
    •Submit your contribution
    •Receive feedback & iterate
    •Contribution accepted!
    •Ask / communicate
    https://guides.github.com/introduction/flow/
    https://lab.github.com/courses
    @MaritvanDijk77
    

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37. Contribution accepted!
    @MaritvanDijk77
    

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38. TL;DR
    •Contributing to open source doesn’t have
    to take a lot of time or programming skill
    •If you want to contribute, but don’t know
    how – ask the community!
    •Please go and create your (first) PR
    @MaritvanDijk77
    

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39. @MaritvanDijk77
    github.com/mlvandijk
    medium.com/@mlvandijk
    Collaborating on
    Open Source Software
    

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