How-to: Your First ContributionMichelle CasbonOSCONMay 18, 2016Austin

1. Identify your inspiration2. Identify your motivation3. Make friends4. Meet someone you admire5. Observe first6. Be proactive7. Ask for help8. Be confident

how-to:open source

1. Identify your inspiration• What gets your blood flowing?• A language• A domain• An algorithm• A paradigm• An architecture• A person

2. Identify your motivation• What do you want to accomplish?• Build a new project from the ground up?• Master a new language?• Understand a concept better?• Break into a new area?

2. Identify your motivation• What result do you want to see?• Fame• Fortune• Eternal happiness• Fountain of youth• Job security• Improved skills

• Core engineering• Release management• Project management• Communication

3. Make friends• Go to a meetup• Go to a conference• Ask them about their projects• Ask if they want help• Listen to their stories• Hang out with them• Meet their friends

4. Meet someone you admire

• Go to workshops. They’re interactive.• O’Reilly office hours & book signings• Ask for introductions• Be a track host• Propose a talk

4. Meet someone you admire

• Don’t skip the happy hour• Shake their hand, thank them for their

talk/book/contribution• Ask good questions & take notes• Get a selfie with them

5. Observe first• Be a creeper. Lurk moar.• Dev mailing list• JIRA

• Identify the friends/foes/alliances• How respectful are people with each

other?• Learn from others’ mistakes• Where do the tire fires break out? How

often?

5. Observe first• What pushes people’s buttons?• How many women are involved? How

are they treated?• How productive are discussions? Are

they collaborative or argumentative? • What are the outcomes of those

discussions? Code pushes or endless documentation?

6. Be proactive• Go digging• Grab a ticket• If you don’t know how to do

something, learn it• Learn by doing

7. Ask for help• Stack overflow• JIRA ticket• Dev mailing list• Your new friends• Famous people

8. Be confident• Don’t take s*** from anyone• Stand up for yourself• Don’t be a jerk• Just do it• Don’t let your boss stop you

9. Celebrate

1. Identify your inspiration2. Identify your motivation3. Make friends4. Meet someone you admire5. Observe first6. Be proactive7. Ask for help8. Be confident

how-to:open source

Michelle Casbontexasmichelle@gmail.com

@texasmichelle

https://github.com/texasmichelle