A regular feature of our CHAOTIC Weekly newsletter is celebrating a CHAOTIC of the Week. This includes soliciting advice from that week's celebrated CHAOTIC that they would like to pass along to our newcomers. Here, we've distilled those bits of advice into one document. Enjoy!
If this is your first time and you feel overwhelmed like I did, don’t sweat it. Just find a niche within the community that you are most comfortable with and start there. If you are not sure where? Ask questions. Not sure how? Join us during our office hours. See you around!
-- Anita human
- Start small: Start with small tasks or issues that can help you build confidence and get familiar with the project’s codebase, design guidelines, or any other tasks related to your area of contribution.
- Ask questions: Don’t be shy! The open source community is full of helpful people who are eager to assist and guide you along your journey.
- Read documentation: Take the time to read the project’s documentation. This will help you understand the project’s objectives, structure, design, and coding conventions.
- Communicate effectively: Clearly communicate your intentions and progress with the project maintainer or fellow contributors to avoid confusion or duplicating someone else’s work.
- Be patient: I wasn’t able to make any contributions until after my first 2 months of joining the community. Learning open source can take time, so don’t worry if you don’t grasp everything right away.
- Open-mindedness: Don’t underestimate the opportunities for adding value to the community, even when you don’t see any specific task assigned. In my 9 months of experience, I’ve found that there are always ways to improve the project if you keep an open mind. So, stay curious and explore the possibilities!
-- Kingsley Mkpandiok
- There are SO many things you can get involved in across open sourcey spaces, so take the time to find something that’s interesting and relevant to you!
- You don’t need technical skills to be a productive and contributing member of a community.
- Start by showing up, getting to know the project and community, and opportunities to volunteer will present themselves.
-- Sophia Vargas
For CHAOSS specifically, my advice is to find one or two Zoom meetings that interest you and:
- Show up regularly
- Listen to the discussions and learn about the group
- Ask questions Be patient, open source collaboration can be a slow process, especially for newcomers
- Volunteer to take meeting action items when you understand what the task entails
-- Kevin Lumbard
Before joining a community, it is necessary to think about what benefits the community can offer and what value you can bring to the community. Actively communicating, participating in discussions, and daring to ask questions will help you quickly adapt to the community atmosphere and establish trust among community members. Starting with small tasks and a win-win mindset can promote the spirit of open-source collaboration.
-- Yehui Wang
One of the most satisfying parts of being involved in open source projects and communities, is that you can directly see the impact of your contributions in newer versions of the products and the community as it grows and develops. With this in mind, I urge you to join open source communities that develop software that you use and want to see improved, or are centering on a cause that you care about. When initially joining a community, take the time to understand what it is about and how it works. Each project and community is a living organism, with its own particular purpose, goals, microculture, values, norms of behavior and processes. Being aware of and respecting these will help you navigate your way into the community and gain the trust of your fellow contributors. In terms of contributing, take it one step at a time, start from the low-hanging fruit and focus on the areas where you can have an impact based on your particular set of experience, skills and personality. This will help you place yourself in the community and gradually figure out how you can be of further help. Maintain a spirit of collaboration and togetherness, be open to learning new things, listen to the feedback you will receive and try to make the most of it.
-- Neofytos Kolokotronis
- First, you belong here, no matter how technical or non-technical you are. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. So, find something in line with your goals, something relevant to you, and get on it.
- When you do find the ‘right’ project/community for you, pay more attention and show up more. Listen more and contribute slowly but steadily.
- Volunteer to take on tasks; don’t always wait for them to come to you.
- Lastly, ask questions. It doesn’t hurt to ask questions. It helps understand the community and project better. Only then will you know how to come in and be more valuable.
-- Maryblessing Okolie
My two pence worth in Open Source. Good work will always be noticed. Every time you make an Open Source Contribution, you leave a mark on the internet and one day all the search results connected to your name will be a turning point in your life. Keep building in the Open.
-- Enoch Kaxada
My advice to newcomers to open source is to start with a clear purpose and identify your interests and goals within the community. Attend community meetings, explore their content, start engaging in discussions, and don’t shy from asking questions or providing suggestions and feedback. Open source journey is a continuous process that requires persistence and dedication. By consistently engaging and contributing, you will achieve your personal goals and make a meaningful impact within the community.
-- Vinod Ahuja
I think it is very important to pick a project that someone is interested in, as it solves a challenge or is in a technology area that excites them. That can help with staying motivated as they are digging deeper into the community’s goals and activities and finding things that they would like to contribute to. Once someone finds a project that they like, it is important to allocate time to learn about what the community’s goals are, as well as how their governance is structured and what their processes are. That will help with figuring out how someone can start to participate and how they can take on more responsibilities later, like serving in leadership roles, if that is something that they are interested in. As a next step, I would like to encourage everyone who is new to open source to make sure that they find the targeted community’s communication channels and start participating in discussions. They can introduce themselves as newcomers and let people know what areas they are interested in, and can even ask for guidance if there is a task that would fit someone who’s just starting in the project well. In all projects, there is usually a need for reviewers to check code or documentation changes. Reviewing changes is a great help to every community, and it is also a great way to learn more about the project itself. While doing reviews as a newcomer might seem intimidating, I cannot emphasize enough how helpful it is to everyone! As every community is a group of individuals with shared goals and interests, it can sometimes be an environment that feels hard to navigate. The last thing I would suggest is to never take anything personally, focus on the things that the community and contributors set out to do and achieve, and always be kind and respectful.
-- Ildiko Vancsa
Concerning #newbies, Armstrong strongly encourages folks to bring in their unique skillset and talents while navigating wg on ways to contribute: "You have something to offer, and CHAOSS is too big for anyone single to handle."
-- Armstrong Foundjem
Consider what open source you use, and what open source contributions are worth making. I think it's very common for folks to jump into really big projects first, and get overwhelmed. Usually 2-3 dependencies within some of the largest projects in the world could benefit from a bit more TLC, but they don't get as much attention. They're just as important, the big projects can't work without them. Likewise, don't simply google "python library for doing this thing" and use the first name that comes up. Consider if the project is deliberately maintained, if it's abandoned, and use your best judgement on if a particular project is worth staking the integrity of your new project on. It's very unlikely that you'll be taking time to gut a bad dependency -- technical debt is almost never prioritized.
-- Gary White
My advice to newcomers in open source is that, while it can be hard and overwhelming to navigate a community as a newcomer, do not conclude that the community isn't for you. Take your time in doing research about the community through the website, joining meetings also helps you understand what the community is doing, ask questions and be free to vocalize your thoughts on any discussion, which is a valuable way to contribute to a project. Also, stay curious always and engage with other community members.
-- Ruth Ikegah
- Open source is open and very welcoming! Be free and do not hesitate to ask questions when navigating your way into the community
- Collaboration and asking for help are critical for successful and meaningful contributions
- Join the community meetings and let your voice be heard. Trust me, you have wonderful ideas that can move the community forward.
- Remember to interact with other community members.
-- Adeyinka Oresanya
Don’t be afraid to ask questions and volunteer to do things that expand your comfort zone. Don't know where to start? Show up to meetings, get a feel for how CHAOSS works, and soon enough opportunities to contribute will present themselves. The CHAOSS Community is filled with helpful and encouraging people. Nothing you contribute has to be 100% perfect, so long as you help us make progress. It’s ok to take risks and put yourself out there. That’s how you grow and learn something new.
-- Georg Link
- Take that first step and do something no matter how little eg. note taking like i do in CHAOSS Africa.
- If you’re new, don’t be shy. Ask questions & DYOR. Open source is super welcoming so be rest assured that there’s someone who can help you. An additional tip is that by doing your research before coffee chats, your mentors or colleagues can see that you’re eager & willing, but you’re simply stuck just like they were a few months or years ago.
- Keep trying & be patient with yourself. Everyone started somewhere without knowing what they were doing but here we are, still learning, failing sometimes, but also winning some, simply because we tried.
- This one is specifically for CHAOSS: If you feel stuck or you don’t seem to understand how things work in a particular working group, you have two options:
- Go through our Knowledge Base (https://chaoss.community/kb/contributor-roadmap-participating/) or
- Be like me. I simply watched as many Youtube videos(https://youtube.com/@CHAOSStube?si=gZoiYNI8PFQvQEUx) as i was interested in while listening attentively during live meetings. This helped me know where the project was coming from, where they currently were and gave me an idea of how I could be of help. Remember that no idea is too small & your ideas are welcome!
- Lastly, remember to do what you really love & shine like the star you are. But, don’t forget to take breaks when you feel overwhelmed!
-- Yigakpoa Ikpae
My best advice is just not to give up and love to learn. A little bit every day (or week or month or year) eventually adds up into something that will provide both you and the project you are engaging in with real value. There is ALWAYS work to be done - the trick is finding something that resonates with you!
-- Ria Schalnat
CHAOSS is a vibrant community with people who have varying professional backgrounds that include technical and non-technical skills. Chan’s advice to anyone who is new to CHAOSS is to provide an introduction in the #newcomers channel, tell us what you’re interested in (not sure is okay, too!), and check if there are any projects you can contribute to.
-- Chan Voong
Feel free to engage with any working group you find interesting. The folks at CHAOSS are amazing and welcoming. Try to also catch the meetings so you will always be up to date on what is happening within your working group. If you feel uncertain, always reach out. We thrive on community efforts and the community is always ready to assist you in your open source journey.
-- Desmond Obisi
CHAOSS community is a fantastic environment for learning about open source and personal growth. CHAOTICS are ready to guide you and provide opportunities for leadership and showcasing your skills. If you are new to CHAOSS, take your time to understand how the community operates and don’t hesitate to ask questions about anything unclear. Most importantly, join CHAOSS onboarding meetings with Elizabeth to get you started and join CHAOSS meetings and listen carefully during discussions. Then, find a project to contribute to, we have maintainers and leads ready to assist you.
-- Peculiar Umeh