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I'd consider myself a "senior" developer and I have volunteered before (not as a dev)... In most other large-ish structures there are volunteer coordinators tha

I'd consider myself a "senior" developer and I have volunteered before (not as a dev)... In most other large-ish structures there are volunteer coordinators that introduce themselves & the project to new people, give out links, set up volunteer events when growing the project is needed, that sort of thing. My understanding is open source actually makes quite a lot of money, so I'm not sure how come spending what amounts to a few hours a month doing outreach is a much bigger problem than it is for the local community garden. And of course, as a more experienced dev, really all I need is some kind of human touch so I know that if I start working my efforts won't fall into a big black void... devs tend to call that hand-holding because most devs think all socializing is a waste of time, but for most people volunteering is at least a little social. As far as actionable advice goes, I think having virtual "volunteer days" (on the 1st Saturday of the month, beginners can join the channel and get matched with somebody more experienced if they have questions for their first pull request) may work. Also appealing is publishing "openings" showing an example of what skills developers in your project commonly tend to have (working independently, obsessive about coding standards, super-problem-solver, an eye for usability, great communication skills, ability to use valgrind, whatever) so people can self-select into it.

fundamental 8y ago
Interesting perspective. My own domain is within linux-audio which does not involve all that much cash (I've investigated various funding models for my projects as well as observed them for others and it is a hard game). Most of the projects are on the smaller side, so when you have a few people shift gears to spend time on volunteer events/activities it frequently slows down or pauses development. I do try to put in community outreach time as it scratches a different itch than the more development focused day-job, however it does frequently seem to not lead too far. There are many cases where people interested in contributing are very junior individuals who need some assisting along the way due more to a lack of experience rather than lack of familiarity with the project in question. Linux audio in particular is challenging since it involves the intersection of several different domains (low-latency programming, DSP, C/C++, user interface coding/design, audio/speech processing backgrounds, technical writing, etc). So, people do end up being more green than I would expect compared to other open source domains. Thanks for the specific suggestions. I've considered doing a specific hack day/weekend/etc event for a while, though I've never acted upon it since I don't really want to deal with the possibility that I end up spending a day or more and there is no activity in response. I do like the idea of openings though. It's a clever way of presenting what the project has to offer as well as presenting specific enough profiles of people that it might get someone over the initial hump of "perhaps I should ask about contributing".
- arandr0x 8y ago
  You seemed to have a very specific domain so I looked it up -- I think you're right, there's an inherently higher barrier to entry in your case. If you eventually do do a hack day, post it to HN, I'd give it a try! (I'm a very very beginner music maker and my own domain is graphics, not audio... but I do do fiddly low-level math in C++...)

fundamental 8y ago

Interesting perspective. My own domain is within linux-audio which does not involve all that much cash (I've investigated various funding models for my projects as well as observed them for others and it is a hard game). Most of the projects are on the smaller side, so when you have a few people shift gears to spend time on volunteer events/activities it frequently slows down or pauses development. I do try to put in community outreach time as it scratches a different itch than the more development focused day-job, however it does frequently seem to not lead too far. There are many cases where people interested in contributing are very junior individuals who need some assisting along the way due more to a lack of experience rather than lack of familiarity with the project in question. Linux audio in particular is challenging since it involves the intersection of several different domains (low-latency programming, DSP, C/C++, user interface coding/design, audio/speech processing backgrounds, technical writing, etc). So, people do end up being more green than I would expect compared to other open source domains. Thanks for the specific suggestions. I've considered doing a specific hack day/weekend/etc event for a while, though I've never acted upon it since I don't really want to deal with the possibility that I end up spending a day or more and there is no activity in response. I do like the idea of openings though. It's a clever way of presenting what the project has to offer as well as presenting specific enough profiles of people that it might get someone over the initial hump of "perhaps I should ask about contributing".

arandr0x 8y ago
You seemed to have a very specific domain so I looked it up -- I think you're right, there's an inherently higher barrier to entry in your case. If you eventually do do a hack day, post it to HN, I'd give it a try! (I'm a very very beginner music maker and my own domain is graphics, not audio... but I do do fiddly low-level math in C++...)