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It takes consistent and dedicated effort. I learned this the hard way of course =). Also what I've become completely sold on because it worked for me, is to con

by apsurd 15y ago

It takes consistent and dedicated effort. I learned this the hard way of course =). Also what I've become completely sold on because it worked for me, is to contribute to someone else's project that has some traction already. As a developer, I love creating things, I need to create things, so my first thought is always "let me create this great thing from the ground up". But the problem there is once its done, no matter how good it is, it still has zero users. Finally I decided to make it less about me needing to create and more about people. So I created a bootstrapping framework for Jekyll because my first time trying to use Jekyll was a train-wreck to say the least. Not because Jekyll is bad, but because there is no user-focused introduction, no 'hello-world' application, it's just raw in your face code. Anyway check it out : https://github.com/plusjade/jekyll-bootstrap https://github.com/plusjade/jekyll-bootstrap - 400 watchers man - I'm so happy about that! Jekyll has had momentum for some time now. It's repo is watched by just under 5k users. So one small 'jekyll tutorial' link in the documentation wiki was all I needed to start the ball rolling. The key word there is start. I still needed to reply to everyone's questions, monitor tweets everyday, write to anybody I knew using Jekyll for blogging, and above all painstakingly create great, well-crafted, easy to understand get started now! documentation : http://jekyllbootstrap.com http://jekyllbootstrap.com Sorry to make this sound like an ad for JB, I just really have been in the same place you are and the one and only thing that has worked for me so far is to embrace Open Source, put everyone else's problems before my own, and code for people not (only) for myself. HTH

davyjones 15y ago
Has this in any way fetched material satisfaction (in the form of a job offer or freelance work, etc.)?
- apsurd 15y ago
  To be honest, I started the project as a way to get my name out there in the Open Source community and ultimately make it easier to get a job, yes! I've realized my ideal job would be as a developer/Open Source evangelist/advocate/community-builder what-have-you. It's hard for me to really care about building facebook widgets or coupon-local-picto-gram social apps etc. In contrast I spend ungodly hours working on Open Source projects that deal with solving lower-level developer problems and more and more of my time is spent writing tutorials and walkthroughs of how a codebase works rather than actually writing code! So I want to work for a company that pays me to do Open Source work. I haven't really looked too deep into it but so far my ideal would be GitHub or Khan Academy. Though to answer your question, I haven't spent any time actually trying to get a job even though my work was originally based on that premise. I'm trying to make a go out of starting something of my own. If I run out of money before I can get any traction then that plan stands to reach out to my ideal companies for full-time employment. I believe 100% that I won't have much trouble getting a job, the problem is I want my ideal job, so we'll have to wait and see. I am very confident that my work on GitHub will speak for itself. That's not to say I'm some coding God, but rather I do take my code seriously with organized commits, documentation, and well-thought out design choices. I have never been to college so I am very adamant about "show don't tell" when it comes to resumes/experience/cred etc. Hopefully you will either see me leading my own company, and/or as part of the GitHub, Khan Academy, or other pro Open Source team!
  - davyjones 15y ago
    Good luck to you. Well, the reason why I asked you is that I am building an open source database (Postgres only at the moment) admin tool myself (the code is on github). Just like in your case, I would like to work on that full time. Right now, I am thinking of ways to attach some kind of revenue stream.
    - apsurd 15y ago
      Good luck to you as well! I have followed your project on GitHub so will play with it when it's ready.
justindocanto 15y ago
Some good tips. Thank you very much. Sounds like just making it as easy to use, constantly staying on top of things & being involved. Pretty standard advice, but good use case. Thanks again =)
- apsurd 15y ago
  I think that's the key there, and you said it in much less words than I did =). You have to give people no excuse to not try your product and every reason to try it. In other words good, easy to understand hello-world examples are a must, then backed up by what's next, and next, and next etc. People don't have time nor the patience to jump through hoops to use your software. Make it really easy to try and people will try! Then it's up to you to follow through on taking them through the "funnel" if you will. Best of luck.

by apsurd 15y ago

davyjones 15y ago

Has this in any way fetched material satisfaction (in the form of a job offer or freelance work, etc.)?

apsurd 15y ago
To be honest, I started the project as a way to get my name out there in the Open Source community and ultimately make it easier to get a job, yes! I've realized my ideal job would be as a developer/Open Source evangelist/advocate/community-builder what-have-you. It's hard for me to really care about building facebook widgets or coupon-local-picto-gram social apps etc. In contrast I spend ungodly hours working on Open Source projects that deal with solving lower-level developer problems and more and more of my time is spent writing tutorials and walkthroughs of how a codebase works rather than actually writing code! So I want to work for a company that pays me to do Open Source work. I haven't really looked too deep into it but so far my ideal would be GitHub or Khan Academy. Though to answer your question, I haven't spent any time actually trying to get a job even though my work was originally based on that premise. I'm trying to make a go out of starting something of my own. If I run out of money before I can get any traction then that plan stands to reach out to my ideal companies for full-time employment. I believe 100% that I won't have much trouble getting a job, the problem is I want my ideal job, so we'll have to wait and see. I am very confident that my work on GitHub will speak for itself. That's not to say I'm some coding God, but rather I do take my code seriously with organized commits, documentation, and well-thought out design choices. I have never been to college so I am very adamant about "show don't tell" when it comes to resumes/experience/cred etc. Hopefully you will either see me leading my own company, and/or as part of the GitHub, Khan Academy, or other pro Open Source team!
- davyjones 15y ago
  Good luck to you. Well, the reason why I asked you is that I am building an open source database (Postgres only at the moment) admin tool myself (the code is on github). Just like in your case, I would like to work on that full time. Right now, I am thinking of ways to attach some kind of revenue stream.
  - apsurd 15y ago
    Good luck to you as well! I have followed your project on GitHub so will play with it when it's ready.

justindocanto 15y ago

Some good tips. Thank you very much. Sounds like just making it as easy to use, constantly staying on top of things & being involved. Pretty standard advice, but good use case. Thanks again =)

apsurd 15y ago
I think that's the key there, and you said it in much less words than I did =). You have to give people no excuse to not try your product and every reason to try it. In other words good, easy to understand hello-world examples are a must, then backed up by what's next, and next, and next etc. People don't have time nor the patience to jump through hoops to use your software. Make it really easy to try and people will try! Then it's up to you to follow through on taking them through the "funnel" if you will. Best of luck.