Hi friends!
I've been a lifelong lurker in the #foss community. I've always wanted to contribute in some meaningful way, but I don't have too much experience coding outside of the shell. I do have some prior experience in #python and #javascript but my interests are #lisp and #rust.
My career is in information/cybersecurity and I'm a decent technical writer or reviewer.
How can I get started making an impact?
@WhoNeedszZz I can't say that I have...
@unl0ckd Well since you said you are interested in LISP I would give it a look.
@unl0ckd There's multiple ways of contributing to open source projects (or any project) that doesn't involve programming. You can help with things like support, documentation, translations and promoting the project.
@hund @unl0ckd I second that. You can also apply your skills in security to foss projects by doing assessments, provide counseling to developers on how to improve those aspects, etc. I would say, don't overthink too much what contributing is. If you see something that can be improved and know how to do it, that is a valuable contribution to foss.
@unl0ckd https://this-week-in-rust.org/ has a "call for participation" section
@unl0ckd There's never enough documentation. You could improve docs while learning the language. e.g. ensure that all Rust functions, even small ones, have an example. Contributing doccomments is relatively easy.
@unl0ckd great toot. 👏 We at the non-profit association #diva https://diva.exchange would love to chat with you, see our website. We are a small group of very friendly engineers creating GPLv3 #foss software and you have great & matching skills.
@unl0ckd
There's a lot of projects that really needs decent docs. Developers hate documentation even though it improves uptake. It's a valuable skill, I need to contribute more docs too.
@unl0ckd IMHO it's easiest and most interesting to contribute to the things you already use. Is there any project that you could contribute to that you are a user of?
@jaywink It's been intimidating so far, since previously I'd only ever used git as a personal VCS.
I've found https://github.com/firstcontributions/first-contributions/blob/master/README.md which has been a great resource for actually teaching the motions of the fork > clone > edit > PR workflow and has some pointers to other projects as well!
I've been looking through the repos for the projects I use on a daily basis trying to find some low-hanging fruit :)
Again, I really appreciate everyone's recommendations - keep them coming please!
@unl0ckd come and join our IRC/Matrix at https://www.etesync.com/community-chat/ there's always something to get done. :)
@unl0ckd Have you looked at Clojure at all?