503 days working full time on FOSS: lessons learned
Saturday, May 25
15:25 - 16:10
I worked 503 days full-time on a Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) project, so what did I learn?
In this talk I will share the main lessons I learned after working full-time on a FOSS project for 503 days. These lessons will revolve around four main points:
- how to get a tech job in this day & age
- how to put your ego aside when working with others (who know more than you!) and how to deal with mistakes
- how to interact with users & contributors online
- how it feels to collaborate to a large codebase
With contributors and “wanna-be” contributors in mind, this talk will shed some light on how the FOSS world works and what you can expect when you’re trying to contribute to a FOSS project that you like.
Rodrigo Girão Serrão
Rodrigo has always been fascinated by problem solving and that is why he picked up programming – so that he could solve more problems. He also loves sharing knowledge, and that is why he spends so much time writing articles in his blog mathspp.com/blog, writing on Twitter @mathsppblog, and giving workshops and courses. You can also find his past talks on github.com/mathspp/talks.
His main areas of scientific interest are mathematics (numerical analysis in particular) and programming in general (with a preference for the Python and APL languages), but Rodrigo also enjoys reading fantasy books, watching silly comedy movies and eating chocolate.