Update: February 25th, 2016, PHPSP UG organized an event supported by UOL, I spoke there again, and the presentation was completely recorded on video!

You can watch it [in Brazilian Portuguese]:

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/QU7Ne_-SJCc - Slides: http://www.slideshare.net/rogeriopradoj/becoming-a-contributor-open-sourcer-and-beyond-phpsp-uol

Hello, everyone!

On August 8, 2014 I gave a presentation on contributing with open source projects and software development communities as well, focusing on that OSS hosted on GitHub.

GitHub logo Image source: http://www.sourcinghacks.com/

Want to read in Brazilian Portuguese? Go to: https://rogeriopradoj.com/2015/11/04/becoming-a-contributor-open-sourcer-and-beyond-palestra-do-tdc-2014-trilha-php/

The talk was an overview of the subject, in a few minutes, showing that engagement with community and contributing with open source is possible for all of us, however it's a road which must be traveled.

Slides: https://www.slideshare.net/rogeriopradoj/becoming-a-contributor-open-sourcer-and-beyond

This road of contribution is made by several steps. The first one is the User, that one where you only "uses" the projects and the community. After that there is the Spectator/Vouyer, when you start to get interested about the action around the projects but don't have the confidence to give your contributions in an active way yet. And by the time courage arrives, you go to the next level and become an effective contributor, for instance, send patches or new features to a project, or fixing documentation, or answering questions of people in some list etc, eventually seeing your contributions being utilized. It's a wonderful sensation when it happens!

And after several contributions to an specific project, then you'll probably be invited to be an Commiter, who has write access on a repository, being able to help the maintainer/creator with code review and the decisions on how the software is going to evolve. For sure being invited and, besides, get this big responsibility is something indescribable as good it is!

And someday you are going to start creating your own open source projects! It's quite possible you'll loudly shout "It's alive!" by the time it's working and published. Get "your son" online for people use, receive contributions and be recognized by this is awesome, priceless.

How we make the wheel spins? It's possible, it's the "go beyond"! It's get involved more with community in every possible way . It's send talk proposals to events and be there giving your speech, face to face. It's been at conferences, congresses and user group meetups as well, enjoying everything that is available there (not only the talks but networking with other industry professionals). It's write on blogs in order to share what you are learning. It's get together with local communities in person in your city, online as well, and help to organize events where you can.

And, the most important thing, don't lose any opportunity on helping new people who want to get in this amazing world of software development communities and open source!

Don't you know where to start or need some help? That's ok, on GitHub there are some projects I contribute for besides some of my own, check it out. And if you want to talk to me directly, it's fine also: go to https://rogeriopradoj.com/about/ and pick the best contact channel, right?

"Contributing is a road.
Help, say thanks, and find yours."

--Rogerio Prado de Jesus, August 8, 2014

In time, the talk was recorded (Brazilian Portuguese only), the video is here:

Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/Xt5JqpxvOzA

See you soon, with more contributions, right? ;-) Bye!

This article was published originally on RogerioPradoJ.com.