Hello,
Been around for a little while (mainly since taking HFOSS last spring) and figured I’d introduce myself for some reason. I’m a Computer Science major and have been creating and contributing to FOSS projects for a few years now. My main interest so far has been finding ways to use various kinds of technology to make peoples lives better (possibly at the expense of my own free time lol). Most recently I’ve been helping with projects such as: proof of concept satellites aboard the ISS, data aggregation of COVID vaccination sites, apps to help older generations regain family connections lost to time or distance, and various other small projects, libraries and freelance gigs in between. I’m always happy to join a new project but at this point my ideas outpace the amount of time I have by so much, that finding a way to publish my ideas for others to look at and possibly make use of is one of the ideas on the list.
Happy to talk over on IRC/telegram! My latest clever-sounding username is aggressive_popcorn but I’m also on the RIT Discord and many other chat based platforms as well.
One of the most difficult things for you looks like will be to say no and archive ideas for later. It is better to deeply focus on few meaningful projects then to start multiple projects and don’t advance them much because you are focusing on too many things. I would recommend focusing on projects that go in the direction that you want to establish yourself. Be careful of overstretching and burnout.
yeah, I think I’m starting to realize this myself as I start to see so many different places I can contribute (like trying to keep that one project that I mentioned in your welcome post alive because it seems useful), while at the same time seeing that FOSS developers are typically known or referred to by one or a small group of things that they do, (i.e. “the meteor.js guy”, or “they built this library”)
at this point I think i’ve cast a pretty wide net with the idea of helping people but everything just seems interesting to me at this point so I’m not really sure what direction I want to take/commit to.
Did you struggle with deciding what you wanted to do? How did you decide on Meteor?
I had a project in mind and was looking for few years for the optimal way to build it. Eventually I have settled on Meteor and due to what a joy it was to work it, compare to anything else I just stuck with it without ever feeling the need to move away.