Student Involvement in Open Source Why, How and Where to Get Started
Leslie Hawthorn OSU Open Source Lab
Oregon State University Open Source Lab • Founded in 2003 • Hosts more than 100 projects: Linux kernel, Apache, Fedora, Debian, PHP
Why Open Source? • More than 50% of leading IT organizaRons are using open source soSware – CompeRRve advantage – Lower cost of ownership
• 30% of soSware used at these companies is open source, up from 10% five years ago Gartner, February 2011
Employers Value OS Experience • EvaluaRng potenRal hires • Lowering training costs • Decreasing Rme from hire to full producRvity
Open Source & You • • • •
Create a citable body of work Nurture your passion for programming Learn cool stuff outside the classroom Make a real difference in people’s lives
Ge]ng Involved in Open Source
The TradiRonal Route
TM Google Summer of Code
• • • •
Flip bits, not burgers 175 open source projects for 2011 Up to 1000 students accepted in the past Important dates – March 28th: student applicaRon period opens – April 8th: student applicaRon deadline
The Summer of Code Meme • GNOME Outreach Program for Women – ApplicaRon deadline: April 9th
• • • •
New Zealand Summer of Code Ruby Summer of Code Humanitarian FOSS Project Internships Many more….
• Program for pre-‐ university students • Must be 13-‐18 to parRcipate • Looks great on college applicaRons
Get a Job • Internships with OS friendly companies • Numerous open source employers – Mozilla, RedHat, etc.
• Student experiences on campus
Conferences and Unconferences • In person interacRons are very helpful – Project culture and understanding tone
• Unconferences have low barrier to entry
Join Your Local User Group
Diving Right In Made Simple • Start with projects that have parRcipated in Google Summer of Code • InvesRgate to ensure a project is open for business • Look for projects that explicitly welcome new contributors
OpenHatch: I Want to Help
Looking Credible in a Few Easy Steps • Read project website thoroughly • Subscribe to project mailing lists • Join project IRC channel – “Lurk” unRl you get the lay of the land
• Ask quesRons the smart way
Mistakes • You will make them. Many of them. • Just don’t make the same one repeatedly.
A Few Closing Thoughts
Saving the World • Many projects help those most in need – Sahana, OpenMRS, Usahidi
• Many focus on social jusRce causes – Sunlight FoundaRon, Tor, Martus
• Many support the mission of non-‐profits – CiviCRM, HFOSS Project, the enRre stack
The real point is to have fun and learn something …
Ge]ng an awesome job and helping others are great results….
Thank You!
QuesRons?
Leslie Hawthorn @lhawthorn leslie@osuosl.org
Credits and Licensing • Heart Oregon: hlp://www.flickr.com/photos/cosmic_bandita/3960799351/ • Fire: hlp://www.flickr.com/photos/7309767@N02/444312011/ sizes/z/ This presenta,on is released under a Crea,ve Commons A5ribu,on 3.0 Unported License. Please remix and reuse! h5p://crea,vecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/