Conference:  KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America 2022

Authors: Divya Mohan, Bill Mulligan

2022-10-26

“How can I get started?” is a common refrain heard from newcomers wanting to enter open source. This talk is the exact opposite - where you shouldn't invest your efforts while getting started. Being a new contributor to open source can be intimidating because you don’t know exactly what is helpful and what could hurt the community and frustrated maintainers. While a part of this gap can be attributed to the choose-your-own-adventure nature inherent to open source, there's already tons of material on how to get started technically. What nobody actually shines light on is the cultural dynamics. With this talk, the speakers aim to retell their experience and list common pitfalls almost everyone (including the speakers!) have made. This isn’t just about the right way to make a PR. The hardest, and most rewarding part, of any community is the people. The audience will learn how to engage in open source to ensure that the community they join will continue to be happy and healthy.