Volunteer Programming For Dummies? 195
Posted
by
Soulskill
from the learning-the-ropes dept.
from the learning-the-ropes dept.
Tios writes "I've been studying programming languages (C++, Java, C, Visual Basic) on my own with the self-guided, basic textbooks and tutorials, and I'm starting to get tired of working with examples that are not put into real use. I'm motivated to utilize my programming potential, but I've not had any experience programming in a team environment with lead developers, mentors, or collaborators. If finding a programming job isn't an option, I wonder if I could volunteer for programming in an open-source community. If this is a good idea, how do I start? What resources are out there that could get me oriented in volunteering? What kind of basic projects are out there, with a supportive team/mentor for me to develop, practice, learn, and contribute?"
Glad you asked... (Score:5, Informative)
Here are a few notes I wrote a while ago on the subject:
http://kegel.com/academy/opensource.html [kegel.com]
http://kegel.com/wine/sweng/ [kegel.com] might also be of some interest.
Re:make your own stuff (Score:1, Informative)
Wow. I know people don't read the links, but you didn't even read the summary.
He said he has done everything you just said to do already, and is looking for experience integrating with an actual development team/environment.
To answer the actual question, your idea of joining into an open source environment is a good one. I'd also recommend looking for local Linux support groups, and if your town has a college maybe check there or at the public library. Often these groups will have meetings posted, and while the subject of the meeting isn't directly up your alley you're more likely to meet some fellow programmers & make some contacts.
Look for people who are also interested in programming, maybe come up with a small project you can work with them on, the specific subject isn't really that important for what you're after.
The hardest part of joining an online community is face-time, so you might want to focus more on some meat-space contacts before jumping into the deep end. Just keep at it, and you'll find some people that share a common interest. Who knows, you might even end up with a really viable project in the process.
Re:make your own stuff (Score:3, Informative)
Definitely agree. Also if you can't come up with your own ideas (it's hard) there are tons of inactive OSS projects that you could pickup; just search around on SourceForge for something that interests you.
Re:Thank you! (Score:5, Informative)
some projects have so called "junior jobs" - bugs or improvements that are easy enough so that a new contributor can tackle them - for example, http://techbase.kde.org/Contribute/Junior_Jobs [kde.org]
Re:Rent a coder (Score:5, Informative)
If you live in a 1st world economy, I wouldn't bother w/ RAC. Most buyers will only pay 3rd world wages to RAC sellers. It's quite frustrating and will probably be a complete waste of your time. The only Americans who make money at the RAC site are the owners.
Re:Rent a coder (Score:3, Informative)
You mean like the multiple requests to do the poster's homework assignments? Or the "I need a clone of $_SITE_X" posts in which they want fully functional sites for the cost of a night at the movies? Or posts like this one [rentacoder.com] asking people to spam forums for them?
Yes there are plenty of legitimate requests on rentacoder but the majority of them require you to leave any scruples you might have at the door. Rentacoder is a nice way to make a quick buck or two but he would be better off contributing to any number of other projects that actually deserve his time and effort.
CodeKindness - Tech volunteers for nonprofits (Score:4, Informative)