Finding Open Source Projects Looking For Help? 151
aus writes "I've been doing web development for about 10 years now. It's been very good to me, but I want to do more than write HTML, PHP, JavaScript and CSS. Since the job market isn't all that great right now in the US, it would seem that volunteering some time on an open source project would give me the satisfaction I'm looking for. The problem is finding a project that wants/needs help that I would also be interested in. I've tried browsing around on Sourceforge and Freshmeat ... is there a site somewhere that I'm not aware of that has classifieds where open source project maintainers post 'job' listings?"
Find project you like or use (Score:5, Insightful)
All of them (Score:3, Insightful)
All open source projects are hiring - just find a program you like that has a bug or omission. If it's useful for your day job, even better.
idea (Score:5, Insightful)
How-To (Score:5, Insightful)
Find a project with a mailing list where people are asking for a feature that is just below the radar, keeps getting put off because of more important things. Implement it, submit the patch, and pray. If no love, which is unfortunately common and even likely for new contributors, shoot video of the feature in action and send a letter out to the mailing list linking the video, and let them know where they can find the patch if they want it, start collecting and posting feedback on the patch from users.
Re:Does it have to be coding? (Score:5, Insightful)
testing, writing testing scripts, and writing docs and help
Yes!
One of the biggest complaints about open source apps is the documentation. Everyone wants to code it, no one wants to document it.
Every Free Software project needs help. (Score:3, Insightful)
And most realize it. Find a project that interests you. Start using it. Download the source and play with it. Subscribe to the mailing-lists/forums etc. Once you are comfortable and think you know what is going on start filing bug reports, submitting patches, and participating in discussions. Concentrate initially on the boring stuff nobody likes to do such as sorting through old bugs and cleaning up documentation. Eventually you'll be offered commit provileges.
Free Software Job Listings (Score:4, Insightful)
you asked:
http://www.fsf.org/resources/jobs/listing [fsf.org]
No wonder (Score:4, Insightful)
Why would there be a "job" listing? There's in general no pay, no benefits. People that don't have any interest in the project as such but just want to tag their CV with it are usually more work than they're worth. Pick whatever open source project which is in a field you're interested in, where there's some itch you'd like to scratch, join the development mailing list and see what you can do. Sometimes there's merely the need to ask, one tool I worked with had a manual "coming soon" so I emailed and asked, spent 2-3 hours compiling one and it's still the one in use today. It's not like it takes interviews and they're afraid of bad "hires", anyone who seems reasonably independent and won't be a drag on everyone else is generally welcomed. Just remember you have a limited amount of handholding and try figuring out stuff on your own before asking about every little thing, you'll do fine.
Re:Every Free Software project needs help. (Score:4, Insightful)
But please do NOT show up one day with 50 new tickets explaining how a piece of software SHOULD have been designed, with proposals for a complete redesign. This happened recently on an F/OSS project I help with...while the guy's ideas were good, it was his manner of presentation that was off-putting. There is no way in hell I will give this guy commit privs with the gangbuster attitude he has. In fact, I politely suggested to him that a fork off our project might be better to suit his goals.
If you present yourself as a threat to the project's developers, you will never get commit privs, and most likely your suggestion will just end up in the "blue-sky" milestone. Constructive criticism has its place, but it's all in how you present it.
Burning Man (Score:3, Insightful)
Burning Man is looking for developers to help with their open source projects [burningman.com]. You can't get much cooler than that.