How To Volunteer Code

Have you ever had someone ask you what open source is all about? Once you tell them, do they in turn ask why would people volunteer their time for free? The latter is a much more difficult question to answer because more often than not, you have to be part of the open source community to "get it". Some people might answer along the lines of "its a cause we are fighting for" or "I simply don't like Microsoft". The good news is that you don't really need a justifiable reason for becoming part of the open source community. One answer to the question of why bother contributing my efforts to the open source community that isn't likely to be heard that often is that it is a world leading learning environment for technology. Open source is, well, open. So, by that virtue alone, one can take the necessary steps to learn. If you have a question about some aspect of some project, it is there for you to figure out on your own if need be.

Trying to dive right into open source project source code may not be the best approach to newcomers to the open source community. If not, then how do people get started with open source? The thing is, the method in which to contribute something back to the community varies on a project to project basis. This can be both good and bad. It is good because there are no restrictions on the development methodology used and other annoying restrictions found in proprietary environments. It is bad because some projects do a great job of letting newcomers know how they can contribute and other projects not so much. As for the projects that don't make clear how additional help could be applied, it is unfortunate since there are many very talented developers out there who are just getting started in their careers. If they would like to put their skills to use in the open source community but don't have a good starting point, those skills are waisted.

Also, as discussed here, There is also the prospect of starting a new open source project. This is another challenging problem since identifying valuable problems in which to solve in the open source world isn't easy. Another problem is there aren't any learning resources from other developers when starting a new project. The lack of mentors available isn't a big a problem for more experienced developers who start their own open source projects. However, younger, inexperienced developers might have a rough go of it own their own.

The best way to join an existing project of interest is simply to ask. But also give those concerned an idea of what you are capable of at the same time. This will also give you an indicator of what working with this particular community would be like.

Lastly, people can also volunteer data as is described here. This is geared toward non-developers who have an interest in contributing to the open source community.