5 reasons to get involved in the open source community

Did you know that we organized the first international TYPO3 codesprint in Poland?

Open source is a vital part of work at Macopedia. Not only do we use open source software to develop systems for our clients, but we are also co-creators of such solutions ourselves.

We are involved in open source in various ways – we code, create tests and documentation, publish the modules and products we produce, develop RFCs, verify bugs, sponsor initiatives, organize codesprints. Our team members have completed over 100 projects and developed thousands of solutions in various languages (mainly JS, PHP, Python) and technologies, such as Magento (Adobe commerce), TYPO3 CMS, Odoo ERP, Akeneo, Symfony or OpenMage, and many others.

Being active in the open source community is essential for us and we consider it part of an unwritten agreement between people gathered around free software. It requires involvement in the co-created solutions in exchange for the possibility of using the jointly developed projects. What value does working on open solutions bring to developers?

Sharing good practices – learning from the best

People involved in open source have the unique opportunity to collaborate with individuals from all over the world who work in many different organizations on a daily basis. Such a wide variety of project contributors enables the exchange of good practices. Interacting with others gives you the opportunity to continually expand your knowledge and grow by confronting your experience with other professionals.

Asynchronous communication – expanding competences

When working in a dispersed team, which typically works asynchronously, it is hugely important to maintain clear, transparent communication. Co-creating software, developers hold team discussions, jointly look for the best solutions and make decisions on the direction of development of the built software. Moreover, in such a project community there are no hierarchical dependencies which in many organizations become a blocker in communication within companies. This fact makes it a unique environment to develop your communication skills.

Sharing knowledge – a win-win situation

Learning new technologies on your own can be difficult and tedious. Working in open source projects gives you the opportunity to expand your knowledge while working on real, often complex projects. Additionally, working in a team allows you to learn from other people who are more experienced in a given area. This often also results in establishing personal relationships with top industry professionals. This is an important process for both parties – the person gaining knowledge and the one sharing it, who by entering the role of mentor gains leadership competences.

An atmosphere conducive to development – mutual trust and respect

Creating open source software projects and working with specialists from different parts of the world gives inspiration for development. Partnering with people who have more extensive experience encourages you to match their expertise. This is made possible by a supportive community. In diverse teams, bonded by shared commitment, passion and enthusiasm, there is usually an atmosphere of mutual respect and trust. Such a climate arouses intrinsic motivation, which is the best stimulus for personal development.

Open source culture: transparency, clean code, code review

Developers involved in open source create their own community with transparency at its core. In practice, this means open access to code and documentation. This allows you to not only view the source code, but also learn from it directly. Transparency also manifests itself in the desire to write clean code and provide feedback to one another. Being involved in open source software development is the perfect opportunity to practice code review, both receiving and giving broad and yet professional feedback.

Would you like to enter the world of open source software on your own?

Here are our 5 tips:

1. Find a person or people who are already working on an open source project and would like to share their experience. If you don’t know such a person personally, join a community dedicated to the technology of your choice (e.g. via Slack, Discord or other communication channel).

2. Start with small activities, like correcting a typo or adding a sentence to the documentation. Such actions will be a small change in the project, but a huge achievement for you – your first contribution to the co-created software!

3. Think about what problems you encounter in your daily work with a particular system or what was unclear to you in the documentation. Do you have an idea how you can solve this problem? If yes – try it! Working on what you find difficult is a great starting point for greater engagement. After all, this is the problem you know best.

4. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and seek feedback. The whole idea of co-development of open source software is based on mutual help, sharing feedback and transparency. Remember that everyone, even most experienced people in a given technology, started their adventure with writing open source code.

5. If you have the opportunity, join a codesprint or hackathon. Check for a special session for first-time attendees at this type of event. It’s always better to be in a group!