Student  Involvement  in    Open  Source  

 Why,  How  and  Where  to  Get  Started  

Leslie  Hawthorn  OSU  Open  Source  Lab  

Oregon  State  University  Open  Source  Lab    

•  Founded  in  2003  •  Hosts  more  than  100  projects:  Linux  kernel,  Apache,  Fedora,  Debian,  PHP  

Why  Open  Source?  

•  More  than  50%  of  leading  IT  organizaRons  are  using    open  source  soSware  – CompeRRve  advantage  – Lower  cost  of  ownership  

•  30%  of  soSware  used  at  these  companies  is  open  source,  up  from  10%  five  years  ago  

Gartner,  February  2011  

Employers  Value  OS  Experience    

•  EvaluaRng  potenRal  hires  •  Lowering  training  costs  •  Decreasing  Rme  from  hire  to  full  producRvity  

Open  Source  &  You  

•  Create  a  citable  body  of  work  •  Nurture  your  passion  for  programming  •  Learn  cool  stuff  outside  the  classroom  •  Make  a  real  difference  in  people’s  lives  

Ge]ng  Involved  in  Open  Source  

The  TradiRonal  Route  

More  on  this  later….  

Google  Summer  of  CodeTM  

•  Flip  bits,  not  burgers  •  175  open  source  projects  for  2011  •  Up  to  1000  students  accepted  in  the  past  •  Important  dates  – March  28th:  student  applicaRon  period  opens  – April  8th:  student  applicaRon  deadline  

The  Summer  of  Code  Meme  

•  GNOME  Outreach  Program  for  Women  – ApplicaRon  deadline:  April  9th  

•  New  Zealand  Summer  of  Code  •  Ruby  Summer  of  Code  •  Humanitarian  FOSS  Project  Internships  •  Many  more….  

•  Program  for  pre-­‐university  students  

•  Must  be  13-­‐18  to  parRcipate  

•  Looks  great  on  college  applicaRons  

   

Get  a  Job  

•  Internships  with  OS  friendly  companies  •  Numerous  open  source  employers  – Mozilla,  RedHat,  etc.  

•  Student  experiences  on  campus  

Conferences  and  Unconferences  

•  In  person  interacRons  are  very  helpful  – Project  culture  and  understanding  tone  

•  Unconferences  have  low  barrier  to  entry  

 

Join  Your  Local  User  Group  

Diving  Right  In  Made  Simple  

•  Start  with  projects  that  have  parRcipated  in  Google  Summer  of  Code  

•  InvesRgate  to  ensure  a  project  is  open  for  business  

•  Look  for  projects  that  explicitly  welcome  new  contributors  

OpenHatch:  I  Want  to  Help  

Looking  Credible  in  a  Few  Easy  Steps  

•  Read  project  website  thoroughly  •  Subscribe  to  project  mailing  lists  •  Join  project  IRC  channel  – “Lurk”  unRl  you  get  the  lay  of  the  land  

•  Ask  quesRons  the  smart  way    

Mistakes  

•  You  will  make  them.  Many  of  them.  •  Just  don’t  make  the  same  one  repeatedly.  

A  Few  Closing  Thoughts  

Saving  the  World  

•  Many  projects  help  those  most  in  need  – Sahana,  OpenMRS,  Usahidi  

•  Many  focus  on  social  jusRce  causes  – Sunlight  FoundaRon,  Tor,  Martus  

•  Many  support  the  mission  of  non-­‐profits  – CiviCRM,  HFOSS  Project,  the  enRre  stack  

The  real  point  is  to  have  fun  and  learn  something  …  

Ge]ng  an  awesome  job    and    

helping  others  are  great  results….  

Thank  You!      

QuesRons?              

 

Leslie  Hawthorn  @lhawthorn  

leslie@osuosl.org  

Credits  and  Licensing  •  Heart  Oregon:    hlp://www.flickr.com/photos/cosmic_bandita/3960799351/    •  Fire:  hlp://www.flickr.com/photos/7309767@N02/444312011/sizes/z/    

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