Once a Maintainer

Once a Maintainer profiles a different open source software (OSS) maintainer weekly, exploring their backgrounds, how they started in programming, their contributions to OSS, and their views on community engagement, diversity, and the growth of open source culture. It highlights individual journeys and insights into maintaining crucial OSS projects.

Open Source Software Maintenance Programming and Development Journeys Community and Diversity in Tech Open Source Contribution Strategies Educational Backgrounds in Tech Company Support for Open Source Transitioning to Software Development Learning and Sharing in Tech Communities

The hottest Substack posts of Once a Maintainer

And their main takeaways

Once a Maintainer: Stephen Ierodiaconou

5 implied HN points • 02 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Open Source Programming Community Software Development Ruby
  1. Stephen Ierodiaconou's journey into programming began with an interest in electronics and evolved into software development through hands-on exploration and community involvement.
  2. Open source played a significant role in Stephen's growth as a software developer, providing a platform for learning, contributing, and connecting with like-minded individuals.
  3. Stephen's experience highlights the value of community engagement, continuous learning, and sharing knowledge in open source projects for personal and professional growth.

Once a Maintainer: Robert Mosolgo

5 implied HN points • 26 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Open Source Programming Software Development Languages Performance
  1. Robert Mosolgo transitioned from a background in linguistics to becoming a prolific open source maintainer and creator of the graphql-ruby gem.
  2. He got involved in open source by taking over the React-Rails gem, contributing, and eventually becoming the maintainer, showcasing the accessibility and impact of open source contributions.
  3. His journey into writing parsers for the gem led him to explore his linguistics background, bridging the gap between human language and programming language parsing.

Once a Maintainer: David Wobrock

2 HN points • 20 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Open Source Programming Software Development Python Community
  1. David Wobrock got into programming due to his parents being involved in meteorology and him tinkering with terminal commands from an early age.
  2. Wobrock's journey into open source started during his studies, with his first major contribution being a Python plugin for Visual Studio.
  3. In the Django community, the maintenance work involves a core team, the Django Software Foundation, technical boards, and security boards, showcasing a structured and collaborative approach.

Once a Maintainer: Michael Grosser

5 implied HN points • 20 Jun 23
🕹 Technology Open Source Programming Ruby
  1. Michael Grosser started with programming by experimenting and modifying scripts, which led him to become a programmer.
  2. He transitioned from media informatics to software engineering due to a preference for programming over animation.
  3. Open source contributions like single_cov and parallel were born out of frustrations with existing tools and workflows.
Get a weekly roundup of the best Substack posts, by hacker news affinity:

Once a Maintainer: Benji Nguyen

5 implied HN points • 28 Apr 23
🕹 Technology Open Source Programming Software Development Community Engagement
  1. Benji Nguyen started programming after leaving medical school and discovering a passion for it.
  2. Erdtree, a multi-threaded filesystem tool in Rust, was born out of boredom and the desire to create a modern alternative to an old program.
  3. Getting more people into open source involves educating them on engagement etiquette and encouraging empathy for fellow programmers.

Once a Maintainer: Matt Wynne

1 HN point • 15 May 23
🕹 Technology Open Source Diversity Programming AI Ethics Community Building
  1. Diversity in open source is important and efforts should be made to create a welcoming community for everyone.
  2. Getting more people into open source requires making it equitable so that everyone can participate, and fostering a culture of learning and sharing.
  3. Contributing to open source should be a positive and welcoming experience, and individuals and companies should invest resources into supporting open source initiatives.

Once a Maintainer: Marit van Dijk

0 implied HN points • 01 Jun 23
🕹 Technology Open Source Programming Diversity Software Testing Community
  1. Marit van Dijk studied a mix of social science and computer science, ultimately finding a passion for coding and open source projects.
  2. Getting into open source like the Cucumber project brought Marit great learning opportunities and a supportive community.
  3. Marit emphasizes the importance of diversity in open source, welcoming people from different backgrounds and languages to contribute and collaborate.

Once a Maintainer: Will McGugan

0 implied HN points • 09 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Open Source Programming Community Python Libraries
  1. Will McGugan started programming with a ZX Spectrum in the 80s and later worked on games.
  2. He learned graphics programming from books and built his skills without a strong local community for support.
  3. Creating the popular rich library led to the development of the Textualize application platform for building terminal and web apps.

Once a Maintainer: Marco Roth

0 implied HN points • 23 May 23
🕹 Technology Programming Open Source Ruby JavaScript
  1. Marco Roth got into programming by building a class website with JavaScript and HTML in high school.
  2. He contributed to the Stimulus project after finding it a better approach than using jQuery in a Rails application.
  3. Encouraging more people to contribute to open source by understanding projects they use and companies supporting open source contributions.

Joakim Antman

0 implied HN points • 06 Apr 23
🕹 Technology Open Source Programming Cryptocurrency Web Development Community
  1. Joakim Antman maintains jwt, a Ruby implementation of the JSON Web Token standard.
  2. Contributing to open source can be intimidating but rewarding with supportive feedback.
  3. Getting more people into open source involves being nice, giving time for contributions, and encouraging a culture of giving back in companies.

Once a Maintainer: Josh Branham

0 implied HN points • 09 Jun 23
🕹 Technology Open Source Programming Contributions
  1. Josh Branham transitioned from desktop support and systems engineering to software development by following his curiosity in automation and building tools.
  2. Getting into open source projects can be intimidating due to the asynchronous nature, contribution steps, and potential challenges in collaborating with maintainers.
  3. Being incentivized and supported by companies to contribute to open source projects can encourage mentorship and help junior engineers get involved in community-driven initiatives.

Once a Maintainer: Alex Rudall

0 implied HN points • 21 Apr 23
🕹 Technology Open Source Programming AI Ruby Community
  1. Alex Rudall got into programming by playing video games and building computers before pursuing a career in AI.
  2. He created the ruby-openai gem to access the OpenAI API in Ruby, finding a gap in the availability of a Ruby library.
  3. Alex emphasizes the importance of open source contributions, maintaining test-driven development, and fostering a friendly community in tech.