Technical skill to create / get involved in open source projects?

[jpr98]

I really want to start getting into open source. I have no idea what sort of thing to create, so I think I can start by contributing to some projects I like. But I don't know how to code the stuff they're doing and it's difficult to understand their codebases. What do you recommend? How should I learn more on coding these things? Thanks!

[mxcl]

If you want to contribute code, it's easier to start a new project, working with other people is hard, those skills can take a decade to learn. If you however are more interested in community aspects then getting involved is the only way. Documentation in OSS is an ever under-developed portion, as is support in the tracker and chat channels.

If you are to start a new project, find something small that bothers you, and write a small tool that fixes it.

Working on many small projects is the best way to learn frameworks, libraries, tools, patterns and strategies for being more involved with open source and the software industry in general.

[jpr98]

Thanks for your advice Max! I will start by trying to write small tools and hope to get better at it. Thanks again!