I'm ready to help the FOSS community , but I can't find a proyect.

Question

I've been working as a C# developer for the last 5 years and using linux for about the same time. One of my goals for the 2011 is to start developing FOSS in my spare time. Maybe in python, I find it interesting.
However , there are some problems that I am facing:
1) The proyect: every proyect I found is too big , or too complex , or too boring. Maybe I'm missing something , maybe I'm looking in the wrong place. I don't know , Exaile was the closest to a interesting proyect that I found , but after reviewing the code , I couldn't understand the gstreamer logic (I mean , that's the core of the app , right?).
2) My "coworkers": I'm used to work everyday in the same office and and have a close relationship with them. I don't know how to react to this change and how does the other developers could/would react to a new developer coming to the proyect (I mean , "hey guys , i fixed these bugs and added the 2 things for the next milestone. Btw , I'm Andres" seems wierd lol).
I think I'm not the first one having these problems , so any feedback would help me.
Thanks

Answer 1

nagel wrote:I'm ready to help the FOSS community, but I can't find a project.
How exciting! I love helping FOSS projects, but it can be difficult to decide what to do.
nagel wrote:One of my goals for the 2011 is to start developing FOSS in my spare time. Maybe in Python, I find it interesting.
I agree, Python is very interesting. I made my first Python application a few months ago. It was easy to use, fun, and I think using Python helped me to become a better C programmer.
Keep it simple
nagel wrote:Every project I found is too big, or too complex, or too boring. Maybe I'm missing something, maybe I'm looking in the wrong place.
My suggestion: choose a project where you need to learn one thing at a time.
There are languages (examples: Python, C), libraries (examples: GTK, Qt), and programming paradigms. (examples: GUI programming, threaded programming) When you begin working on a project, you will probably need to learn something new. Try to learn only one thing at a time. For example, if you have to learn gstreamer and GTK (two libraries) at the same time then you might become frustrated. Or, if you have to C++ and Qt (a language and a library) at the same time then you might become frustrated.
So, try to learn one thing at a time.
Other FOSS developers
nagel wrote:I'm used to work everyday in the same office and and have a close relationship with them. I don't know how to react to this change and how does the other developers could / would react to a new developer coming to the project.
I love working online with FOSS developers! It feels like I'm talking to a celebrity. You know, like when Allan or Dusty posts a reply to me on the Arch Linux forums.
Of course, you should join the mailing list and bug tracker for the project you want to work on. I don't usually introduce myself. Instead, I just start helping, and people will know me soon.
My FOSS experience
Here are some examples from my FOSS experience.
Many years ago, I wanted to write a new FOSS application. I couldn't think of any new applications to make, so I decided to make a video game. There are NEVER too many video games.
I learned many things by making video games:
Languages: C, Objective-C, Java, Assembly, Ada
Libraries: Allegro, SDL, Java SWING
I've submitted many bug reports to many different projects, such as wxWidgets, Allegro, Udiskie, and Haiku. I really like submitting bug reports and working with the developers to fix the problem. It's easy to do and I get to use better software.
I maintain some AUR packages. (very easy, but it helps FOSS)
I helped write the documentation for some software from the Arch Linux community, such as Packer and Udiskie. I've contributed to the Arch Linux wiki.
Recently, my wife and I wanted a new application for budgetting. I decided to write one. I used Python and wxWidgets. It works pretty well. My next goal is to convert it to C++ and wxWidgets, and then make a version for Haiku using C++ and the Haiku API.
Interesting things
You should definiteley work on something that you think is interesting. To me, that's Arch Linux, Haiku, bug reports, and documentation. Try to find things that are interesting to you!
Lastly, don't make your goal too big and don't try to do too much. There are many many people helping in FOSS. If everyone does a little bit, then we can make something great.