Henry Zhu

We use the term open source to mean a lot of things: it's difficult to discuss the struggles of simply being a maintainer whether you are a volunteer or working on it at a company.

We use the term open source to mean a lot of things: it's difficult to discuss the struggles of simply being a maintainer whether you are a volunteer or working on it at a company. 

We lack clarity in what sustainability looks like because there are so many different goals: diversity in participation and work, community building, building a business. 

I'll be going through some of my experiences in going from onlooker to contributor to full time maintainer and how we may want to broaden what maintenance looks like and where we can look to for guidance.

2019

JSNation

Open Source: Charity or Business?

This talk will go into my experience of working on open source full time for the last year and the many issues faced.

Much of open source starts with scratching your own itch. It's possible that your project turns out to be useful for others. Soon you may find yourself responsible for a critical piece of the internet and are really excited.

Later you realize you have no idea who is using it, find it hard to communicate to your users, are burdened with the ever -increasing workload, and desperate to find help. You discover that it's hard to let go or trust anyone else. Should you just make more tools? How do we even begin to start solving this problem?

This talk will go into my experience of working on open source full time for the last year and the many issues faced: whether it's the burden of work, the issues of freedom, fundraising difficulties, and on top of that emotional well being. Let's talk about working to support maintainers personally, consistently, and in community.

JSHeroes

Maintainers Anonymous

Why do releases take so long, what challenges do we still face in open source, and why have I been feeling so anxious all the time? Here's some reflections on open source.