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On Wed, 18 Sep 2013 23:33:47 -0500 |
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Daniel Campbell <lists@××××××××.us> wrote: |
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> On 09/18/2013 05:42 AM, heroxbd@g.o wrote: |
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> > Hey Daniel, |
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> > |
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> > Daniel Campbell <lists@××××××××.us> writes: |
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> > |
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> >> As a user, I've considered becoming a developer but the process is |
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> >> rather contrived and multi-tiered. |
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> > |
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> > Would you like to try again? Where did you get stuck last time? |
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> > |
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> |
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> The organizational and social aspects of it pushed me away the most. |
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> I'm completely okay with a test that ensures that you either know what |
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> you're doing or are resourceful enough to figure it out when in doubt. |
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> It's Gentoo as an organization that seems foreboding and intimidating. |
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> One must wonder if they should bother applying, if they're good |
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> enough, if a mistake would end the work they put in to become a |
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> developer, etc. |
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It kind of depends on how you think about it; if I were to wrote the |
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a paragraph about the same matter, but in a different way it would be: |
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The organizational and social aspects is what would attract me the most. |
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I'm not okay with a test that just ensures that you know what you do or |
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are resourceful enough to figure things out when in doubt; no, I would |
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love Gentoo as an organization to help me obtain more experience on top |
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of that. One shouldn't bother about being good enough for applying, the |
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recruitment helps ensure that the most mistakes aren't made. |
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In other words, you shouldn't see the recruitment quiz and reviews as a |
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driver exam where you either pass or fail; no, we let you test drive on |
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a consolidated piece of the world and open the gates to the real world |
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once you have become acquainted and sharpened your driving skills. |
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If you then make a careful accidental mistake, no need to worry. |
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> Additionally, I couldn't really come up with a solid goal to work on; |
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> an answer to "why do you want to become a developer?" My computing |
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> interests lie in problems that are already solved for the most part |
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> (IOW I don't know how to find an unsolved problem). My favorite |
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> software already has capable maintainers on Gentoo, as well. |
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Yes, that's one of the reasons people apply; but with the amount of |
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developers for most software that's going to be true. Regardless of |
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that, a particular piece of software being already maintained doesn't |
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mean that you can't help maintain them; there's always something to do |
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in those areas so manpower is often welcome. Contacting the people to |
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see if there are things to do, whether you could join a herd (or |
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maintain a package) once you become a Gentoo Developer and more are |
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possible things you could do; don't assume that they will say "no". :) |
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> So if I |
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> found myself as a developer, I don't know what I would work on. I'm |
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> interested in writing better guides for things, making corrections, |
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> updating out-dated stuff, and wouldn't mind adding new packages to |
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> portage, but that strikes me as something general that all developers |
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> pretty much do already. |
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Yes, that's the second reason; helping out people or giving back to the |
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community are things you could do, and if you want to do just that |
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there's certainly always something to do in that terrain. |
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> I've thought about giving it a try, but I don't want to waste people's |
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> time if someone more useful applies. This conflicts with my desire to |
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> learn and improve, because you can't learn everything alone. So I'm |
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> stuck. |
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We don't rank our developers; so, if you maintain a particular package |
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or are part of a particular herd you won't be removed from that any |
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time soon and I see no reason that it would be a waste of time. |
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Everything you do helps yourself as well as Gentoo Linux; even if you |
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don't think it does, it actually does; both gain experience. |
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> Sorry for the long, personal answer. I would've responded sooner but I |
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> wanted to give the question some thought. |
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No problem, you also clarify matters for other possible future recruits |
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so this could perhaps be used as a sub thread to point people with such |
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wonders to in the future. Or we could capture this into the Gentoo Wiki. |
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-- |
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With kind regards, |
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Tom Wijsman (TomWij) |
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Gentoo Developer |
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E-mail address : TomWij@g.o |
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GPG Public Key : 6D34E57D |
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GPG Fingerprint : C165 AF18 AB4C 400B C3D2 ABF0 95B2 1FCD 6D34 E57D |
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