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On 09/19/2013 07:37 AM, Tom Wijsman wrote: |
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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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> |
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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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> |
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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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> |
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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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> |
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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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> |
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> If you then make a careful accidental mistake, no need to worry. |
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> |
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|
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That's a bit reassuring. It's difficult to understand an organization |
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from the outside, so forgive me if I (or others) get the wrong idea. |
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|
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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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> |
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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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> |
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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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> |
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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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> |
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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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> |
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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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> |
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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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> |
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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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|
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Thanks for the clarification and insight. I don't mind if you use |
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content from this discussion on the wiki or other documentation to |
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better educate users. This list probably doesn't get a lot of user |
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exposure, so something meant for their eyes could change the mindset of |
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some users and motivate them to step up and lighten the load. |
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|
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My apologies to Rich for derailing the thread. It's a habit I'm trying |
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to get rid of. |