Nurturing the Next Generation of Open Source Contributors
Many open source projects are grappling with a crucial issue: finding future contributors and maintainers. This talk explores the hurdles and solutions in bridging academia and open source. We discuss what mental barriers students face when it comes to coding and contributing to open source, how to craft mentorship resources, and what resources projects need to build lasting relationships with students.
In the world of open source projects, a growing problem has been casting a shadow over many projects: a need for contributors and maintainers to keep development sustainable in the long-term.
CodeDay is a non-profit with the goal of helping students find their place in tech, and since 2009 we’ve been collaborating with high school and college students to build the open-source software we need for our events. And now for the last four years, we’ve been taking what we’ve learned and used it to help get thousands of students involved in open-source projects.
This talk, “Nurturing the Next Generation of Open Source Contributors,” led by Tyler Menezes, explores the hurdles and solutions in bridging academia and OSS to welcome more contributors.
Presenters
Tyler Menezes
Tyler Menezes is the Executive Director at CodeDay, where he works to provide welcoming and diverse opportunities for under-served students to explore a future in tech and beyond.
Born in Canada but raised in the Pacific Northwest, he briefly attended the University of Washington before dropping out to start a Y Combinator and venture-backed social video startup in 2011. This, combined with stints working in machine learning at Microsoft Research and as a programmer at several Seattle startups, led to his work finding data-driven solutions to increasing CS diversity and enrollment since 2014.