

Benefits of participating in open source projects for university students? - anujkk

I always suggest students to participate in various open source projects as it is a good way to polish your skills and contribute to community. What can be another benefits from a student perspective? Will it be beneficial in getting jobs?<p>Let's say you have to persuade a student to participate in open source projects, what would you tell him?
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doublesprout
Also to build up credibility as a developer. My concern as a student is that
there isn't a huge community of other open source developers around - so by
working on these projects, I'm missing out on the chance to build something
with a fellow student, work on my own startup, etc. (consider that substantial
programming takes a lot of time)

And tech meetups are great, but it seems a waste of these few years to be
going to them instead of meeting the people around college.

So I don't know. You tell me?

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kstenerud
If someone needs to be persuaded to participate in open source projects, they
shouldn't be participating.

You participate in open source to fuel a passion. You do it as an outlet for
your creativity. You do it to scratch an itch. You do it after looking at the
landscape and saying "I could make it better".

If you're doing it for fame, glory, or job prospects, you won't contribute
anything decent or noteworthy.

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anujkk
I agree to you. May be I presented the question in wrong way. I want to know
in what ways we can promote "open source culture" in university students
(especially in India where many don't even properly know about it). Let's call
it promotion instead of persuasion.

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kstenerud
I would say that the best motivator for open source is the realization that
you, YOU, can make a BIG difference in the world.

Looking at all the big projects out there has a tendency to give one a feeling
of inadequacy; a feeling that one couldn't even muster up enough talent to
contribute to such a project, let alone start one. It's really a matter of
putting your ego and the fear of bruising it aside, and diving in. You might
produce crap and it might be rejected, or it might not get used at all. But no
successful person ever succeeds without failing many times first.

In a way, it's a lot like entrepreneurship. You need the fearlessness to say
"I'm going to do this, no matter how foolish it seems." Great ideas always
seem foolish compared to the wisdom of the crowd, but until you go in a
different direction from them, nothing will ever change, and your life will
remain dull and boring and pointless. Even if your idea really is foolishness
(which often it can be), you'll still live the excitement of your new
adventure. Life is too short to live safely.

