How GitHub changed open source

Recently, I saw someone on LinkedIn sharing their first commit. It was from 2009. I was curious about mine, so I visited myfirstcommit.com. Although I joined GitHub in 2011, my first commit was from 2014. I was surprised that it was that late.

That reminded me of my early days. Around the end of the 90s, I was using Linux. I jumped from Slackware to Mandrake, tinkering with some projects. I was amazed by the amount of information available on the internet. Although programming was not my number one passion, it was a way to make things happen. I have been coding since I was a kid. It started with copying code from magazines into my uncle's Commodore 64.

I wasn't so collaborative back then. I was just a consumer of open source. I was surprised to find out I could contribute. However, the groups I found could have been more welcoming. It felt like a closed club. My excitement faded fast. For many, even the purpose of the contribution was to have control over the project, and as an outsider, you don't have a say in it when you don't pay for something. That was the mentality.

It changed a lot when GitHub came along. It became easy to contribute and find projects to contribute to. The community also became more welcoming. Main contributors became more pragmatic rather than protective.

I was on a Discord channel recently, helping people with their questions. Suddenly, it struck me that developers are spending so much effort on things that are not the primary concern of their projects.

There is so much need for practical examples and solutions. I decided to share some of the obstacles I come across and how I solve them.