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VM Brasseur: Open Source consultant, Vice President of Open Source Initiative, and Author of Forge Your Future with Open Source. vmbrasseur.com.

The Open Source world is large. It’s also complex and difficult to manage, especially for a novice. Our guest this week is VM Brasseur, who is the Vice President of the Open Source Initiative and the author of a new book from Pragmatic called Forge Your Future With Open Source. We talk how Open Source is different from free software, and how to get started in Open Source, how to pick a project, how to navigate a new project to make your first submission. We’ll also look at it from the other side, and talk about open source projects can make themselves more contributor-friendly. And we talk about the state of Open Source in general. We want to hear from you. What was your first open source experience like? Or, how do you handle new contributors on your project?

03:40 - Misconceptions Keeping People From Contributing to Free and Open Source Software

05:27 - Overcoming Impostor Syndrome

08:27 - Why Contribute to Open Source?

10:15 - What Project Do I Start With?

12:32 - Why NOT To Start With Documentation

14:24 - Getting Started With Your First Contribution

20:20 - Advice For Navigating the Open Source Community

22:40 - The Importance Codes of Conduct

24:44 - The Evolution of Open Source

35:29 - Join VM at the Seattle GNU/Linux Conference on November 9th & 10th!

36:33 - Advice For Maintainers Wanting to Make Projects Welcoming

Special Guest: VM Brasseur.