How do you balance working for a living and contributing to open source projects?

Question

I have been a working programmer since the turn of the century and I have always been fascinated by the open source world. I have wanted to contribute to these projects but I find it difficult to find the time that I think these projects would require.

I find professional software development to be a huge time sink. Almost every project I have worked on has a familiar litany inflexible deadlines and inevitable round the clock last minute pushes that eat up your nights and weekends and everything else in sight. Even in the project that don't have this - the typical work day is 10 to 12 hours and after that one has errands and chores, reading up on the latest stuff, etc...

Since this happens with a fair amount of regularity - I am hesitant to join projects since I can't promise to devote a regular number of hours every week.

My question is how do you people do it?
Do you work at open source companies? Am I exaggerating the amount of time I need to spend (I am thinking a couple of hours everyday)? Am I way off base and simply not managing my time efficiently? How do you manage your time?

Answer 1

If you're spending 12 hour days at work then there's something very wrong with your company and their approach to development time. We work on the principle of 7 hour days, but with a in-office time of 8 - 9. This allows for developers to attend meetings, eat, help each other, etc. The client then can have a more realistic deadline, a 70 hour project will take 10 days to complete, not 8.5 days.

This then leaves time to work on external projects. For doing that I will spend 3 - 5 nights a week on my open source projects.

Try setting yourself goals and deadlines as well. This means you know where you're trying to go and when you should get there.

I also try and take a day or two a month off to work on my own projects.

Answer 2

I currently do it by making use of unemployment benefit.

Answer 3

Stop working 12 hour days, for a start. (grin) You don't need to pre-commit any particular amount of time to start working on some open source project that interests you -- even an hour a week can be of benefit to you and the project. You'll find that your desire to spend time on a project will increase over time as you get more interested in something, and you'll reprioritise things in your life, as you would with any other hobby you enjoy doing.

Answer 4

I think the best way is to code a little, or as much as you can. Don't actually give them your code until you think you've got enough done. Sure its slow but its open source and doesn't actually have a deadline.

Answer 5

I keep it simple when I'm working, I'm working, and when I'm not working, I can work on Open Source stuff.

Answer 6

1) Go to http://code.google.com/ or a similar website 2) Find a few project you like and email the owner 3) Each week dedicating some time, say 5-10 hours. 4) Have fun

Answer 7

First of all, get a new job. ;) Second of all, because Open Source IS all volunteer, you don't have to commit to any specific schedule. I would say a couple of hours a day would be MORE then enough to make SIGNIFICANT contributions to any open source project. I tend to do most of my open source stuff on the weekends. I probably average about 3 hours during the week, and an additional 5-6 over the weekend.

By the by, Open Source work is one of the best ways to "keep up" on new stuff ;)

Answer 8

I am currently a student and I am working on an open source project. I donate my free time for it, but it's okay because it is also some kind of hobby for me. How much time you want to spend depends on the work you plan to be doing. There is many different work to do in an open source project, for example except plain coding there is also documentation, user support, ticket classification etc.

Mailing lists can be a good introduction to the project and how it works. Start following the development mailing list and watch how developers interact. Many developers do not work on the project every day, but may limit their contributions to weekends only. Also, most developers understand when real life is more important to you than the work on the project.

Also take a look at their bug trackers. There might be just some feature requests lying around which do not require much work, but nobody had time yet to address them. In this case, feel free to implement it and attach it to the report. That's a good possibility to contribute to the project. Every contribution counts and you do not have to create big plans, small contributions are fine, too.

After all, do not hesitate to get into an open source project just because you fear the amount of time you will spend with it. Looking forward to see some patch of you in any open source software soon ;-)

Answer 9

Do a little bit each day. Persistence is by far the biggest determining factor in getting side projects done.

Answer 10

spend less time on stackoverflow.com, more time with family