introducing: oss.madrid
Open Source Saturday are a new style of meetup:
It's fun. Meet together with friends or new people, talk software, have lunch together.
It's interactive. All participants will be active, not passive listeners. We'll all do what we love: write code.
It's collaboration. You will form a group with others and help their projects, or propose your project!
It's public good. Working on open source software lets you scratch your own itch, grow your technical skills (a lot!) while also letting others benefit from your output - it's just great.
What happens now
We're preparing the first event of oss.madrid in
May.
While we sort out all the logistics, you can signal your interest by
subscribing to our calendar:
https://lu.ma/ossmadrid.
(You can also add it to
Google,
Apple, or any app that supports
iCal feeds.)
FAQ
what does an oss.madrid day looks like?
A typical meetup will follow this agenda:
- Meet with all participants on a Saturday morning
- Do a standup, in circle everyone gives a mini-introduction, shares what they'd like to work during the day
- Everyone decides what to do: follow what they told, or just join someone else
- Small groups are formed
- Work and chat and have fun for the rest of the morning
- Everyone gets lunch (for example in a nearby place)
- After lunch, meet again and do a second round of standup sharing what they actually ended up working on during the morning
- Continue working until it's time to go home
what projects will we work on?
You decide what to work on during the day. Nobody forces a specific topic or a number of projects that can be worked on beforehand.
how do you pick a project to work on?
At the beginning of the day, each participant can share ideas and projects. After presentations are done, everyone can decide whether to work alone or to join someone else and working on their idea. While not mandatory, working together is fun and encouraged.
do i need to be an expert to propose an idea?
Not at all. During the presentations make it clear that you have an idea but need help in certain areas.
what are possible ideas to work on?
Even if your idea is crazy: propose it, don't feel limited by anything or anyone. If you need some inspirations for your pitch, here are a few:
- I maintain project XY, developed in Z. It could use some love, I'd like to implement feature A and solve bugs B and C.
- I don't know Ruby but I'd like to learn, contributing to an OS project. Can somebody who already knows Ruby help me?
- I use project N all the times, but I'd just love for it to have this feature F. Is anyone willing to try adding it with me?
- I always wanted to have a software for doing R, I'd like to develop it as an OS project. Who can help me?
If you need more help in finding something to work on, a few ideas could be:
- Looking for GitHub issues labelled as good first issue, here's a list
- Up For Grabs is another list of projects with tasks that are meant for new contributors
do we have to work in groups?
Nope. The recommendation is to take the chance to work with someone else, learn something new, and have fun. However, it's totally fine to just sit here working on your own (you can still have fun by being in them room!).
how big should groups be?
Ideally 2-3 people is a good starting point. More people makes the organizational overhead bigger.
what do i need to bring with me?
Just a computer. We'll provide seating and internet access.
will there be a Wi-Fi network?
Yes.
why "open source" and not "free software"?
Our meetups will focus on the technical aspects of making software and not much on the politics or licensing of it.
is there a badge for repos and prs opened during these events?
Great question! You can use this:
[](https://oss.madrid)what are the rules for participating?
We expect partcipants to follow as closely as possible the
Recurse Center social
rules
to make sure to create an environment where people can actually grow and learn.
We also follow the
Berlin's Code of Conduct
that describes unacceptable behaviours that won't be tolerated.
Finally, as the name suggests, we expect contributions to be published as
Open Source software at the end of each meetup!
inspired by Milan's group FAQ