Looking to Develop

[jm47048]

Hello. My name is Jason. I am moving to Arizona and starting a new job on January 7th, so I thought I would start here. I have been interested in Ubuntu and its related projects since version 6.06. I am not new to Linux, but I never found a distro that got my attention as much as Ubuntu has.

I used to use Red Hat until it got bloated and feature creep ruined it for me. And then they went "pro" and I have never been all that impressed with Fedora. So I went back to Windows because I couldn't find a distro I liked. Then someone told me about Knoppix as a live CD, and when searching for other live distro's, I happend on Ubuntu. Tried it, fell in love with it.

I have been a successful Windows developer in the professional world for 4 years now, and I have a master's degree in software engineering. I have never tried working with open source software before and I would like the chance to do so in my spare time. While it would be a part-time thing (nights and weekends and in between new baby duty) I would be committed to the project to which I am assigned.

I guess I am looking for direction. Since I have never worked with a distro before, and kinda new to doing it, I was hoping someone could point me in a direction and link me up with those that would know. I would be interested in writing code if possible, but I can do testing or other things as dictated by the project's needs.

I hope someone will post a reply to this. I would look forward to writing code in a new environment and I am very willing to learn and listen to other's ideas. I also never take offense to constructive comments on my code and would be willing to hear what others have to say.

Thank you in advance!

Jason

[sloggerkhan]

Well, I think you pretty much just need to find a project you want to contribute to and go form there. Most everything could always use another developer, but how open the project is, what they need contributed, what language, and what standards are used can vary from project to project.

Conduit sync is an interesting (and I hear, relatively simple) project (http://www.conduit-project.org) that I've heard could use some people to write more plugins and help develop in general. Since it's supposedly a relatively simple project, it might be a good way to get used to whatever open source tools commonly get used for development. (I sorta get the impression that people have an editor of choice, and use the command line for compiling, svn/bzr repos, but I have no idea if that's really the case.)

Another project I'd like to see develop faster: http://dangerdeep.sourceforge.net/
lol... it's a game.

In any case, just find something you feel needs work and try to get involved. Write a patch or find out what needs to be done on IRC.

You might also try posting this question in the development and programming forum.
(Most of us loco guys aren't hardcore developers, I don't think.)
Also, make sure you have a launchpad account. With that, you could help squash bugs or develop different parts of Ubuntu.

[jayson.rowe]

If you are looking to contribute to Ubuntu directly, check out this page:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuDevelopment

It will point you in the right directions. It might be best to start off by working with a MOTU mentor, as they can show you the ropes and upload your packages for you.

Good Luck, and Happy Coding!

[jm47048]

I gotta say that I kinda miss-read the reason to have the local groups, that you are more into protomoting the use rather then developing code. However, I would like to get involved anyway in this area as well. Since I lately have been very into working with Linux for home projects as well.

I hope that you will consider me for inclusion.

Thank you for the responses!

lol, everyone is so nice here. I am glad I didn't a RTFM from people here.

[Tyche]

I gotta say that I kinda miss-read the reason to have the local groups, that you are more into protomoting the use rather then developing code. However, I would like to get involved anyway in this area as well. Since I lately have been very into working with Linux for home projects as well.

I hope that you will consider me for inclusion.

Thank you for the responses!

lol, everyone is so nice here. I am glad I didn't a RTFM from people here.

If you are interested in membership in the Team, you might start with this page: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ArizonaTeam.

Another source of information is IRC (also explained through a link on that page) by connecting through irc.freenode.net, and joining the channel #ubuntu-us-az.

We welcome new members, and are an easy-going community. Much of what occurs on IRC is nothing more than friendly chat, but it also has its moments of in-depth help and moral support. We also hold our meetings on line on Sunday nights at 9:00 PM Mountain Standard Time (Arizona Time, or UTC -7), and would enjoy hearing from you.