Help me find an open source project to join.

Question

Hi.

For quite some time I have been thinking about joining an open source project. First of all, joining a project will help me become a better developer, and I’d like the challenge of working with people from around the world (I’m from Denmark). Secondly, I use a lot of open source software, both at work and in my spare time so it’s about time I at least try to give something back.

Currently I’m a .NET developer (C# mostly) and have been so for about 3 years. Before that I did a lot of classic ASP and VBScript. So I’m primarily a Windows/Microsoft guy, but I’ve recently started to pick up on Ruby/RoR.

I’d like some input to which project I can join which will help me become a better developer. For now I’m thinking it should be concentrated around .NET, as my other language skills are not yet ready to meet the world :-)

I like doing both ASP.NET as well as WinForms, but apart from that I think I’m very open to any suggestions.

Thank you in advance.

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A good question, but closed as a duplicate of many questions already cited so thankfully I don't have to search-copy-paste URLs here :)

Answer 1

I'd be happy to see other people's replies for this. But a good advice is to find a .NET project you really like. Then start to play around with the source. See if you can add features, tighten weak points, find bugs and so on, then submit the pearls to the project's mailinglist or authors.

Giving something back to the project is a good way of proving that you could be a viable member of a project. After doing this for a while, you shouldn't be surprised to be asked to join in on the development.

Some places to search:

• Freshmeat
• Github
• code.google.com
• Google code search for C#

Answer 2

A few places to start looking :-)

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/392947/what-is-a-good-open-source-c-project-for-me-to-get-involved-in

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/43649/how-to-get-involved-in-an-open-source-project

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/38881/how-to-find-opensource-projects-looking-for-help

Answer 3

The Microsoft world sure needs Open Source enthusiasts of the right spirit. Crap like DotNetNuke shows it. I would try to filter away projects that are primarily commersial like that.

For filtering in. I think you should think about where your skills are concentrated in terms of application types and also what you feel the hardest for. And from there find projects that are small enough. Like the rails world where you can find plugin projects of various sizes. Browse Github some and I'm sure you'll stumble across stuff that gets your fingers itching for dirt!

Answer 4

My personal advise it to look for projects close to your other spare time leisures/hobbies.

You might find something in "your" programming languages, or you might find the need for a tool that does not exist yet, and write it in the wanted programming languages and technologies you want to try out.

Here is what has worked very well for me:

• Music: Rockbox, a firmware replacement for many mp3-players and portable media players.
• Photography: CHDK, a firmware addition to numerous Canon compact still cameras.