[LA.pm] Next step for a newbie

[Cynthia Kiser]

Quoting Ron Smith <geeksatlarge at yahoo.com>:
> Where would I go to begin getting info on how to get
> involved with an open-source project? The thing I'm a
> little concerned with is, are my skills up to a level
> where I can make a meaningful contribution.

If you are not already familiar with some of the tools commonly used
for open source, remote team development, you might want to check out
the LinuxChix course that is running
http://www.linuxchix.org/content/courses/tools/ (And before you ask,
men are welcome on all the LinuxChix list except grrls-only and there
are plenty of men on the courses and techtalk lists.)

As for how to get involved when you are not sure you have the skills,
one suggestion I have heard Dan Kagel make is to volunteer to triage
bugs for the project of your choice. It gets you familiar with lots of
aspects of the project and really helps the main developers focus on
fixable bugs. The most valuable aspect seemed to be developing good
test cases for the verified bugs. And once you are familiar with the
code, you can start submitting patches along with your test cases. The
code reviews of those patches will help you tighten up your idomatic
Perl and move into full developer status. 

-- 
Cynthia Kiser
cnk at caltech.edu