The 10 Biggest Mistakes You Shouldn’t Make In Open Source
summary
Clear, actionable list of pitfalls with examples: don’t skip basic etiquette and empathy, don’t assume only code matters—documentation, blog posts, newsletters and contributor templates are valid contributions, and don’t submit huge 16,000-line PRs instead start with tiny fixes like a broken link or glossary entry. Do your research: read READMEs, pinned Slack items, contributing.md and meeting notes, and fill issue/PR templates. Expect scaling limits — about 1,000 maintainers supporting 7 million users — so automate manual work, use mentorship and paid programs, and set roadmaps to avoid drive-by features.
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chapters (10)
- 0:00Introduction
- 3:05Not Being Considerate and Empathetic
- 9:18Thinking Only Code Matter
- 11:28Trying to Start Too Big
- 13:57Not Doing Your Research
- 16:42Not Seeking Mentorship
- 20:17Not Attending Meetups and Events
- 22:23Not Sharing Your Learning
- 24:14Not Experimenting in Open Source
- 27:18Not Making Friends Along the Way
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