While the world of open source isn’t exactly what you’d call “dog-eat-dog”, it’s still a world that grants success only to those who work diligently at it. This work no doubt involves coding and related skills development, but there’s another type of work that has an even bigger impact on open source success: working on the right attitude.
It’s been said countless times before and in many other industries: attitude trumps aptitude. Even with the right knowledge and skills, without the right mindset and character traits for success, more often than not it will remain elusive.
Given the significance of these traits in achieving open source success, we’ve listed down some of the most pertinent that open source developers need to possess:
- Creative
A certain amount of creativity can go a long way in helping open source developers succeed with their projects. It takes ingenuity to build a project that not only works to answer a need or solve a problem, but is also streamlined, easy to develop, user-friendly and useful in a number of applications. - Collaborative
In its very essence open source software development involves the collaboration of many in order to achieve the optimal version of a piece of software. It cannot be a one-person project. Developers must therefore take on a collaborative mindset, setting differences aside and reaching compromises when necessary in order to achieve a greater goal. - Good Communicator
Working with an entire community can be overwhelming for some, to the point that it stifles their voice and consequently, their contributions. For others, miscommunication is a common issue leading to misunderstandings that are detrimental to the project and community. To avoid these instances it’s important for open source developers to hone their communication skills and be able to communicate their ideas clearly and effectively. It’s also important to communicate politely, which brings us to the next trait- - Considerate
Open source communities are composed of numerous people with different backgrounds and personalities. It’s important for developers to recognize this, and become sensitive of other contributors’ feelings and aspirations for the project. Recognize that contributors have different levels of expertise, and treating each with kindness and respect can never take away from the project, but may even help it. - Open
This goes both ways: being open to sharing knowledge, and being open to receiving it. Shared knowledge is the foundation of open source development. By sharing knowledge and information the entire community can fully participate in the development of a project, resulting in its betterment and the betterment of everyone involved. Alongside this openness, an open source developer must also possess the ability to discern what should and should not be shared, and how information is shared.
There may be countless other traits that can lead to software development success, but these are the few that are most in sync with the way an open source system works.