Skills Useful to FOSS Projects

Powerups I’ve acquired since int life = 0 :

Outside of the classroom skills:

• Creativity : Although I won’t be claiming an art major anytime soon , I consider myself to be a creative person. I like to build things from scratch (both in the physical and virtual realm) and enjoy being expressive through art. This can be a useful skill in improving a project’s interface and design so that it is both more user-friendly and pleasing to the eye. The benefits of creativity doesn’t stop at art though. This is a skill that can be applied to writing innovative programming solutions and amending a project’s documentation page to be more receptive to readers too.

• Programming Skills : Through my previous internship experiences, I’ve had the opportunity to use a variety of Fullstack Web Development tools and technologies related to the MERN and NERD teck stacks. This background may make it easier for me to contribute to Web based projects in a meaningful and impactful way. For example, I can help test features in the project and check for bugs. I can also (potentially) contribute code or refactor existing code in a way that improves the project’s overall extensibility and matainability.

Classroom skills that are still pretty Nifty :

• Outgoing and active in collaborative discussions : If needed, I can be very outgoing and active in collaborative discussions. While I may assert my own viewpoint, I care about everyone’s opinion and feedback. Afterall, diverse discussions lead to the best product results and active communication between team members will point out flaws or shortcomings that were not intially accounted for. This could be a vital skill to have when communicating about contributions I’m interested in making to a FOSS project. It will also be useful if I need to actively work with others on a feature for the project.

• Notes for the future : Over the years of rigorous coursework, I’ve developed the ability to not only take good notes, but to organize them in a clear and concise way. This skill can be used to contribute to a project’s documentation page, or in writing tutorials for the product.

• Nothing like a good jigsaw puzzle : I’ve always enjoyed solving actual jigsaw puzzles, so it’s no surprise that I like solving coding puzzles too. In fact, a big part of my passion for programming and mathematics comes from my interest in puzzles. So when it comes to troubleshooting bugs and putting pieces together, this is a skill that will come in handy for tackling my bigger contribution goals for this course, such as contributing bug fixes, or code that is meaningful to the project (see week 2 post).

Free-Time Fillers

For the most part, I like participating in any kind of creative activity on my free-time, including, but not limited to the following:

• Sketching/Painting/Coloring
• Paper-Crafting (Origami and Quilling)
• Baking

Activities that are not creatively-based, but find a place on my schedule include:

• Programming (Fullstack Applications)
• Tutoring/Teaching
• Reading novels, comics, poems, plays, and short stories
• Binge-watching Sci-fi TV shows
• Gardening
• The list of things that I’m interested in is limitless because the thing I enjoy doing the most is learning how to do new things

Contributions Made This Week

This week I made a few contributions to OpenStreet Map. I updated four different store listings, modified one building status, added two retail spaces to the map and removed three stores that no longer exist from the map. Links to these specific contributions can be found in the Contributions tab above.

‘Til next time,

Shania