Partner Project of FOSS United
At FOSS United, we often use the term "partner" in various contexts, such as community partners, industry partners, and venue partners, among others. We have adopted the term "Partner Projects" for our annual hackathon, FOSS Hack (FH).
Partner Projects are the FOSS projects that FOSS United onboards each year for the FH, providing them with visibility and a platform by encouraging participants to contribute to these projects during the hackathon.
However, the results have not met expectations because most participants are students (beginners) who aren't skilled enough to start contributing right away. They require guidance to learn the basics of programming and team collaboration tools like Git. They can't learn these skills in just a 36-hour hackathon or through a few talk sessions or workshops before the hackathon. It can take months, if not years.
So, how can we actually achieve this?
There is no shortcut; we need to develop a program that guides beginners for months to master the fundamentals through extensive practice.
Thus, the Partner Project Program must extend beyond just the FOSS Hack. It should consist of Pre-FH, FH, and Post-FH phases.
What can we do post-FOSS Hack?
The idea of a month-long contribution program, "Season of Commits," has existed on the forum for at least a year. We believe it is the way forward post-FH to help beginners practice and learn more before they contribute significantly to the partner projects of FOSS United. This will require a lot of mentors to guide the beginners. Who can mentor? Individuals whose fundamentals are clear, who have practiced enough, contributed to FOSS projects, and maintain projects are the ones we need to convince to mentor the beginners. These mentors could also be contributors to the individual partners' projects.
With the Season of Commits, we aim to help open-source projects gain new contributors and help beginners gain the experience they need to be ready to join the software development industry or even author a new FOSS project. This is a win-win-win for everyone: maintainers, students (beginners), and the user community.
Join us
If you are an Indian FOSS project maintainer, we invite you to join our Partner Project Program. Your time, patience, and support in building the Indian FOSS ecosystem will help us collectively reap the benefits.
Please reach out to me at vishal@fossunited.org or fosshack@fossunited.org. I am also available at t.me/fossdot and @wisharya.01 on Signal. You can learn more about FOSS United and FOSS Hack through our website and participate in discussions through the Forum or a Matrix<>Telegram group.