{"thread":{"id":"28214","subject":"[GSoC update] Final report: Some observations","startedAt":"2011-08-25T06:56:15Z","lastAt":"2011-08-25T06:56:15Z","messageCount":1,"participants":["Ramkumar Ramachandra"],"isPatch":false,"patchVersion":null,"patchTotal":null},"messages":[{"id":"174210","messageId":"CALkWK0=HJJdy-ZHOLVLRm1AOLLbnXsOk=603_iCaGv4h6oLEmQ@mail.gmail.com","threadId":"28214","inReplyTo":null,"subject":"[GSoC update] Final report: Some observations","fromName":"Ramkumar Ramachandra","fromEmail":"artagnon@gmail.com","sentAt":"2011-08-25T06:56:15Z","receivedAt":"2011-08-25T06:56:15Z","isPatch":false,"sender":{"key":"r@artagnon.com","avatar":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/37226?v=4"},"body":"Hi,\n\nI've been involved with the Git community since January 2010.  Apart\nfrom tiny miscellaneous patches, I spent two summers as a GSoC student\nwriting more chunky portions.  I'll write down some of my personal\nobservations here; it's nothing new, but I hope the community can\nbenefit from learning what a (relatively) new contributor observes.\nClassifying them as \"positive\" or \"negative\" attributes makes little\nsense in my opinion.\n1. I really like the Git and the community.  It's a great piece of\nsoftware, and the community makes sure that it stays that way.  As a\nresult, it arguably has a high entry barrier.\n2. It's an exponential climb for a contributor.  Looking back, I can\nfind issues with the first few patches that I contributed, but reviews\nweren't as stringent.  It also has to do with the parts of Git I've\ntried to contribute to- I slowly went from writing tiny documentation\npatches to large features.\n3. Excellent timely reviews.  If there's one reason I stayed around\ndespite all the difficulties, this has to be it.  I don't know any\nfaster way to improve as a software engineer.\n4. Language is beautiful and entertaining! People make use of their\nlanguage skills to write interesting reviews and commit messages, not\nchoppy dry ones.\n5. High transparency.  It looks like almost everything is on-list.\n6. Largely impersonal.  Although there are exceptions, people\ngenerally don't talk about their personal lives; some people don't use\ntheir real names.\n\nPersonally, I feel a little guilty because I feel that I've gained\nmore than I've given back.  I'll try to make up for this over the\ncoming months and years.\n\nThanks.\n\n-- Ram\n"}]}