Today was the first time I've ever sprinted, and I can honestly say it wasn't at all what I expected. I was expecting frantic energy, and I mistakenly assumed that the project maintainers would turn up with a huge number of tickets that would get allocated to anyone who came. I also hoped (expected?) that there would be someone experienced in the project who would help me get started.
Instead it was a cross between a design meeting and a pretty regular work day, and while everyone was friendly and very helpful, they were also busy trying to get their own work done.
It's no-ones fault - I just wasn't anywhere near prepared enough to actually be useful helping on the project that I wanted to work on. In part, I guess that some of that is about trying to break into a community - there needs to be a degree of trust before you get commit rights to a major repository. So I'm happy to watch most of this one out, with the understanding that things will go better at future conferences.
Instead, I've had a good day working on a related topic to my project of interest, which I'm hoping may end up with nice enough results to put in for a PyCon AU talk.
We'll see how it goes.
Speaking specifically for the CPython core sprint tables: I think we were much more approachable last year. This year (at least for day 1, noon onwards when I showed up) we seem to have just jumped in and started working with nobody setup to welcome newcomers and get them setup with specific tasks and contributor agreements.
ReplyDeleteWhile lots is being done by established folks, there is most certainly room for improvement. It really does take someone in a given community to turn on their often hidden extrovert bit for a day or two and welcome folks, guiding them into the fold and getting them running and partnered up with an existing member to guide them.