Recording screencasts of OSS contributions

on April 19, 2017. in Blablabla, Programming. A 2 minute read.

I enjoy contributing to open source projects, and I learn a lot while doing it. When someone asks me for advice on how to improve as a programmer, I usually tell them to find an open source project that interests them, and start contributing.

Easier said than done.

I’ve been contributing since… early 2009 I think, when I joined the Zend Framework mailing list.

To try and bring closer contributing to beginners, I decided to start recording screencasts of me doing open source contributions. To give a glimpse of how I do it.

So far I have created 4 of them and uploaded on YouTube. The quality is not perfect, but I think it’s good enough. There’s no video editing, I want to show how I really do it, no fixing of mistakes, no retakes. I use zoom to start a “meeting” and then share and record the screen. It’s actually the best screencasting software for Fedora I’ve found, and it’s not even a screencasting software ¯\(ツ)/¯

While doing these screencasts I also realised that I quite enjoy doing this and the whole process has the added bonus of me actual doing rubber ducking, because, well, I talk all the time as I do things.

Also, potential clients and employers can get a peak at how I work.

Happy hackin’!