Ask HN: Open-source Maintainer – have you ever had a burnout?

Posted by paydevs on Thursday October 06, 2022 @02:24AM
from the ask-hn dept.

If you've ever maintained open source software and got burned out: * Why did you start in the first place? What was your motivation? * What did you do against the burnout? * And would you have been less burned out if you could have worked full-time on the OSS with a salary and without another job?

( 1 comment | 2 points | on HN )

Re:Ask HN: Open-source Maintainer – have you ever had a burn... by sudo_navendu on Thursday October 06, 2022 @02:35AM (#33105101)

The reason I started contributing to open source was to learn new skills. It was a great way to work on real world projects and gain experience.

The project I was working on was community driven to a large extent. We had users and contributors from around the world and being one of the core maintainers, I basically had no quitting time. I was working around the clock and did not have any boundaries. I had a lot of work in the project. I was writing code, reviewing PRs, hosting community meetings, discussing project roadmaps etc.

After some time, I started working on open source full-time. I was paid by a company to work on their open source project. We had a bigger team and it made my life a lot easier. I had well defined jobs and I did not have to worry about other aspects of the project like I did before.

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