Open-source isn't just a category of software for me—it's a whole philosophy that guides my development journey. The act of creating and contributing to open-source projects has become an integral part of my identity as a developer.

Crafting Communities, One Commit at a Time

Take Camphouse, a collaborative effort to build a social media platform. Despite its imperfections, the project stands as a testament to what can be achieved in a mere 2-3 months with collaboration and open-source spirit.

Under the banner of VMG Ware, my organization, we've adopted a policy of openness, sharing nearly everything we develop with the global community (while sometimes restricting commercial use). Another example is the Prevent-OCI-Deletion-for-being-idle project, which addresses a specific need within the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure ecosystem and was highlighted in an earlier blog post.

Learning Through Sharing

But why dedicate so much energy to open-source? For me, it's about democratizing knowledge. By sharing our solutions, we not only offer a template for others but also invite collaboration that can lead to unforeseen improvements and innovations.

My contributions to projects like Discuit, a venture outside my comfort zone into Go, Meilisearch, Redis, and React, exemplify the learning benefits of open-source involvement. Each pull request not only enhances the project but also broadens my own skill set.

Supporting Open-Source as a Company Ethos

This philosophy extends beyond my personal projects to my professional realm at Automation Watchdog. We leverage powerful open-source tools like Woodpecker CI and Open Projects to build our software. When possible, we contribute back, not just in code but also in advocacy and financial support. It's important to us to not only utilize these resources but also to acknowledge and promote their value publicly. We believe in giving credit where it's due, reinforcing trust in the open-source projects we rely on, and encouraging others to explore and trust in these solutions as well. Though for my own company, we don't have the resources to contribute back to the community as much as we'd like, however once we get to a point where we can, we hope to give back.

A Call to Code

This open-source journey isn't a solitary one. It's about building and being part of communities that push the boundaries of what's possible. It's a call to all developers: contribute, create, and let's evolve together in this vast, open-source universe.