Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

General

When is Open Source Day 2022?

Open Source Day is on September 16, 2022, from 8am to 3pm US Pacific Time.

Is Open Source Day a virtual event or in-person event?

Open Source Day 2022 is a virtual-only event.

What is the Opening Ceremony?

We are curating an inspiring Opening Ceremony with leading and influential women figures in open source. Don’t miss it. We’ll start at 8am PT prompt!

What is the target audience of Open Source Day?

Open Source Day is open to all skill levels - first time contributors and experienced contributors. In the past, we have seen high attendance from students and early-career professionals. We have also seen mid-career participants who are skilled engineers but are new to open source. We welcome participants of all skill levels to join us to learn about open source!

How can I participate in Open Source Day?

There are many ways to participate in Open Source Day. We invite you to join us as a workshop speaker, a project partner, a mentor, or a participant.

Is Open Source Day a free event?

Open Source Day is part of Grace Hopper Celebration (GHC). Therefore, you need a GHC ticket to participate. All selected project partners, mentors, and speakers will receive a free virtual ticket to GHC.

I have a GHC ticket. Do I need to do anything else?

Yes, you must register for OSD once you have your GHC ticket. The registration for OSD will open on September 13th. As part of this registration, you will select the project that you would like to contribute to as well as workshops you would like to attend.

How do I decide which projects to choose during my OSD registration?

We have a total of 27 different projects for you to choose among this year. The projects are organized as Featured projects and Choose Your Own Adventure.

How do I ask for September 16th off from my manager, in addition to September 20-23 for the main GHC conference?

OSD will be significantly more hands-on, with 27 projects focused on helping you contribute to open source projects as well as 10 workshops designed to help you upskill on open source concepts. Therefore, we suggest you provide the agenda of the Open Source Day as a training/professional development opportunity to your management.

What are the communication tools for the day of the event - September 16th?

All project reps, workshop speakers, and participants who register for OSD will be onboarded to our Slack channel beginning September 8th and September 16th. All projects and workshops will take place on separate Zoom rooms. So, make sure to sign up for the projects and workshops you are interested in so, we can relay the right Zoom rooms to you!

Will workshops or projects be recorded?

No, none of the workshop sessions or project zoom rooms will be recorded.

Who can I contact for additional questions?

If you have additional questions, please send us an email.

Project Participation

What is the time commitment for project participation?

Before the event, all selected project partners are required to take some time to create good first issues, share project guidelines with assigned mentors, and work on a short presentation to introduce the project during the event.

During the event, we require at least one project representative to be present at all times. A Featured project can bring up to 3 representatives and Choose Your Own Adventure projects can bring up to 2 project representatives. Among the representatives, you are free to divide up the time (8am to 3pm Pacific) to choose who will be available at what time.

Can I submit a project with more than one repository?

Yes! As long as multiple repositories represent one project and project maintainers have the skills to review code contributions and have access to merge pull requests in all participating repos.

Can we reject/close out the pull requests that does not meet our project’s requirements?

Open Source Day does not give contributors a shortcut to their contributions. All participants will be required to abide by the project’s code of conduct and other guidelines. The Open Source Day team does not expect any of our project partners to accept/merge any work that does not meet the project’s standards and expectations. We kindly ask you to bear in mind that some participants may be new to open source as you decide how to handle the contributions made to your project.

Can we have extra materials to guide participants that are not necessarily on our repo?

Yes, it is acceptable to have other contribution guides to make it easier for those wishing to contribute to your project. Any extra material shared with us, we’ll add to the project description.

Is it possible to know the number of registered participants to our projects before OSD?

The number of registered participants for each project will be shared with the project representatives closer to the date. Please note that OSD registration opens up on September 8th.

What are the responsibilities of project representatives during OSD?

Project representatives starts the day with a short presentation to introduce the project to the attendees. After the overview, they are responsible for proactively helping OSD attendees contribute to their project. Some of those responsibilities may be assisting with choosing an issue, debugging a blocker, explaining project setup, reviewing and approving pull requests, and etc.

Will we be using one zoom room for all projects during OSD?

Each featured projects will have its own zoom call. All CYOA projects will share one zoom call and leverage the breakout rooms.

How will we explain extra details about our project to participants before they start contributing ?

Any extra details you like to share with the attendees should be shared with the OSD committee to include in the project description. This will allow both mentors and attendees to be prepared before joining the project on the day of the event.

How many participants can I expect for my project?

For a Featured project, we ask the project rep to inform us of capacity. If you can serve 250 participants only, that is fine. Just let us know. Participants will have to select a project of their interest when they register for OSD, beginning September 8th.

How can I introduce my project for the CYOA track?

CYOA projects will be introduced to the participants on the day of OSD.

Would the participants be able to register for a specific CYOA project?

The participants won’t be able to register for a specific CYOA project until the day of OSD.

When will the slack channel be available?

All project representatives will be sent an invite to the slack workspace in the last week of August. The slack channels would be available to the participants starting September 8th.

Would a cloud space be provided for contributors to test their changes, as it could take long time to test in a local environment?

We won’t be providing an environment from our side. The project representatives decide on how they want to make testing/setup easy for a participant.

Who can participate in project slack communications?

Project representatives, mentors and contributors who are registered for a particular project would be able to participate in slack communications.

Would mentors be assigned for CYOA?

No, project representatives will be the ones guiding participants in case of CYOA projects.

My project takes some time to setup the environment, is there somewhere I can provide the instructions beforehand?

Yes, the instructions can be provided on the dedicated project slack channel.

Mentor Participation

What is the time commitment for mentor participation?

Before the event, all selected mentors will be asked to complete onboarding task(s) to familiarize themselves with the assigned project. Time spent may vary based on your experience.

During the event, all mentors are required to be present at all times as they will act as the first line of support for participants.

As a mentor, can I contribute to projects?

Selected mentors must prioritize mentorship over contribution. Mentors must proactively assist attendees and project representatives throughout the day. If you can prioritize your responsibility, you are welcome to contribute only to your assigned project. However, we ask you to be mindful of the number of issues project representatives bring to the event as those are specifically triaged and written for the OSD attendees. Therefore, we ask that mentors to limit their contributions to enable attendees sufficient selection of issues to contribute to.

Workshop Participation

What is the time commitment for workshop participation?

Before the event, all selected speakers will need to prepare their content and attend a rehearsal with one or more OSD committee members.

During the event, speakers need to commit approximately 2 hours. Each workshop is expected to be an hour, but we will ask the speakers to join early for production setup and stay after for ~30 minutes to answer questions on Slack.

Will there be dry runs?

Yes, the OSD Committee will partner with you to conduct dry runs ahead of the event.

OSD Participant

I am new to open source, is this event for me?

Yes! Open Source Day is a perfect event for folks who have little to no experience in open source. Open Source Day is an event designed to provide a safe place for you to meet open source project maintainers, learn from skilled mentors, and code alongside folks who share the same interest. The Open Source Day team and volunteers will be there to support you throughout the day as you find issues suited to your skill level and make your first OSS contribution!