In this week’s post, I wanted to take time to reflect on my personal experience with open source. Getting into Mattermost for the first time and not knowing much about its community, I treated this as a good old class project that I’d forget about right after I leave the classroom for the final time. Well, maybe I’m speaking too soon, but I don’t think I can.

There is something so rewarding and just planly cool about being recognized by all these experienced developers and professional product managers who take time to explain (sometimes very easy) stuff to you, review your PRs and assigning issues to you, a total stranger with questionable abilities. I had the best time working on my tiny PR because I felt as if I was a freelance coder whose contribution is invaluable to the company.

That being said, I don’t know if Mattermost is a place for me in the long run, I’d have to take on more issues to figure that out. But I’m sort of used to it being in my life now, and keeping it as a hobby sounds very fun.