---
title: "Don't Contribute to Open Source"
url: https://daily.dev/posts/don-t-contribute-to-open-source-ax3qxs6q0
source_url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nY_cy8zcO4
type: video:youtube
source: "Theo - t3․gg"
published: 2024-01-18T08:30:51.672Z
updated: 2024-01-18T08:30:51.290Z
tags: ["github", "open-source"]
reading_time: 9
upvotes: 80
comments: 13
language: en
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Don't Contribute to Open Source

**[Theo - t3․gg](https://daily.dev/sources/t3dotgg)** · 9 min read · 80 upvotes · 13 comments

## Summary

Contributing to open source should be driven by real problems you encounter and understand, rather than as a means to get a job. Open source contributions demonstrate your problem-solving skills and involvement in the community, not just the act of contributing itself. Starting with issues and using projects you are familiar with is key. Setting effective goals in programming is important for growth and success.

## Full article

daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nY_cy8zcO4>

## Community discussion

Top comments from developers on daily.dev.

**@sonatai** · 15 upvotes

> 100% right. If you want to contribute - good. But because you want to improve something, not as a steppingstone 😅

**@debajyatidey** · 7 upvotes

> # They just don't really know or understand the true spirit of Open Source.
> ## Open Source is actually about ->
> - Building projects in free time, maintaining them, for you or anyone in the world. Not for money but for the enjoyment & passion of programming.
> - Depositing, releasing & providing software under a license **without** **royalty**, that people can modify and share because its design is publicly accessible.
> - Committing & spending the most precious thing in your life(that is what we call TIME) to fix bugs of a free project that runs/helps run the world or say, daily work of ordinary...

**@teec** · 3 upvotes

> These are very good points and a great argument.

**@ghost** · 2 upvotes

> i Love the comment of "@andybrice2711":
> "I'm going to invoke Goodhart's Law here: 'When a metric becomes a target, it ceases to be a good metric.' "

**@ramijames** · 1 upvotes

> I ... kind of agree and kind of disagree.
>
> It's great to contribute to OSS because you have some knowledge, some spare time, and an itch you want to scratch. That's great. People should do that.
>
> It's also ok to be early in your career, with some ideas and a whole lot of lack of experience. Sometimes the best way to get where you want to go is through OSS.
>
> Both are ok.
>
> What really matters is that OSS has contributors and can make progress. No?

## Similar posts on daily.dev

- [Don’t just attend KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon, Merge Forward your experience\!](https://daily.dev/posts/don-t-just-attend-kubecon-cloudnativecon-merge-forward-your-experience--l0rpp73x8) · CNCF · 0 upvotes · 0 comments
- [Announcing H2 2026 KCDs](https://daily.dev/posts/announcing-h2-2026-kcds-m96goajm1) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments
- [Two months of Open Community Groups](https://daily.dev/posts/two-months-of-open-community-groups-asf52zhbs) · CNCF · 0 upvotes · 0 comments

---

Tags: [#github](https://daily.dev/tags/github), [#open-source](https://daily.dev/tags/open-source)

[View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/don-t-contribute-to-open-source-ax3qxs6q0)