I work full-time building solar trackers at Nevados Engineering, but my path through software development has been paved with open source every step of the way.
The Beginning
In the mid-90s, I crafted my first website when the internet was still in its infancy. It was 1996, and the web was a very different place – table layouts, blinking text, and “under construction” GIFs were everywhere. Little did I know that this would be the start of a decades-long journey in software development. I was captivated by the ability to create something and instantly share it with the world.
After studying Computer Science in Media in Germany and Media Technology in the Netherlands, I found myself increasingly dependent on libraries and tools that were “just there” – open source software that I used long before I even understood what open source really meant. Java was my gateway into this world around 2001, introducing me to a vast ecosystem of freely available code.
The more I learned, the more I realized how much I owed to this invisible community of developers who had shared their work. Every project I completed relied on foundations built by others who had chosen to give their work away freely. This realization gradually shifted my perspective from being just a consumer to wanting to contribute something back.
Finding My Place
I wouldn’t consider myself a maintainer – not even close. When I think of maintainers, I picture heroes like Matteo Collina maintaining the entire Fastify ecosystem, Sindre Sorhus with over a thousand little helpers on “npm”, Daniel Stenberg with curl or the countless others who dedicate themselves to keeping the digital infrastructure of our world running. My relationship with open source has been different, but no less meaningful to me.
I’ve found my place in open source by building communities. In 2012, after visiting BerlinJS and experiencing the energy of their meetups, I was inspired to start BarcelonaJS. The model was simple: create a space where developers could come together, share knowledge, and build connections.
Those early meetups were small but passionate. We’d gather in various spaces around Barcelona – sometimes offices, sometimes bars – and share what we were working on. I remember one night when a developer showed a project they’d been struggling with for weeks, and within minutes, three others had jumped in with suggestions. By the end of the evening, the bug was fixed, and new friendships were formed. The community grew organically, fueled by a shared enthusiasm for JavaScript and web technologies. Before long, we were hosting regular events with dozens of attendees and even launched NodeConf Barcelona and MediterranéaJS.
When my wife and I adopted a location-independent lifestyle in 2017, I founded Zentered.co, a software engineering and consulting firm, as an Estonian e-Resident. As we traveled through Europe and Southeast Asia, I carried the community-building ethos with me. When life took us to Cyprus, I continued this mission by starting CyprusJS and the Cyprus Developer Community (cdc.cy). Now in Boulder, Colorado, I’ve restarted BoulderJS with the same vision.
For me, organizing meetups and conferences around JavaScript and open source has been my biggest contribution to the ecosystem. I love bringing people together, watching them learn from each other, and seeing the excitement when someone builds something new or solves a challenging problem. These communities have become incubators for collaboration, friendship, and innovation.
The Projects
Unlike the hundred lines of code that eventually became curl, my technical contributions to open source have been more modest but still meaningful to me. I’ve created a few pet projects and libraries – GitHub Actions and workflows for managing real-world events and meetups (called GitEvents), and developer tooling for Vercel, GitHub, and Cloudflare.
GitEvents emerged from a practical need to streamline the organization of tech meetups. Having run communities in multiple countries, I recognized patterns in how events were managed and saw an opportunity to automate many of the repetitive tasks. The project uses GitHub Actions to handle everything from speaker submissions to event announcements, making it easier for anyone to start and sustain a tech community.
My developer tooling projects were born from my own workflow frustrations. Each time I encountered a process that felt inefficient or repetitive, I’d create a small utility to address it. Over time, these utilities evolved into more substantial projects that others found useful too. The feedback loop of releasing something small, getting user suggestions, and iterating is incredibly rewarding.
I don’t think of these as projects I “maintain” – they’re more like gardens I tend to when I have time, with no pressure or obligation. If someone finds them useful, that’s a wonderful bonus.
The Challenges
Time is always the biggest constraint in my open source contributions. With a full-time job at Nevados Engineering, where we’re building innovative solar trackers that don’t require grading, and family commitments, I can only dedicate a few hours a month to my open source projects. I have a backlog of ideas and improvements I want to implement, but I can only focus on a few at a time.
When users open issues or request features for my projects, I try to encourage them to submit PRs rather than just reporting problems. This approach has mixed results. Sometimes, users step up and contribute code, turning from consumers into collaborators. Other times, the issues remain open, waiting for when I can find time to address them. I try to help guide contributors through the process of making their first PR, but I can’t always provide the level of support I’d like to.
The challenge of balancing my enthusiasm for these projects with the reality of limited time is something I’m still learning to navigate. I imagine even the most dedicated open source contributors face this tension, regardless of the size of their project.
Supporting Open Source Contributors
Through my experience on both sides of open source – as a user and as a contributor – I’ve gained perspective on how we can all better support the people who make this ecosystem possible.
If you want to support the open source ecosystem:
- Help out with PRs and documentation instead of just opening issues. Even small contributions can significantly lighten the load.
- Be patient when waiting for responses. Remember that most people are working on these projects in their limited spare time.
- Remember that there’s a human behind every repository. Respectful communication goes a long way.
- Consider supporting financially if the project adds value to your work. Even small sponsorships can make a difference.
The sustainability of open source depends on recognizing the human aspect of software development. Behind every package, library, or framework is a person (or group of people) who have chosen to share their work with the world.
The Impact of AI
AI is already transforming open source development in ways I couldn’t have imagined when I started programming. I use GitHub Copilot Review for quick PR summaries and Copilot itself for generating repetitive code and documentation. The “resolve issue with copilot” feature on GitHub is helping address long-open issues more efficiently.
These tools don’t replace the need for human judgment and creativity, but they do reduce the friction of contribution. I’m grateful that GitHub offers Copilot for free for open source projects, as it’s helping level the playing field between hobby projects and commercially-backed ones.
As AI continues to evolve, I see it amplifying the impact of individual contributors rather than replacing them. The human aspects of open source – community building, mentorship, vision setting – remain uniquely human endeavors.
The Future
As I look ahead, I’m optimistic about the future of open source. The model has proven its resilience and value over decades, and it continues to evolve. Open source is about sharing and collaborating. It’s about building something together, not just for yourself. It’s about giving back to the community and helping others.
I wouldn’t be where I am today without open source – I’ve learned from the community, made lifelong friends, and discovered what I want to do with my life. The skills I’ve developed through community organizing and project contributions have transferred directly to my professional work, making me a better engineer and collaborator.
As I continue this journey, I hope to keep growing communities, connecting developers, and contributing in whatever ways I can. The beauty of open source is that even small contributions add up to something meaningful over time. Whether it’s organizing the next BoulderJS meetup, merging a PR to one of my projects, or helping a new developer make their first contribution, every action contributes to this global collaborative effort.
Let’s make an awesome Open Source future together.
/ Patrick Heneise, April 28, 2025
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This story was published under CC BY-SA by the author.