Initial Questions

[Ben Evans]

Hi A.C.

Come & join the Adopt OpenJDK project - sounds like you could be a good fit.

https://java.net/projects/adoptopenjdk

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/adopt-openjdk

http://www.slideshare.net/martijnverburg/adopt-open-jdk

If you have a local Java User Group (JUG) - then maybe you could join that too?

Thanks,

Ben

On Tue, Dec 16, 2014 at 11:43 PM, Confidential Information
<I.Can.Help at outlook.com> wrote:
> I'm very interested in the idea of joining an Open Source project utilizing
> Java and OpenJDK was recommended to me. I hope you can indulge some
> questions to help me make sure this is the right place for me.
>
> I should tell you a bit about myself first to tell you what I'm trying to do
> and what my background is so that you can help me assess whether I might fit
> in here.
>
> I've been in Information Technology for my whole post-university career. I
> never quite finished my degree, which was in Arts, not I.T. My major jobs
> were as a COBOL programmer, then as a trainer in I.T. subjects, and now
> primarily as a web designer.
>
> I've coded in Java since the days of the 1.0.2 JDK and wrote Java quite
> frequently for the first 10+ years but the vast majority of the code I wrote
> was done more as an eager hobbyist working on his own and for fun. Even two
> of the three projects I did for other people were solo efforts, just me
> coding something for a friend. The third project I did was done in the
> context of a three man team where two of us wrote Java and the other one
> wrote Delphi. That project never completed its work due to funding issues.
> (Two out of the three projects I mentioned were paying work.) The last few
> years, my Java coding has been more in fits and starts than anything.
> Despite all that, I really enjoy writing Java and would dearly love to do
> more of it. I have coded in 10 different programming languages and nothing
> else I've seen can touch Java for sheer breadth of abilities.
>
> I'd like to get full or part time paying work writing Java. However, I'm
> very conscious of the fact that I have done almost no work with Java in a
> team environment and would very much like to do that. I expect that I will
> have trouble being taken seriously if I just apply for Java coding jobs with
> my current background so it occurred to me that an open source project would
> be ideal for building up some credentials.
>
> Frankly, I just don't know how my skills measure up. Java is such a very
> large and powerful language that I certainly don't have fluency in every
> aspect of it, nor do I have much contact with various associated
> technologies like frameworks. I don't even have a lot of experience with
> design patterns. I'm also unfamiliar with modern development methodologies
> like the Agile techniques. I don't know UML, although I am somewhat familiar
> with some of its predecessors. (I used to teach database design and used
> Gane & Sarson extensively at my first programming job.) I haven't even used
> a modern code repository system like Subclipse very much beyond a bit of
> tentative dabbling.
>
> I am very detail-oriented and am familiar with teaching myself things when I
> need to know them. I don't tend to have a lot of depth in many things but I
> have at least a superficial understanding of several things. I am more than
> willing to learn the new things I'll need to know to contribute to an open
> source project. I don't need a lot of hand-holding but find it helpful to
> have a sounding board once in a while as I wrestle with issues. A little
> direction is generally all I need on projects once I understand what I have
> to do. I also appreciate code walkthroughs as a way to improve my code; I'm
> not a diva by any means. I even like writing documentation, which most
> coders abhor. ;-)
>
> Does that sound like someone who might be useful to the OpenJDK project?
>
> I would be interested in participating in OpenJDK on almost any terms if I
> could be helpful. However, I would be very VERY interested if successful
> completion of my parts of the project would enable me to point to specific
> code and tell people that it is mine or if other people on the project could
> verify that it is my work. Basically, I want to be able to show a potential
> employer code that has my name on it or have others verify that it is my
> work. It's important to me that the employer wouldn't have to take my word
> for the fact that I wrote specific code. Otherwise, the employer could
> reasonably scoff and suggest I was taking credit for someone else's work.
> (I'm assuming that the only code you will ever let see the light of day is
> code that is of a high standard which works well.) In a nutshell, I want the
> code I write for OpenJDK form a key part of a code portfolio.
>
> If I haven't yet disqualified myself from consideration, I'd like to know
> how to get started. I'm guessing there are standards to read and tools like
> code repositories to learn at the very least.
>
> I'd like to stay anonymous for the moment so just call me Anonymous Coward
> for now :-)
>
> A.C.