Thinking a lot about #OpenSource impostor syndrome today.

I'll never forget the time when I was in the speaker's room at #OSCON, putting some last minute polish on my talk () and chatting with some friends.

A man joined us at the table and started chatting. He asked me which big open source projects I'd contributed to. I said that I hadn't, that my contributions were different, like establishing Google Cloud on @GitHub and collaborating on smaller projects.

Plus! I had just joined Google's OSPO as an engineer.

At this, he said that I couldn't possibly be knowledgeable about open source, and implied that I shouldn't even be a speaker at an open source conference.

I was stunned. And I understood right then why people say that open source is unwelcoming to newcomers (though I wasn't new at that point by any measure). It was heartbreaking, and I carry that experience whenever I'm trying to contribute. To make open source better.

I don't know who this guy was, and I'm sure he's never thought about me since that conversation. But that open source impostor syndrome has been with me ever since, especially now since I've taken a step back from engineering.

Don't be that guy. Make #OpenSource a welcoming experience for people you don't know. Even if they've never contributed to your favorite open source project. Open source impostor syndrome is real; don't feed someone else's. /