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Thinking a lot about #OpenSource impostor syndrome today. 
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I& #39;ll never forget the time when I was in the speaker& #39;s room at #OSCON, putting some last minute polish on my talk ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox-Q5_8s55o)">https://www.youtube.com/watch... and chatting with some friends.
A man joined us at the table and started chatting. He asked me which big open source projects I& #39;d contributed to. I said that I hadn& #39;t, that my contributions were different, like establishing Google Cloud on @GitHub and collaborating on smaller projects.
Plus! I had just joined Google& #39;s OSPO as an engineer.
At this, he said that I couldn& #39;t possibly be knowledgeable about open source, and implied that I shouldn& #39;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& #39;t new at that point by any measure). It was heartbreaking, and I carry that experience whenever I& #39;m trying to contribute. To make open source better.
I don& #39;t know who this guy was, and I& #39;m sure he& #39;s never thought about me since that conversation. But that open source impostor syndrome has been with me ever since, especially now since I& #39;ve taken a step back from engineering.
Don& #39;t be that guy. Make #OpenSource a welcoming experience for people you don& #39;t know. Even if they& #39;ve never contributed to your favorite open source project. Open source impostor syndrome is real; don& #39;t feed someone else& #39;s. /https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🧵" title="Thread" aria-label="Emoji: Thread">
