A Bootcamp Student’s OSS Contribution | OpenSauced

Anthony Campolo discusses his history as a Lambda School student and how he was able to jump ahead through his entrance into open source maintenance with RedwoodJS.

Episode Summary

In this episode, Anthony Campolo shares his experience as a Lambda School student and open source contributor, particularly his involvement with RedwoodJS. He explains how he discovered RedwoodJS through podcasts and decided to invest time in learning and contributing to the project. Anthony discusses his process of writing a comprehensive tutorial series for RedwoodJS, which became the most viewed content in the community. He also talks about balancing his bootcamp studies, part-time work, and open source contributions. Anthony provides insights into the RedwoodJS community, its similarities with other frameworks, and offers advice for aspiring open source contributors. The conversation highlights the importance of networking, consistently showing up, and finding projects that align with one’s current skills and interests.

Chapters

00:00 - Introduction and Background

Anthony introduces himself as a Lambda School student studying full stack web development. He explains how he got interested in RedwoodJS after hearing about it on podcasts and decided to start writing articles about it. Anthony discusses his background in self-teaching programming before joining the bootcamp and how he transitioned from learning Python to JavaScript and React. He also mentions his part-time job delivering for Uber while studying and contributing to open source.

02:56 - Deep Dive into RedwoodJS

Anthony provides an overview of RedwoodJS, describing it as a framework that brings full stack to the Jamstack and is serverless. He explains the structure of a RedwoodJS application, including the API and web folders, and how it deploys to AWS Lambda via Netlify. Anthony compares RedwoodJS to other frameworks like Blitz.js and discusses its similarities with AppSync and Amplify. He emphasizes the importance of GraphQL in RedwoodJS and how it differs from other frameworks.

12:15 - Open Source Contribution and Community Involvement

Anthony shares his experience contributing to open source projects, starting with Blitz.js and then focusing on RedwoodJS. He discusses the importance of networking and consistently showing up to community events. Anthony explains how he got involved with the RedwoodJS community by writing a comprehensive tutorial series and attending regular meetups. He emphasizes the value of engaging with maintainers and contributing to projects that align with one’s current skills and interests.

24:56 - Tips for Contributing to Open Source

Anthony offers advice for aspiring open source contributors. He suggests finding projects that are within one’s current skillset but still developing, allowing for meaningful contributions. Anthony encourages people to follow their passions and dive deep into projects they find interesting. He also discusses the importance of building relationships with maintainers and being responsive to community feedback.

30:35 - Projects and Future Plans

Anthony talks about the projects he has built with RedwoodJS, including his tutorial series and a potential integration with FaunaDB. He discusses the history of FaunaDB and its connection to Twitter’s scaling problems. Anthony also mentions his interest in appearing on Jason Lengstorf’s “Learn with Jason” show to discuss RedwoodJS. The conversation concludes with Anthony sharing his plans to continue contributing to RedwoodJS and encouraging others to get involved in open source communities.