Hey!
- given that we are in the neuroscience domain, what skills should
the
candidate already have to be successful? (we are currently struggling
slightly because we don't have enough volunteers from neuroscience to
help us prioritise/organise our packaging tasks; 3 months is a short
period to start from 0 and also do meaningful work)
1. Some knowledge of creating or working around software packages, be
it a particular language's packaging scheme or for a Linux
distribution.
2. Interest in (neuro)science?
3. How releases and versioning work.
4. Enthusiasm to send small fixes upstream to fix simple bugs/issues.
- will the candidate be able to continue as a long term NeuroFedora
contributor?
- What must we do to improve the likelihood that they turn into
long-term contributors?
I believe as a person creates a certain package, a sense of
responsibility grows in their mind that they are responsible for the
upbringing of the package so that others are not affected by it (at
least I feel like that). This would ensure that they would continue as
a NeuroFedora/Fedora contributor in the future as well.
The whole process of packaging is pretty fun, and amazing if people
know what they are doing, and how stuff works. Teaching them
correctly, and at a steady pace would grow their interest in the
topic.
- finally and probably most importantly, who has the
knowledge/time/resources to mentor the candidate(s) throughout the
project period, and maybe even after?
I wouldn't say that I have complete knowledge, but I have sufficient
knowledge of how packages work. I would be happy to mentor as well.
However, since this is the neuro-sig, I think the mentor(s) should
have some neuroscience background as well? Assuming that, I know that
they are busy people and often have not sufficient time to mentor the
candidates, and this can/might be an issue.
Otherwise, if someone else wants to volunteer, it would be pretty
great as well. :D
Us being in the neuroscience domain complicates things a little. We
are
right in the middle of neuroscience and software development. It is
quite a niche gap. Not a lot of neuro folks do software development, and
not a lot of computing folks do neuroscience. The field is not yet in a
state where both sections are actively being trained in both skill sets.
Quite right, and that's what complicates the whole thing. Even if the
neuro-sig were to propose a project, it should be somewhat related to
what we do. A project on packaging software alone is very abstract and
can/may become a bit too complicated for the folks who are not much
experienced in software development.
This is certainly not uncommon, but those of us that have been part
of
such projects generally tend to agree that packaging projects aren't the
best because unless the candidate is interested in the domain of
software that they are working with, they have no incentive to maintain
their packages in the long run.
Maybe we can pitch the project to the candidates who are interested in
neuro-stuff, who would be pleased to help people working on their
packaged tool or library.
--
Thanks
Regards
Aniket Pradhan
http://home.iiitd.edu.in/~aniket17133/
Aliases: MeWjOr/major
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