Episode 85: Geoffrey Huntley and Sustaining OSS with Gitpod

Guest Geoffrey Huntley Panelists Eric Berry | Richard Littauer Show
Notes Hello and welcome to Sustain! The podcast where we talk about
sustaining open source for the long haul. We are super excited to
be going “down under” with our guest today, Geoff Huntley, who
works at Gitpod as part of a team that focuses on community and he
works with the engineering team. He is also a long-time open source
developer advocate, and general coder dude from Australia. We learn
from Geoff how he got started in coding, how he loves to teach
people coming into the field, and the importance of turning up,
sticking around, and helping out in this industry. He tells us all
about Gitpod, what he does there, why more people are adopting it,
what beer money does for maintainers, and how he’s using Gitpod to
try to solve the problem of maintainers sustainability. Also, Geoff
shares some awesome advice to help the sustainers out there, and
his advice on how to use money, which you really need to hear!
Download this episode now to find out much more from Geoff
#vanlife! [00:01:45] Geoff tells us about the van he lives in and
the project he maintains called ReactiveUI. [00:02:50] We learn how
Geoff got started with coding and how he ended up willing to take
over an open source project that takes a lot of maintenance.
[00:06:00] Richard asks Geoff to talk about the amount of
maintainers out there and any opinions he has about the engineering
code versus the maintainer parable he just mentioned. [00:08:49] We
learn more about Gitpod from Geoff. [00:10:49] Eric asks why people
are adopting Gitpod, what makes that different between that and
Codespaces, and Geoff tells us what the response has been so far.
[00:14:40] Geoff talks about how he’s using Gitpod to try to solve
this problem of maintainers sustainability, and how it goes back to
Nadia Eghbal with her Roads and Bridges and the pivotal work she
did with the Ford Foundation. [00:17:43] Eric wonders what Geoff
thinks that beer money does for the maintainers, and when he was
talking to the guys, what kind of response was he getting.
[00:21:18] Geoff tells us how many people were involved in the
distribution and if he was able to bring in more community members
to help decide where those funds were allocated. [00:23:13] We find
out the background of the team at Gitpod, and what Geoff does
there. [00:25:12] Richard wonders how Geoff is structuring
partnerships and how is he making it easier for developers to know
about the whole suite of tools that are at their disposal to try
and get not just beer money, but sticker money, backer money, and
eventually, hopefully things like UBI coming out of code.
[00:26:46] Geoff shares his knowledge to the sustainers out there
and that can help others. [00:33:00] Eric and Richard share their
thoughts on what the next five years is going to be. [00:39:24]
Geoff leaves us with a final thought on, “How to use money?” We
also find out where you can find him online. Quotes [00:03:27]
“Well, it was for personal development and learning. I found at the
company I didn’t really have a mentor as such, and I found in open
source there is an unlimited supply of learning if you just turn up
and say, “How can I help?” [00:04:12] “No other industry has that
opportunity if you just do the one simple thing of just turning up,
sticking around, and helping out.” [00:04:36] “So these are common
problems in open source. We have a lot of focus on the code, but
there’s so many different ways people can contribute to open source
even if you still don’t understand the code base.” [00:07:22] “So,
one thing to always remember is problems can be fixed, we’ll pull
requests. Open source software is as is.” [00:16:03] “Now, one of
the things we’ve found in that is it’s still too hard to give
projects money.” [00:18:56] “People are very excited just to even
know that you’re using their software and how it’s getting value.”
[00:39:31] “I suppose I’d leave to everyone to think about when you
do have money and beer money is coming in, consider maybe not
paying your developers.” [00:40:12] “So, use your funds to bring
yourself joy. Think about all the things you do as an open source
maintainer and the things that don’t bring you joy, that’s what the
funds should be used to do.” Spotlight [00:42:22] Eric’s spotlights
are github1s and GitHub Web IDE. [00:43:31] Richard’s spotlight is
the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs. [00:44:30]
Geoff’s spotlight is the open source project pre-commit. Links
Geoffrey Huntley Twitter (https://twitter.com/geoffreyhuntley)
Geoffrey Huntley Linkedin
(https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffreyhuntley) Geoffrey Huntley
Website (https://ghuntley.com/) Gitpod (https://www.gitpod.io/)
Iron Ring (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Ring) Open Source
Maintainers on GitHub (https://github.com/maintainers) GitHub-open
source (https://github.com/open-source) Geoff Huntley’s personal
monorepo-GitHub (https://github.com/ghuntley/ghuntley) Roads and
Bridges: The Unseen Labor Behind Our Digital Infrastructure by
Nadia Eghbal (Ford Foundation)
(https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/learning/research-reports/roads-and-bridges-the-unseen-labor-behind-our-digital-infrastructure/)
DevX Conf (https://devxconf.org/opensource) “DevX Conf wrap &
distributing $10k of open-source funding” by Geoffrey Huntley and
Christin Frohne (https://www.gitpod.io/blog/devxconf-wrap) Gitpod
chat (https://gitpod.io/chat) Geoff Huntley Gitpod chat
(https://discord.com/invite/ZZ8wxgHtc6) “Gitpod Open-Source
Sustainability Fund” by Geoffrey Huntley
(https://www.gitpod.io/blog/gitpod-open-source-sustainability-fund/)
github1s (https://github.com/conwnet/github1s) GitHub Web IDE
(https://github.com/zvizvi/Github-Web-IDE) Vermont Commission on
Native American Affairs (https://vcnaa.vermont.gov/) pre-commit
(https://github.com/pre-commit/pre-commit) Russell Keith-Magee-“If
you’re relying on open-source software for your business”-YouTube
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0t85TyH-h04) Sustain
Podcast-Episode 50-Gitcoin, Quadratic Funding, and how Crypto can
sustain Open Source with Kevin Owocki
(https://podcast.sustainoss.org/50) Credits Produced by Richard
Littauer (https://www.burntfen.com/) Edited by Paul M. Bahr at
Peachtree Sound (https://www.peachtreesound.com/) Show notes by
DeAnn Bahr at Peachtree Sound (https://www.peachtreesound.com/)
Special Guest: Geoffrey Huntley.