Eight Lessons on Open Source Leadership and Community

What contributing, mentoring, and stewarding have taught me about OSS

Over the past months, I’ve been sharing thoughts on open source, leadership, and community building on social media. This post provides a quick roundup of the themes so far.

I recently started my journey here on Substack and you are welcome to follow along! You can also find me on LinkedIn, X, Bluesky, Mastodon, and GitHub.

🔑 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹 - 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽

In OSS, you don’t manage people. You manage trust.
You don’t assign work. You inspire contribution.
You don’t build teams. You cultivate communities.

As a technical leader in open source, your role shifts:
- From directing code → to curating vision
- From fixing bugs → to empowering contributors
- From owning decisions → to navigating consensus

Strong OSS leaders do more than merge PRs. They:
✅ Set clear technical direction
✅ Write accessible, empathetic documentation
✅ Welcome newcomers without gatekeeping
✅ Review with kindness, not ego
✅ Know when to say “no” — and when to say “not yet”
Most importantly, they recognize that leadership in OSS is earned, not appointed.

Whether you're a maintainer, contributor, or just starting out — remember: open source runs on shared effort and mutual respect. Technical excellence matters. But how you lead matters more.

🌱 𝗪𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲? 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 - 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁

When people ask how I got involved in open source, they’re often surprised by the answer:

📌 It started with 𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗯𝘂𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗚𝗶𝘁𝗛𝘂𝗯.

Early in my career, I was building ML models and hit a blocker in a popular Python library. I filed a bug and waited… After two days, I realized the fix wouldn’t come sooner unless I made it — so I dug into the unfamiliar codebase and fixed it.

That small act turned into a habit:
➡️ Fixing small bugs
➡️ Improving documentation
➡️ Asking questions
➡️ Following community discussions
➡️ Submitting thoughtful PRs

One contribution led to another. Over time, I became a 𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗿 of many open source projects like Kubeflow, Argo Project, and KServe, XGBoost, and TensorFlow.

The pattern repeated itself:
🛠️ I saw a need → made contributions → joined community calls → helped others.

Today, I contribute by:
✅ Reviewing code & triaging issues
✅ Organizing contributor meetings
✅ Giving conference talks
✅ Writing books & blog posts
✅ Mentoring contributors

💡 𝗠𝘆 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲?
You don’t need permission to contribute.
Start with curiosity, stay consistent, and participate with empathy.

💙 𝗦𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗱𝗲. 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲

Open source projects don’t fail because of bad technology.
They fail because contributors burn out, communities fracture, or energy fades.

Technical debt matters. But so does 𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗲𝗯𝘁:

PRs without response → contributors feel invisible.
Harsh reviews → contributors stop showing up.
No clear roadmap → contributors drift away.

As a maintainer or leader, your job isn’t just writing great software. It’s creating conditions where people 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 to keep showing up.

That means:
✅ Balancing vision with flexibility
✅ Saying thank you as often as saying “LGTM”
✅ Mentoring the next wave of maintainers
✅ Building processes that survive you
✅ Remembering that community health is a feature, not an afterthought

The hardest part of OSS leadership isn’t scaling code. It’s scaling trust, empathy, and continuity.

If we care for the people behind the code, the code will take care of itself.

👥 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 - 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗱𝗲

Behind every release, every merged PR, every answered issue…
There’s someone who took the time to care.

🧑‍💻 A maintainer reviewing PRs late at night
📚 A contributor improving documentation so others can follow
🛠️ A developer fixing a tricky bug that wasn’t even theirs
🙋‍♀️ A community member helping someone in a Slack thread

These quiet acts of contribution keep open source alive.

Today, let’s do something simple but meaningful:

💬 𝗧𝗮𝗴 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼'𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗢𝗦𝗦 𝗷𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿.
Maybe they reviewed your first PR, mentored you, or just modeled what good community looks like.

A little gratitude goes a long way.

🏆 𝗜𝗻 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲, 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝘀

It’s easy to focus only on major milestones — big releases, new features, or keynote talks.

But the real strength of an OSS project lies in the 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 that often go unnoticed:

✅ A first-time contributor submitting their first PR
✅ A bug fix that unblocks someone
✅ A community member getting promoted to reviewer or maintainer
✅ A shout-out in a conference session
✅ Someone asking (or answering) a good question in Slack or GitHub

These are the moments that build trust.
That turn users into 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴.
Contributors into 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴.
And projects into 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴.

If we want OSS to thrive, we have to make celebration part of the culture — not just for the code, but for the people.

💡 A kind comment, a public “thank you,” or a quick emoji reaction might be what keeps someone coming back.

Let’s celebrate the small wins — because in open source, they’re never really small.

🌟 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘀 - 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵

I learned about writing good unit tests from a PR review in the pandas Python library. Thank you Jeff Reback for your guidance many years ago.

Some of the best developers I know didn’t learn from a course.
They learned from a kind comment on an issue.
From someone taking the time to say:
"𝘏𝘦𝘺, 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴?"

That’s mentorship. And open source needs more of it.

But here’s the thing — mentorship in OSS isn’t structured.
It’s not assigned. It’s organic and takes 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺.

If you’re a maintainer or experienced contributor, consider this:
✅ Label a few good first issues
✅ Offer context, not just code comments
✅ Invite questions without judgment
✅ Share why something works — not just that it does
✅ Remember what it felt like to be new

You won’t just grow contributors — you’ll grow leaders.

And if you're earlier in your journey:
💬 Ask. Offer. Show up. OSS has a place for you.

Mentorship in open source is one of the most impactful — and most overlooked — forms of technical leadership.

🔥 𝗜𝗻 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝘁𝗮𝘀𝗸𝘀 - 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

𝗜 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻?

✅ Share vision, not just code
Make the vision publicly visible. Projects like vLLM, KServe, Kubeflow, Llama Stack all have published their roadmaps.

✅ Be open to ideas you didn’t come up with
OSS thrives when people feel ownership, not just direction. llm-d is inviting the community to contribute ideas through a survey: https://lnkd.in/gh3ceWYD

✅ Lower the barrier to entry
Clear docs, labeled issues, and kind reviews are magnets for first-time contributors.

✅ Celebrate contributions publicly
Recognition drives retention. Gratitude is free and incredibly effective. Andrey showed this perfectly through promoting Shao and Antonin to Kubeflow maintainers: https://lnkd.in/gNu4YXiv

This is how open source projects grow — and how technical leaders earn trust in public.

🎓 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗖𝗦 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗱𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗷𝗼𝗯 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁

It’s no secret that this year has been especially tough for new grads seeking software engineering roles. Many fall into the trap of endlessly polishing resumes or grinding LeetCode. But here’s the truth:

🚫 If you’re still only “learning tricks” to improve your resume - you’re doing it wrong.
✅ What will actually make you stand out? 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲.

Open source contribution gives you:
- Real-world experience collaborating with global teams
- Hands-on exposure to tools, frameworks, and workflows used in industry
- Code reviews and mentorship from experienced maintainers
- A public portfolio that recruiters and hiring managers can see

Hours spent on LeetCode help you with interviews.
Hours spent on OSS help you with your career.

That’s why so many of us in the industry actively look for OSS contributions on resumes. It shows initiative, collaboration, and practical impact.

🌍 And here’s the best part: 𝘄𝗲’𝗿𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴!

If you’re passionate about cloud, AI/ML, or open source, we’d love to connect. Contributing to OSS isn’t just great prep, it’s also one of the best ways to get noticed by teams like ours.

I recently started my journey here on Substack and you are welcome to follow along! You can also find me on LinkedIn, X, Bluesky, Mastodon, and GitHub.