I believe that participation in open source as a movement takes all of us working in whatever capacity we can. There are a lot of avenues to engage, and I've occupied roles as user, contributor, maintainer, and mentor during my career. We are part of something larger than our current issue, project, role, or company.
It's the contributions, large and small, sustained and one-time, that add up to more. I share some of my work here as a chronicle of this spectrum of engagement.With a career spanning many roles, from developer, UX team of one, product manager, analyst, and freelancer, Brian brings an experienced and broad approach to many disciplines. Him and his wife Megan’s small business keeps them exhausted and grounded in customer delivery, innovation, and warrantee-voiding laser maintenance. He’s been published in Smashing Magazine, CSS-Tricks, and led workshops at Web Design Day and the Node.js Collaborator Summit. Open source software threads into many aspects of his life, and has opened doors he’d never thought imaginable. It can do that for you too.
When not writing or working within open source software, Brian lives out programming tropes of drinking coffee and woodworking. He enjoys soccer, playing games with his sons, especially X-Wing or Chess, and never turns down a milkshake. Him and Megan spend as much time outside as they can muster, often playing with their kids, deepening the pickleball rivalry on their makeshift court, chasing clouds, or digging up the yard.
Why write about such a saturated topic?
What's the book's vision?
"I've written this book as a new entry in the compendium of open source thought. I don't fancy myself a thought-leader and for that we are all fortunate. But it is informed by years of success and failure working with open source software. The advice is honest; the vision bold; the mandate modest."
What happened to your publisher?
My dream publisher, A Book Apart, was unable to publish this book. I'm grateful for their time and consideration. Throughout every stage, ABA was empathetic and informative. They gave me the confidence to see this through. Read more a about it here.