First Experiences Working on an Open Source .NET Core Project

The “Interns” Take Over: First Experiences Working on an Open Source .NET Core Project

How does a group of recent college graduates jump headfirst into the world of open source? Rather than developing a proprietary technology at their first industry jobs, this motley crew worked with Microsoft’s .NET Core product team to meaningfully contribute to an existing open source project by porting it from the .NET Framework to .NET Core, all while trying to not be mistaken for a group of interns!

The goal of the project was to become more technically capable and a highly contributing member on a team. The finished port of JabbR, a chat client reminiscent of IRC, over to the open source .NET Core was just a benefit of this overarching goal. Working with the .NET Core product team along the way also meant working with weekly and sometimes daily builds, which created not only some obstacles, but also a chance to deliver feedback and increase the project’s value.

Navigating new and developing technologies while working with a team of six new hires spread across the United States posed many unique challenges- from designing a scrum process that worked for their specific needs, to learning the pitfalls of Git merge conflicts. This talk will feature key learnings collaborating on a large, layered web project and overcoming hurdles that can make or break a new or otherwise unconventional team.

Presenter: Adina Shanholtz

Adina Shanholtz (aka The Fey Technologist (http://adinashanholtz.com/)) is a Technical Evangelist for Microsoft. She graduated from Oberlin College with a double major in Computer Science and East Asian Studies. She has a passion for Game Development, Internet of Things/Wearable technology, and empowering others through programming. In her spare time Adina likes to knit, practice her Japanese, and perform hoop and poi circus arts.

Follow her on Twitter at @feytechnologist (https://twitter.com/feytechnologist)