I'm pretty new to Boost, and I'm mostly a lurker on the mailing list. I
originally heard of Boost when I was looking for a JSON library for a
personal project a few years ago, and Boost.Json seemed like it made the
most intuitive sense as a user. Later, since working with C++
professionally, I've been using Boost lightly at my day job over the past
few years. Things like `boost::intrusive::list` or
`boost::container::deque`, containers that allow me to do my work better.
After working for a bit, I realized I didn't like the idea of all my hard
work being owned by another entity, not freely available. Especially not
available to myself once I'm no longer at the company, even though I worked
hard writing the code. I thought it would feel good to contribute to the
community on top of my regular day job. I saw a Reddit thread where someone
was complaining about Boost documentation, and I had thought the same thing
before too. Boost documentation can be hard to work with, much harder than
cppreference which I find very easy to use. I wanted to help make Boost
docs better.
I had used Boost.Json, and I knew the name "Vinnie Falco" from him being
Boost.Json's author and from his comments on that same Reddit thread. So I
cold-emailed Vinnie asking for direction on how I could get started
contributing.
Fast-forward to now. I was since hired to work part-time with the C++
Alliance, where I've been mostly helping with Boost.Unordered optimizations
and user experience. I've been given the chance to attend a few
conferences, and even had the amazing opportunity to speak in a full slot
at C++Now 2024 just a few months ago.
I came to Boost because I wanted to contribute to the community, and I have
stayed here because of the mentorship I've received by those in the Boost
community and in the C++ Alliance. I particularly want to mention Joaquin,
who has helped me grow as a developer. I appreciate how meticulous he is in
his analysis of my code changes, without any sense of condescension or
derision.
So far I like Boost. I see myself sticking around. And maybe contributing
to the mailing list more often... but no promises.
On Wed, 10 Jul 2024 at 09:48, David Sankel via Boost
For those who got involved in Boost within the last couple years, how did you hear about boost? What attracted you to it?
For those who have been around for a while, what keeps you here? Why do you stay engaged?
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