I attended my first Ohio Linuxfest this year (2017) and had a great time. I found the lightning talks especially inspirational.
One of the talks I especially like were the lightning talks. Lightning talks are a series of short (5 minute), impromptu talks that anyone can do.
They hand you a microphone, and you say what you want to say.
There were a lot of Linux advocacy speeches (as you’d expect) and “How Linux has affected me” type talks. One of the talks that hit home with me was a gentleman who talked about how when he attended his first Linuxfest, Linux was not his career. Fast-forward a few years, and he is back to say that he now has a Linux job that he secured by being active in the community and meeting people and learning on the job.
Take part in communities or user groups. Attend conventions or meetings. Get yourself known as someone who does your thing. Eventually, you may be asked to do more of that thing. Sometimes, someone will offer to pay you for it!
In that light, I have decided to try to drag my code, documentation and blog posts out into the public. I have started this blog to publish opinion pieces like this and how-to’s I’ve written to help myself do things. I am trying to connect with people on social media. Above all, I am sharing the thing I love to do, in the hopes that it may inspire someone else to do the same.