2026-03-17 –, Room Wintergarten
There are so many open source projects and not enough contributors to sustain them all over the long term. With many open source projects desperate for contributors, how do we educate the next generation of open source contributors to grow the contributor base for all of us?
Open source is the foundation of modern software, yet many projects struggle with sustainability, not just in attracting contributors, but in ensuring they stay, grow, and thrive. The landscape of open source contribution has evolved dramatically, demanding a fresh approach to educating potential contributors as part of broader community building and contributor engagement strategies.
Every educational program depends on participant support for projects and mentors towards the programs’ outcomes, and we need industry participation to make these programs successful. The only way for these programs to scale to the growing and various needs of program organizers is for more people to understand how these programs work and how to engage with these programs to support their own diverse needs to grow the broad open source contributor pool. By getting a wide variety of industry support from companies and the maintainers who are employed by these companies, we can create educational programs where students learn the skills that they need to participate in open source projects and become our next generation of contributors.
In this panel, we’ll talk about education programs for our youth and university students. We’ll discuss the landscape of open source contributors in the different regions along with the motivations for participation in open source and how those differ across regions. Because we want contributors who will continue contributing, we’ll also talk about some challenges that prevent sustainable contributions over the long term.
Our panelists have experience teaching open source to university students, creating and sustaining open source education and contribution programs, and building new open source communities in Africa. In this panel, we’ll talk about what we’ve learned, what’s worked, and provide tips for you to grow the next generation of contributors from within your local communities. This talk presents attendees with a breadth of perspectives on educational programs, how they work, and how we can all work together to make them successful.
Dr. Dawn Foster provides consulting services around open source strategy, contributor strategy, improving project governance, and similar topics. She also works as the Director of Data Science for the CHAOSS project where she is a board member, working group lead, and maintainer. Dawn is an OpenUK board member, and was previously a co-chair of the CNCF Contributor Strategy Technical Advisory Group. She has 20+ years of experience at companies like VMware and Intel with expertise in community, strategy, governance, metrics, and more. She has spoken at over 100 industry events and has a BS in computer science, an MBA, and a PhD. In her spare time she enjoys reading science fiction, running, 3D printing, and traveling.
