New blog post on how to contribute to OTel

content/en/blog/2023/contributing-to-otel/index.md

@@ -0,0 +1,191 @@
+---
+title: Thinking about contributing to OpenTelemetry? Here's how I did it.
+linkTitle: Contributing to OTel
+date: 2023-09-08
+author:
+  >- # If you have only one author, then add the single name on this line in quotes.
+  [Adriana Villela](https://github.com/avillela) (Lightstep),
+canonical_url: https://medium.com/cloud-native-daily/how-to-contribute-to-opentelemetry-5962e8b2447e
+cSpell:ignore: EUWG, nolan, riaan, sayin, servian
+---
+
+![Sunset over the water over an orange sky, with long grass in the foreground.](turks-sunset.jpg)
+
+Are you an [OpenTelemetry](/) (OTel) practitioner? Have you ever wanted to
+contribute back to OpenTelemetry, but didn't know where to begin? Well, my
+friend, you've come to the right place!
+
+Drawing from my own personal journey, I'd like to offer some valuable insights
+into effective ways I've discovered for initiating involvement in this thriving
+and inclusive open source community.
+
+## Contributing to open source can be SCARY!
+
+Let's face it. Most of us use open source projects in our day-to-day tech jobs
+(Or maybe side hustles?). But what about _contributing_ to these open source
+projects? I don't know about you, but for me, up until last year, the prospect
+of contributing to open source was just plain _scary_!! I mean, when you open up
+a
+[pull request](https://docs.github.com/en/pull-requests/collaborating-with-pull-requests/proposing-changes-to-your-work-with-pull-requests/about-pull-requests)
+(PR),
+_[you are putting yourself out there](https://oncallmemaybe.com/episodes/adventures-in-open-source-software-with-riaan-nolan-of-servian)_,
+to be judged by those little GitHub avatars that make up the approvers list for
+the repository you're contributing to. YIKES!
+
+But as scary as the thought of opening a PR might be, it's also SO VERY
+SATISFYING to see your contributions merged into a codebase. And most
+importantly, your contributions can help others!! How cool is that?
+
+## Ways to contribute to OTel
+
+Okay. Are you feeling pumped now? Awesome. Let's look at some of the ways to
+contribute to OTel.
+
+### **Contribute to the OTel Docs**
+
+Are you new to OTel? Are you a bit apprehensive about contributing code to an
+open source project? No sweat! One of the best and easiest ways to contribute to
+OpenTelemetry (or to any open source project, for that matter) is to contribute
+to the docs! Remember that being new is not a disadvantage. In fact, it's an
+asset for the docs: by not being too deep into the OTel world, a newcomer is the
+perfect person assess OTel documentation!
+
+Whenever I need to dig into a new OTel concept, I always turn to the docs for
+guidance. Sometimes they have all of the info that I need, and sometimes they
+don't. This usually means that I have to do a bit more digging beyond the docs,
+by seeking out external blog posts, bugging techie friends, etc. Once I'm able
+to fill that knowledge gap, I do two things:
+
+1. I blog about it. See examples [here](https://shorturl.at/vLYZ0),
+   [here](https://shorturl.at/hlqtE), and [here](https://shorturl.at/czHST).
+2. I contribute to the OTel docs. See examples
+   [here](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry.io/pull/3195),
+   [here](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry.io/pull/3098), and
+   [here](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry.io/pull/2130).
+
+> ✨ **NOTE:** ✨ Number two is _especially_ important, because the best way for
+> the OTel docs to be the Source of Truth for All Things OTel<sup>TM</sup> is to
+> have folks like us contributing to the docs whenever we see a gap.
+
+Learn more about contributing to the OTel docs
+[here](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry.io/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md).
+
+> ✨ **NOTE:** ✨ If you find the contribution guidelines for the OTel Docs to
+> be confusing or have a mistake, improving them is a great way to contribute!
+> 😉
+
+### Write a post on the OTel Blog
+
+Another great way to contribute to OTel is to write blog posts on the
+[OpenTelemetry blog](/blog). If you've done something interesting in
+OpenTelemetry, or have worked on a complex OTel implementation within your
+organization, the OpenTelemetry blog is a great way to share that with the
+community at large. As long as your work isn't promoting a product you're
+selling or requires readers to make a purchase in order to replicate your work,
+your blog post is most welcome!
+
+You can check out an example of one of my previous blog posts
+[here](/blog/2022/otel-demo-app-nomad/).
+
+Learn more about submitting a post to the OTel blog
+[here](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry.io#submitting-a-blog-post).
+
+### Join the OTel End User Working Group
+
+Are you just getting started with OTel and want to connect with other OTel
+practitioners? Do you have feedback that you wish to share with the greater OTel
+community? Or perhaps you're a more advanced OTel practitioner and want to share
+your story and/or use cases with the greater community? Then the OTel End User
+Working Group (EUWG) might be just the place for you! This group is made up of
+OpenTelemetry practitioners who come together a few times a month to:
+
+- Share their feedback and ask questions through
+  [OTel End User Discussions](/community/end-user/discussion-group/)
+- Share their stories of OpenTelemetry adoption through
+  [OTel Q&A](/community/end-user/interviews-feedback/)
+- Share their knowledge on specific areas of OpenTelemetry through
+  [OTel in Practice (OTiP)](/community/end-user/otel-in-practice/)
+
+As an added bonus, I'm one of the co-chairs. Just sayin'… 😉
+
+Learn more about the OTel EUWG [here](/community/end-user/).
+
+### Contribute to the OpenTelemetry Demo
+
+If you'd like to contribute code, but aren't quite ready to contribute to core
+OTel code, then perhaps you might want to check out the
+[OTel Demo](/docs/demo/). The OTel Demo includes a distributed online telescope
+shop application with services written in multiple languages and is instrumented
+with OpenTelemetry. It's a great way to learn about how to instrument code in
+your chosen language.
+
+[Per the OTel Demo docs](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-demo#welcome-to-the-opentelemetry-astronomy-shop-demo),
+the purpose of the demo is to:
+
+- Provide a realistic example of a distributed system that can be used to
+  demonstrate OpenTelemetry instrumentation and Observability.
+- Build a base for vendors, tooling authors, and others to extend and
+  demonstrate their OpenTelemetry integrations.
+- Create a living example for OpenTelemetry contributors to use for testing new
+  versions of the API, SDK, and other components or enhancements.
+
+The OTel Demo [just celebrated its first birthday](/blog/2023/demo-birthday/),
+and it's come a long way since its first release. As OTel evolves, the OTel Demo
+must also evolve alongside it, to ensure that it is utilizing the latest and
+greatest versions of things like the [OTel Collector](/docs/collector/) and
+language-specific instrumentation. In short, there's always work to be done!
+
+You can check out an example of one of my contributions
+[here](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-demo/pull/432).
+
+Learn more about how to contribute to the OTel Demo
+[here](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-demo/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md).
+
+### Join a Special Interest Group
+
+Feeling a little more adventurous? Then why not join one of the other OTel
+[special interest groups](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_interest_group)
+(SIGs)? By joining a SIG, you can contribute to things like (but not limited to)
+SDK development, auto-instrumentation of libraries, the
+[OTel Collector](/docs/collector/), and the
+[OTel Operator](/docs/kubernetes/operator/). You don't even need to be a regular
+contributor. Sometimes, contributions come out of necessity. Like maybe you
+found a bug in the Collector. Why not take a stab at fixing it? Or maybe there's
+a feature that you and your team desperately need. Again, why not take a stab at
+implementing it?
+
+Now, before you go off writing code, you should make sure that you:
+
+1. Raise an issue in the
+   [appropriate GitHub repository](https://github.com/open-telemetry)
+2. Check with folks on
+   [Slack](https://communityinviter.com/apps/cloud-native/cncf) to see if this
+   feature is needed/wanted
+3. Pop into one of the [SIG calls](https://shorturl.at/beJ09) and share your
+   specific interests and needs
+
+I'm under no illusion that any contributing code to OTel is is a trivial task.
+Far from it. If you do end up contributing code, one way to alleviate the
+stress/learning curve of doing it solo would be to pair with a willing OTel
+community member to implement these types of code changes. I've found folks
+within OTel to be nothing but helpful and welcoming.
+
+You can check out an example of one of my contributions
+[here](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-helm-charts/pull/531).
+
+Learn more about the OTel SIGs [here](/community/#special-interest-groups).
+
+### Final thoughts
+
+As we've seen, there are many ways to contribute to OpenTelemetry, whether it's
+through docs contributions, blogging, joining the End User Working Group,
+contributing to the OTel Demo, or joining a SIG. Anything helps!
+
+There's no such thing as a small contribution, because every little bit adds up,
+and helps make OpenTelemetry awesome.
+
+As a final thought, I will always encourage folks to blog about the OTel
+findings and discoveries. Obviously, I do that too. But please also share these
+findings by contributing directly to the OTel docs and blog, to ensure that we
+have a single source of truth, and so that everyone, whether they're new to OTel
+or advanced practitioners, can benefit.

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