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Comment by jzelinskie | Hacker News Reader

What's the best way to approach Mozilla about getting involved in a project? I'm an undergrad that's interested in getting some more experience contributing to projects, but not necessarily looking for a full-time internship. I spend time on their IRC, but only #rust.

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You don't need to ask permission to get involved. _Everything_ is open source, just write a patch. [0] There's also more ways to contribute than just writing code. [1] Check out some more of our IRC channels. [2] Just don't be afraid to get started, everyone was a noob at some point. The rust team does a great job as marking bugs beginner or easy in their issue tracker.

Also, you're handle made me do a double take! [3]

[0] http://www.whatcanidoformozilla.org/

[1] http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/contribute/

[2] https://wiki.mozilla.org/IRC

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jwz

I thought about working for Mozilla, too.

Is this the normal process? First doing some OSS stuff for them and then applying for a job?

They sound like a good company, but they probably only employ the best...

I work at Mozilla. Having contributed to a FOSS project is not a requirement, although it's a big bonus – note that any FOSS project is taken into consideration, not just Mozilla stuff.

Now, if you want to come and do some FOSS with us, you're welcome :) http://client00.chat.mibbit.com/?server=irc.mozilla.org&chan...)

Ah, I read some of your stuff in the bugtracker/project directory(?)

I found the whole thing interesting, but a bit intimidating, because I never did FOSS stuff, code reviews etc. are all new to me.

But it's probably a good thing for improving skills.

Thank you for the link. :)

The Mozilla community is very accepting of new volunteer contributors. Ask how you can help!

For Rust specifically, I found this: https://github.com/mozilla/rust/wiki/Note-guide-for-new-cont...

If you're looking to do something rusty, feel free to ask in #rust, someone will (hopefully) be able to point you at a bug or two.

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