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今日推荐开源项目：《后台管理模版 Material Dashboard》传送门：GitHub链接

推荐理由：这个项目实际上是在开发团队开发出 Material Kit 之后基于它发布的仪表盘模版，如果后台有需要的话可以考虑使用这个，不过感觉重点还是可以看看这个 Material Kit，这是一套美观的 UI 套件，在开发的时候肯定会有朋友需要这个的。

Material Kit：https://www.creative-tim.com/product/material-kit

今日推荐英文原文：《The 6 kinds of people in Computer Science and Engineering》作者：Joel Vilanilam Zachariah

原文链接：https://medium.com/fossmec/the-6-kinds-of-people-in-computer-science-and-engineering-4e6dae122ecd

推荐理由：介绍了计算机科学和工程中的六种人，以及对于这六种人，开源社区如何帮助他们提升自己。

The 6 kinds of people in Computer Science and Engineering

Computer Science and Engineering can mean different things to different people.

For some it might be the subject to explore the beauty of algorithms while for another group it might be all about automating the boring stuff. No matter how you perceive it, your time in University is to refine and discover your potential in the field. Buzzwords such as Machine Learning and Blockchain are heavily heard about in recent times and you will find out that engineers today specialized in this field were once upon a time college students exploring options.

So how is it they made it there, and how can you discover your true path?

I have come to realize that there mainly exists six kinds of people in Computer Science and Engineering at Universities and we at FOSSMEC believe there lies potential for each kind of person in the world of open source. So sit tight as we take you through the path of realization, and compare to see where you lie.

Disclaimer: Personal opinion can be biased and wrong. Feel free to comment your thoughts 🙂 Also this does not have to restrict only to CSE student, in fact, this is open to anyone open minded and eager to see wonders of Open Source.

Type A

They are good — let them discover their path

These folks are at the top of the chain after having seen a lot and climbed to the pinnacle. With a lot of experience and achievements, they have insights about how to proceed and lead the way. They motivate and support their fellow beings, with enthusiasm and dynamism. Google the name and you will find their entire achievement gallery bright and amazing.

Those in this category have probably seen it all and know how to get things done. We all have seen a type A person at some point in our lives, as speakers at conferences or as inspirational leaders who use their technical knowledge not to show dominion but to help you get better.

Shoot any question, they will have at least a word or two to say about it. Chances are that companies would badly want their skills because the world deserves that caliber. Each person of this kind is unique in their own way, and you will find them brainstorm and be creative. Siraj Raval is a great example in my opinion, check out his awesomeness in his YouTube Channel and his famous #100DaysOfMLCode.

Some of them probably have their own start-ups, because as how SKG said in his talk show, “the best talent is not available for hire”

Reaching this level while being in college requires extensive dedication and hard work, which can take a few years, so not many would be found of this sort. But the ones who do exist shine bright and everyone else easily identifies.

Type B

They are good — let them gain followers

These guys have gone the extra mile to find their defining path and specialize further to get better. Errors and mistakes keep happening, but this time recovery is faster. They can be found at events and competitions trying to find where they stand on a global platform. With a gathering audience, these guys will amaze and impress thousands of followers.

Check their GitHub repository and over tons of stars will be there. Also, their progress chart will be blazing green of varying densities. Have a look at their laptops and you will find many stickers on it, from the various conferences and events that they attended. They probably have interned in the top notch companies and has a good sense of how the field works. At Hackathon’s, these guys steal the show with their innovative ideas and well thought out implementation. Experience speaks for itself, after all.

Also beyond just development skills such as Machine Learning, they have a strong foundation on Algorithms and develop optimal solutions for common problems. This will keep them at a higher level compared to most of the others in the field, and can leverage this factor to shine bright in creativity.

The only thing lacking is confidence in oneself to lead the way and show others how to explore the field. The growing admiration from public will in time take them to Type A category once they embrace the potential within to lead the way and take on greater responsibilities.

Type C

They started — Gaining consistency and experience

So these folks are at the other end of the spectrum where they work solo and quite, below the radar and undetected by many. They started a couple of months ago and now are gaining consistency. StackOverFlow and Google search history will show an assortment of errors to find recovery solutions. What once started as a simple interest now is an intense passion for reaching the peak in that field.

They can be spotted at corners of metro stations, or public parks on a bench quietly coding, away from the noisy world but very much engrossed into what they do. Is it an addiction? Maybe, but then passion can be contagious too. These guys attend technical clubs and listen to speakers to pick up points to improve themselves.

Don’t be mistaken though, these guys are still exploring options and have not yet decided what exactly to focus sharp on. Hope in the next couple of months they discover what truly interests them, and maybe think of hobby projects that merge multiple domains to generate amazing ideas and solutions.

What is left is to do more projects and participate in events to discover potential to think out of the box and find solutions. That comes with more experience and tinkering to find one’s forte. What these people need is technical support to find and discover methods that they never knew previously existed. Socializing and up-skilling is the key to cross this realm, to the Type B.

Type D

They started — hitting hurdles and roadblocks

Good news! These guys have decided it is high time they explored the wondrous and curious world of coding.

Bad news? Several and several errors with exponentially increasing learning curve to climb.

These folks are the ones who have decided it is time to enter the game and made up the mind to take the first few baby steps. Having defeated the procrastination, these guys are ready to tinker, but are quite sensitive to varying results. At times the impostor syndrome may kick in when they hit road blocks that they spent hours trying to solve but mere few seconds when someone more experienced just glances at it.

This is the hardest one of the categories, because failure comes almost everyday but success once in a blue moon. Putting it away may seem to be the easy way out, but the persistent ones reap benefits for their patience. What these people need is motivational support to stay optimistic and continue down their track to start seeing results and get better. In time, they will reach Type C.

Type E

Not yet started — still figuring things out

Meet the vast majority of you readers, filtering through the vast assortment of options and not sure where to start. Or maybe out right jumping to the conclusion that they are not good enough to even try. Self doubt and the risk of failing hinders them from trying.

What they need is someone to talk to and convince them that it is not too late, and that every master was once a student. Time is what takes to climb up the ladder, and one can realize that only if the first step is taken.

Also even if they are ready, the Google searches and varying degree of Quora answers would confuse them to even make a decision of what to do. In such situations, all it takes is a leap of faith and to explore a domain whose final product piques your interest and leaves you intrigued enough to get your fingers messy trying to fiddle about and enjoy in the process.

As hypocritical as this may seem, I consider myself to be of this category and take the stance to say that Web-Development via freeCodeCamp is a good starting point. Hope all goes smoothly so that I can reach at least Type C before I graduate from University.

Type F

On an entirely different track, a new path

The sixth and final type, the ones who have their hearts fixed on a different trajectory. It may be anything, from music, art, marketing, civil service etc. It would be naive to think that everyone who learns Engineering become an Engineer. Sometimes people discover their inner call later on and switch tracks. Though many may initially frown upon that, in time people will accept and if you are great at what you do, you will be well appreciated!

To put it in short, these people have an unwavering passion for another domain and that is commendable when compared to the confused folks of Type E. Everything has its time to shine.

So how does Open Source guide all six?

So to put it in perspective, these are the differentiating factors:

The difference between A and B is the confidence level.

2. The difference between B and C is experience.

3. The difference between C and D is consistency rate.

4. The difference between D and E is the risk of failing before trying.

5. The difference between E and F is decision made to learn in the mind.

For those who have reached E, the goal of your time in University should be to climb up all the way, at least to Type B. To make this happen there are mainly two steps:

Reach out to the technical clubs in your locality and effectively participate in discussions, free of th fear of judgment.
Make an effort to help a fellow being get better at coding by connecting her with the solution she needs.

But setting just a track is barely half the work done, so here we present you the ways on how open source community can help each type get better.

For Type E, there are websites like freeCodeCamp, an open source collaborative end result, that has a simple layout to ensure one can read up and be convinced of the success rate of the trajectory. Also reading from open source forums and discussions, one can understand the trajectory people took.

For Type D, there are a lot of open sourced tutorials and lessons to refer and get better in coding at GitHub. Beginner friendly tasks are there that are oriented to help you learn how to be a part of the community and make your first few commits to the system. If you hit road blocks, chances are someone is more than ready to help you, but the question is would you reach out and ask? Open Source community has your back.

For Type C, there are several open sourced projects to which one can contribute and make an impact in its overall progress. It might seem scary at times, but with consistency and dedication you can see how easy it is to find answers and get exposure to the real world out there, via the internet.

For Type B, you need specialized tools and applications to facilitate and support in the development phase of the product. Open Sourced alternatives make the entire process easier, and you can read from open source blogs to stay updated with recent trends.

For Type A, the world needs thought leaders and open source has a lot of opportunities for those of caliber to stand up and take the open source enthusiasm to their locality via local events such as mini-DebConf or Open Source challenges to bring out the best within peers and coders.

So what about type F? Yes we have something in store for you folks too! Finding the right tools for your work requires developers who listen to you and understand your requirement. These are free and need not be paid for, a huge gain for many starting artist who cannot afford expensive complementary tools. A good example would be Krita, an open source alternative to many image editing tools.

Open Source application developers also take the extra mile to listen to your requirements via the open source thread of comments, and come up with the updates to meet your requirements! Isn’t this better than suggesting improvements to other applications that take several more months before even acknowledging it?

So no matter where you stand, take a minute to appreciate how one can discover their path up the ladder. Embrace the collective support of open source, to empower yourself to reach the skies.

Together, Open Source can empower everyone to reach their best self!

Material Dashboard

2018年8月5日：开源日报第150期