Full-Time Open Source Devs Panel

Episode Deep Dive

Guests and Their Backgrounds

• Will McGugan
  Created the popular Rich library for beautiful terminal output in Python. He then founded Textualize, which builds on Rich to create Textual, a framework for interactive, TUI-style Python apps.

• Charlie Marsh
  Author of Ruff, a lightning-fast Python linter and formatter written in Rust. He started working on Ruff as a passion project, and it quickly grew into a full-time endeavor.

• Samuel Colvin
  Maintainer of Pydantic, a popular data-validation library using Python’s type hints. He later founded a company around Pydantic after it attracted significant VC interest.

• Gina Häußge
  Creator of OctoPrint, a remote interface for 3D printers built in Python. Gina has been funded mostly by community donations and crowdfunding to keep developing OctoPrint as her full-time job.

• Eric Holscher
  Co-founder of Read the Docs, a documentation-as-a-service platform used widely across the Python and open-source ecosystems. Eric also started an advertising platform called Ethical Ads to support open-source projects.

• Sebastián Ramírez
  Author of FastAPI and other Python libraries (e.g., SQLModel, Typer). Currently working on open source with backing from an open-source fellowship, helping him focus full time on FastAPI and related tools.

Key Topics and Takeaways

1. Transitioning a Hobby Project into Full-Time Work

   • Several panelists turned their side projects (like Ruff, Rich, and OctoPrint) into full-time open-source jobs.
   • Common themes include solving their own pain points, sharing progress early on GitHub, and organically attracting users.
   • “It was never the intention to make it a job—my project just took off,” said Gina of OctoPrint, capturing the accidental nature of many open-source careers.

2. Open-Source Monetization Strategies

   • Donations and Crowdfunding: Gina relies heavily on community support (Patreon, GitHub Sponsors, etc.).
   • VC Funding: Samuel raised money for Pydantic; Charlie also created a company around Ruff.
   • Services and Hosting: Eric provides paid private hosting on Read the Docs and uses Ethical Ads to sustain open source.
   • Lessons: There is no single path—people combine different approaches based on their audience and project scale.

3. Choosing the Right Time, Right Place

   • Many projects thrived because they emerged just as Python users needed them most.
   • FastAPI capitalized on type hints and the async/await trend. Rich arrived when devs wanted more polished terminal UI. Ruff quickly rose thanks to speed and Rust-based tooling interest.
   • “I was surprised how fast it escalated once I launched it,” Charlie said about Ruff’s early adoption.

4. Building Community and Ecosystems

   • Most guests emphasized community input: user feedback, GitHub issues, and early adopters who helped test new features.
   • Having a friendly, open culture for contributors fosters plug-in ecosystems (e.g., Rich plug-ins, OctoPrint plug-ins, Pydantic usage in FastAPI).
   • “That direct feedback loop is crucial,” said Sebastián, noting how user suggestions quickly evolve into new features.

5. Combining Existing Tools for New Innovations

   • Sebastián’s approach: “I just combined Starlette, Pydantic, and other standards to build FastAPI.”
   • Gina, Will, and others echoed the theme of mashing up proven libraries rather than reinventing from scratch.
   • Big takeaways: Open-source fosters synergy—projects can feed into each other and accelerate progress.

6. Rust and Python Interplay

   • Charlie wrote Ruff in Rust to provide a faster toolchain for Python developers.
   • This bridging of Rust and Python is increasingly common, as Python devs want performance without giving up Python’s ecosystem.
   • Speed benefits: “I wanted a linter and formatter that ran so fast you could basically run it on every file-save,” Charlie explained.

7. Puppies vs. Cake: Accepting (or Declining) Pull Requests

   • Will and Gina used the metaphor “Some PRs are like giving you a puppy—you own it forever,” meaning certain contributions add long-term maintenance burdens.
   • The simpler, quick-win PRs are more like “cake,” easy to enjoy without future overhead.
   • This discussion highlighted how maintainers must learn to say “no” to complex features that can overcomplicate a project.

8. Advice for Aspiring Maintainers

   • Passion First: “Focus on a problem that is important to you,” said Sebastián.
   • Be Prepared for the Long Haul: “If you aren’t excited about it, you won’t stick with it,” Gina cautioned, describing how full-time open source can consume your life.
   • Community Over Code: Engaging with issues, conferences like PyCon, and social media fosters real appreciation and user empathy.

Overall Takeaway

Building a successful open-source project often begins as a personal itch to scratch, but it can flourish into a career if it solves real-world problems and attracts a thriving community. Whether you rely on user donations, paid services, or venture capital, the path requires persistence, passion, and a willingness to learn from contributors and users alike. As the guests’ stories show, Python’s ecosystem is a welcoming place where collaboration and genuine need can spark incredible outcomes—and sometimes take you by surprise.