Testimonial of Edgar Gonzalez

My journey from a soldier to an F# OSS contributor

I was a soldier for 11 years as part of the Spanish special forces, but due to a life-changing accident, I decided it was a good moment in my life to switch careers. So I went back to school and studied for two years to become a Mobile developer using C#. During my first job as a developer, a co-worker introduced me to F# and I fell in love with it following my curiosity I started to learn more about it. I realize that I was not only a new language but a new way of thinking and a new way of programming. So I deiced that was time to find a job as an F# where I could use it in my daily work.

My first job as an F# developer

After a few months of searching, I found a job as an F# developer and I was so excited to start working with it. But I was also a little bit nervous because I was going to work with a language that I was still learning and I was afraid that I was not going to be able to do my job properly. But after the initial fear, I started to feel more confident and I started to contribute to the F# and Fabulous as we were using it in our project.

How did I get involved in the F# open source community?

During the learning process, I notice that there were some instances where the compiler was not giving me the best error messages and I was not able to understand what was going on. So I decided to open an issue which made me ask myself, how can I help to improve the compiler error messages? So I started to look for a way to contribute to the F# compiler and I found that there were issues labeled as good-first-issues or help-wanted and I decided to start with those issues. I was so happy to see that my contributions were being accepted and merged into the F# compiler. The more I contributed the more I wanted to look for more issues to solve. This leads me to be one of the top contributors to the F# compiler for F# 7. So I was able to go from zero to almost 40 contributions in no time.

What is the best thing about contributing to F#?

• The best thing about contributing to F# is that you can see the impact of your work in the real world. You can see how your contributions are being used by other people and how they are helping them to solve their problems.
• Meeting other people who are also contributing to F# and learning from them.
• The F# community is very welcoming and friendly. I have never felt that I was not welcome or that I was not able to contribute because I was not an expert in F#.
• Improving my skills as a developer and learning new things every day.

How you can make a difference and help F#?

Are you a programmer who is using F#? Have you ever thought about how you can make a difference and help others through your work? If so, I have some good news for you. You can make a difference and help others by contributing to the F# open source community.

If I can do it, so can you. You have the opportunity to make a real impact and help others. So, if you’re feeling stuck or unsure about your abilities, remember that anything is possible with hard work and dedication. With F#, you have the power to create meaningful change and help others in ways you might not even realize yet.

I can attest to the rewarding feeling of giving back to the language that has brought me so much joy as a programmer.

If you’re using F#, consider getting involved in the community and contributing to the language’s development or any open-source project. Not only will you be helping to improve the ecosystem, but you’ll also be connecting with like-minded individuals who share your passion for F# and programming. Together, we can continue to make F# an even more powerful and productive language for all who use it.

As an F# OSS contributor, I am always looking for ways to give back to the community that has supported me throughout my career.

Whether you’re a seasoned F# programmer or just starting, your feedback and contributions can make a difference. By sharing your ideas and suggestions, you can help shape the future of F# and make it an even more powerful and productive for everyone who uses it.

Additionally, if you’re interested in contributing to F# yourself, I would be happy to help guide you through the process. As an experienced contributor, I can provide advice and support on how to get started and how to make meaningful contributions to the ecosystem.

By working together as a community, we can achieve this goal and make F# an even better language for all of us.

That’s why I’m part of Amplifying F#. I want to help others get involved in the F# open source community and make a difference in the lives of others.